Discussion: Where to find good XC skiing?

It's been a disappointing January for skiers in central Canada, and we have our fingers crossed for many a blizzard to come.

In the meantime, we are planning a 1-week XC ski vacation at the end of February. Where in the world are Attackpointers saying, "Wow, this is the most awesome winter we've had in a long time!" Because wherever that is, that's where we want to go. Either a rustic hut or a fancy lodge would do, but I'm not that keen on serious avalanche country. Thanks!

Not doing too bad in BC here. Sovereign Lakes (http://www.sovereignlake.com/) (Vernon, SilverStar) has an average of 50cm base on their XC ski trails. No avalanche worries:-). Weather conditions are actually not that cold as well, so it has been quite pleasant.

If you're thinking backcountry skiing, well I'd vote for BC again - of course I'm quite biased.

Ottawa has been okay, well, actually it's been either very warm, or else, some pretty cold days. Not really where I'd recommend to plan a week of skiing right now.

However, Jeff Lewis at the training camp said that this has been an incredible year for Quebec City area. They just keep getting more and more snow. If you'd like, drop me a line and I'll pass on Jeff's email to get some skiing advice around there.

Try Vail - they've had about 19' (as in feet) of snow so far this season. Similar snow up in Leadville so you can also get altitude training in(10000' alt).

I can attest to the skiing around Leadville -- was there for a week in early December, and it's only gotten better since. Number of good ski centers in the area. Check my log for specifics.

Don't come to New Hampshire. Heavy rain and warmth Wednesday virtually wiped out XC skiing. Bretton Woods has 10 km open on 2-4 inches. Other areas have less. Our local Whittaker Woods is very skateable, with skates, not skis! The Jackson 30 km I was going to ski Saturday has been postponed until March 12, the same day as the US Ski-O Champs - aargh.

Yellowstone!

Go to Spike's blog http://www.okansas.blogspot.com/ and check out the archives for Feb 2004 or Feb 2005.

If you are wanting to stay north of the border, Quebec and BC are likely your best bets. Mt Ste Anne (Quebec City) is always a fabulous spot for a vacation. We've got good snow in interior BC (Sovereign Lake, Silver Star, Larch Hills, Sun Peaks are all in great shape).

Urthbuoy, are you doing the race at Stake Lake on Sunday? I'll be there.

Brian

Barbie should be able to provide an update on current conditions but I would go for Silver Star. We spent a week there a few years ago and what I liked was the combination/option of being able to do both downhill and x-c. We stayed right on the hill (i.e. 'village') so it was only a short walk to do either.

YOu want an update, I will give you an update! Last night we spent several hours shoveling our windows because we have received over 50cm in the last 3 days and now the snow is half way up our windows! It's just ridiculous!
So yes, the conditions here at Silver Star and Sovereign Lake are just fabulous! From the village here, you can put your skis on and have access to just over 100km of groomed stuff. Whomever said we weren't doing too bad here was so understated!

And since we are on the XC topic, anyone in the area interested in a free lesson, a bunch of us are doing our level 3 Cansi here at Silver Star right now and will need students for our lessons on Feb 1-3.
Anyone interested, send me an email. We need beginners (some are doing their level 2) and advanced skiers.

Ah and one more bonus, anyone coming to Silver Star can practice their ski-o skills. Just contact me for the maps.

Thanks for the good advice, everyone - AP is the greatest!

don't leave us hanging - where are you going to go?

I think we'll plan to go to all of these places over the next few years, since everyone did a good job of making us want to visit their part of the world! We'll know the exact dates we can get away in the next couple of days, then I'm going to look into Aeroplan ticket availability for B.C., with a backup plan of Quebec City, which we can drive to. I figure that it will probably be easier to make last minute arrangements for places we're more familiar with, then another year we'll plan earlier and go farther afield. (Definitely Norway one of these years!!)

FYI, Kelowna airport is only 50 minutes from Silver Star, Kamloops just under 2 hours and Vancouver about 5h30.

Flights are booked to Kelowna for a week in late February. Thanks to all for your advice! This awesome XC ski region wasn't on our trip planning radar, although it obviously should have been. We'd love to try out that ski-O map, Barbie!

Barb and Barbie going skiing. How cute!