It was the popular music group Village People who are believed to have been the first to offer those wise words, “Go West!”
And when you arrive at the excellent Calgary International Airport in Canada, that’s the instinct of most Brits. The spectacular Rocky Mountains loom up ahead of you across the plain (much more impressive here than further south), and the likes of Banff, Lake Louise, and some of the world’s most jaw-dropping scenery lie ahead.
But, if you don’t want to follow the pack, I have a different suggestion that the Village People never sang about – “Go South”.
Initially it’s simpler than the whole turning right thing as you leave the airport. Rather than having to go through all that hassle of putting your indicator on to turn right from Route 2 south from the airport on to Route 1 – the Trans-Canada Highway – towards the Rockies; you just stay on Route 2 and carry on south instead. The road takes you through classic Western North American ranching country, littered with low level wind farms, before finally turning west much further south and making the short trip west on Route 3 (stop me if the road numbers are getting too complicated). After some 290km of open road, and 3 hours or so of easy driving, you roll into the legendary resort of Fernie at the start of the Powder Highway.
What is the Powder Highway you ask? Well, you may have heard that British Columbia, or ”BC” as it prefers to be abbreviated, is home to some of the world’s best powder skiing – be it at conventional ski resorts or cat skiing, and Powder Highway is a collection of those aforementioned lift-, cat- or helicopter-accessed ski areas – all located in the Kootenay Rockies region of the province, and most lined up along route 93 heading back north.
”The Powder Highway offers the highest concentration of ski and snowboard destinations in the world!” claims the group’s marketing literature, perhaps never having been to Japan or Les 3 Vallées. But perhaps it depends how you measure it.
On the other hand, who cares about the concentration? Indeed, one of the biggest attractions of skiing BC is that you don’t feel concentrated at all. Vast open vistas surround you, and the slopes are famous for their low-density skier numbers.
In fact, the Powder Highway follows a loop, which takes in eight conventional ski areas – most skiers will have heard of Revelstoke, Kicking Horse, Panorama and Fernie, but Red, Whitewater, the Fairmont Hot Springs resort and Kimberley may be less familiar.
Revelstoke, with the biggest lift-served vertical in North America, and with a 15m average in the world top 10 for annual snowfall total, perhaps epitomises the scope of what’s on offer here. The other ski areas might not hit quite such deep total, or have quite the vertical, but each has its own identity and its own niche, with that overriding characteristic – deep powder.
You can, of course, dip in and out of whichever resorts you wish to on the Highway, and on a visit last Easter I opted for Fernie and Panorama before completing the circuit, hitting the Trans-Canada Highway again further west, and driving back east through Banff National Park to Calgary .
So, Fernie. I’d read lots about the steep and deep terrain, but nothing about the ”quaint” old mining town a few kilometres from the base of the slopes. This had that wonderful combination that many modern resorts try and fail to capture – real history, real locals, and an influx of snow fanatics demanding gourmet delis and bakeries and all those other bits that can turn a backwater town into a vibrant resort.
Fernie’s ski area was, I’m told, of a variety that would not be authorised for construction in the modern era. The slopes are simply too steep and too avalanche-prone. ”Too steep” excites most Brits looking for a challenge, and if the avalanche danger alarms you, fear not, touch wood, Fernie has had no avalanche fatalities thanks to a combination of ”natural traps” in the terrain, which avalanches fall into, and an extremely professional and dedicated maintenance and safety patrol who diligently close terrain when there is any danger of an avalanche.
The reward for operating a ski area here are wonderful powder bowls, for which Fernie is world-famous – and although these are particularly sought by powder aficionados, there are also gentler variants, which those less proficient can practice on. There are numerous regular runs too, of course, for those who prefer to stay on the piste, all with a great relaxed feel, which you only get in those rare places where a world-class ski area is located in an area where the locals love to live and live to ski, and corporations have not managed to destroy its character with an all-encompassing ”modern destination resort”.
In fact, Fernie gets the balance just right, as you can stay in the old town or slopeside, with some extravagant lodgings available, such as Lizard Creek Lodge, but these by no means overwhelm the resort.
Onwards north to Panorama, which has a very different feel to many Canadian resorts. As you drive up to the resort from Invermere the scenery takes on a distinctly alpine theme. The resort’s pedestrianised base village, largely the work of resort design maestros Intrawest (the company behind Whistler and many others), is neatly slotted into a compact area on the sloping hillside below the slopes.
Convenience is the order of the day, with all resort facilities a few steps from your condo. And as an added bonus, there is a wonderful indoor/outdoor hot springs swimming complex at the heart of it all.
The alpine feel continues on the mountain, which just keeps going – again different to most North American resorts. You take the first lift, a fast quad, then find more terrain above you. Another lift and you’ve opened up a big vertical, with dozens of options for your descent. But wait, there’s a third lift, going higher still to open up one of the biggest verticals in North America and a vast choice of terrain, from extreme powder bowls to long easy green circle routes (there are again more than 100 trails to choose from) for a relaxed ride right back to the base.
That alpine ambience extends to the provision of quality coffee, always an issue at North American resorts but not here, with three great coffee shops at the base of the slopes. For an added treat Panorama plays on the European flavour, by offering an evening fondue special in the intimate Elkhorn cabin up on the slopes – limited to about a dozen people each night, you can choose from the classic cheese or meat variants, and the staff have worked hard to provide a genuine alpine flavour rather than a North American alternative.