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Anonymous
Guest
I am planning a trip from the East Coast to the West Coast in late January/early February and have it narrowed down to Lake Louise and Whistler. <BR>For people who have skied both which would they recommend?
Lake Louise's natural snowfall is meager but preserves well in the cold climate. This argues for late season because: <BR>1) Maximum coverage <BR>2) More comfortable weather <BR>3) If Louise has a bad year it will be rocky all season (1993, 1998, 2001). If you wait until January to book a March trip you can avoid those seasons and go somewhere else. <BR> <BR>Last year was below average but not as bad as the other 3. My understanding is that March was pretty good but that it was still very rocky in early February. <BR> <BR>Whistler is extremely reliable as far as coverage is concerned from mid-December onwards. The risks are for adverse weather (rain, alpine terrain closures) but those risks (10-20%?) are day-to-day and not seasonal.
Whistler trips: Feb. 25 - Mar. 2, 1991 and Mar. 31 - Apr. 4, 1998 <BR>Banff/Lake Louise: Mar. 31 - Apr. 3, 1999 and Mar. 14-16, 2002 <BR> <BR>Interestingly, I will be in Banff/Lake Louise Feb. 6-8 this coming season after spending most of the week at Fernie and Island Lake.
Skied Lake Louis/Sunshine last year at christmas. Havn't skiied whistler yet. Lake Louise Was real rocky than and i don't they got much more snow til mid february last year but last year was a real bad year. Did have good snowmaking coverage on frontside of the mountain but who wants to ski that? <BR> <BR>Sunshine though a little rocky to start out was awesome got about 6 inch's one night when Louis only got 2 had pretty good all natural coverage on alot of there trails. Not much on Goats Eye was open but there was still lots of good runs to be had all around. If you go to louise I seriously suggest a trip to Sunshine.
Jonny D
New member
I would definatley recommend at least a day trip to Sunshine if you are going to Louise. <BR>Skied there may 2000, awesome. don't know what it would be like at christmas time, but i do know that they dont' have any snowmaking, so their early season may be a bit of a gamble in terms of coverage. <BR> <BR>skied both whistler and louise in may as well... <BR>both have SOOOO much terrain, though i think that whistler gets more snow. however, you can probaly expect more rain at whistler too seeing as it's close to the ocean.
Patrick
Well-known member
Ski Louise and Sunshine in 1998. OOOPS, I just checked, my trips were in 1999 and 2000. Conditions were great. The conditions were more than I expected for April 12-16, 1999 (from Winter -15c with 15-20cm powder of snow one day to Spring later in the 5 days). Simply amazing. So amazing that we went back the following year, April 16-22 for 6 days skiing. <BR> <BR>Weather was always perfect including my two single days there: April 14, 1996 and March 25, 2002 mid-way in our Marmot, Louise, Sunshine, Norquay, Fortress 7 days of skiing trip. <BR> <BR>My experience weather wise at Whistler was not so great: April 1-6, 1996. We got heavy wet snow on top white-out conditions to rain at the bottom. The 1988 trip was in June so it's not really relevant. But the mountain is great, the place (it's a RESORT), some people like it, some don't care for it.