Snowboarding
Heliskiing or Catskiing In Whistler
(Or, to be more precise: heliriding or catriding.)
Truth be told, my Whistler trip is kind of in limbo this year, as rustling up an entourage has been a bit difficult. But if I do go, I really want to spend a day in the backcountry. Ideally I’d like to do it with guides who know what they’re doing, and with equipment that can haul my ass up and down the mountain so I don’t do just one run, and so I don’t spend half the day walking (hiking Flute Bowl was fun, but I don’t want to do it again). The solution? Heli-skiing or cat-skiing.
I think cat-skiing (catriding? I don’t know the proper term) is more realistic, as it appears to be about half the price and just as much fun. Furthermore, places like Powder Mountain seem to be really serious about getting as many runs in as possible, whereas the heli outfits are very strict about offering four or six-run packages. So althought I’ve never been on a helicopter before, the ultimate goal is shredding, right? And catboarding seems to offer the most snowboarding in the smallest time possible. Besides, I’ve totally been sold on catboarding since I read a piece some time ago in Snowboard Canada Magazine that got me hooked.
Now I just need to convince some folks to come with me. And if you have any recommendations, I’d love to hear them.
Discussion
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I’m going catboarding this year up at Big White in Kelowna, which is about 4-5 hours from Vancouver. I know a bunch of folks who went catboarding last year at Red Mountain and they had a blast.
I’ve been looking into going heliboarding over at Whistler as well, especially since they have the most reasonable prices in the BC area, but I’m not entirely sure it is worth it. Whistler’s not very reliable in terms of snow, and you’d be better off saving up and doing a proper AK trip
Try catboarding out first and see if you like it… it’ll get you prepped for heli as well, if you’ve never done that kind of thing.