THE best place to bum in BC?

Whistler - Awesome skiing covering the spectrum from alpine to trees, side and backcountry. Big ski and party scene. Expensive and crowded at the resort. Close to best city in Canada (Vancouver). Relatively stable coastal snowpack compared to other areas.

Kicking Horse - Awesome steep skiing (3 main ridelines with tons of chutes make up the ski area). Very easy sidecountry access. Avalanche conditions variable, people die or there are close calls most years near the resort. Haven't spent much time in Golden but I hear the scene is hit and miss? You will have your chioce of men and be quite popular.

Revelstoke - More snow than Kicking Horse but less lift accessed alpine. Huge vert (more than Whistler), most of the bottom is just cruisers though. Pretty easy access from lifts though, and Roger's Pass is up the highway if you want to get into touring. Don't know much about the town but the little time I've spent there I liked.

If you really want to ski bum, buy sleds and go to Bralorne.

Thank you so much!

I would suggest Nelson, Whistler, Squamish, Vancouver. The rent in Vancouver or Nelson is going to be a lot cheaper than in Whistler. But the skiing access in all the places is amazing. Make sure to get a Visa if you plan on working or staying a while. I live in Norway to and spent a year in Canada and the US. It was an amazing time.

two 20 year old?? NORWAY?? SKI??

FACK.

Head to Kicking Horse, New terrain open this year. Great place, we had a pretty solid crew last year for both skiing and apres. Cheap housing, you'll be able to find a winter job in Golden for sure. I'll also introduce you to some skiers if you want.

So, a few things - rent in Nelson is more expensive than you would think. and unless you're into touring, there really isn't much to ski to keep yourself entertained for a winter (yes, even with the new lift, I doubt it will be enough without going for a walk). If you are into touring... well, it's hard to beat Nelson.

I haven't tried myself, but everyone I talk to tells me that it is really really hard to find a decent place to live in Revelstoke. If you end up in the Stoke, make sure you get there EARLY to get a spot you want to live in. If you don't mind a little boot packing, Revy has the terrain to make you laugh (or cry).

As everyone says, Whistler is expensive and crowded. But if you don't mind "that scene", it's hard not to enjoy yourself. It's big, and it's got everything you want (except for seclusion).

Golden is close to Alberta... I don't like Alberta. The whole East Kootenay's (Invermere, Kimberley, Fernie, and Golden) is too close to Alberta for my liking. Golden isn't all bad. I have many friends that spent some time there and they all enjoyed it - that being said, they're all now in the West Kootenay's and loving life. While Kicking Horse did open up Super Bowl this winter, the laps are still too long for their own good. When all the terrain is on the top 1/3rd of the mountain, why on Earth would I want to ski all the way to the base every run? Poor planning on the developers side.

Fernie is a really, really nice town. I spend one winter there and really enjoyed the people, rent is decent, and there's stuff to do. The problem (other than it's proximity to Alberta, of course) with Fernie is... well, I like pillow lines and cliff drops. Fernie DOES have cliffs and what not, but they are really lacking in the pillow line department. As far as in bounds skiing goes at Fernie, you're looking at a lot of open bowls and nice trees, with the odd cliff thrown in for good measure. They are under the rein of RCR (Resorts of the Canadian Rockies) who are an evil corporation who doesn't like progression of the sport, resulting in them getting rid of their terrain parks across the board. Because of RCR, I recommend you don't go to Fernie. They don't care about the sport of skiing, just the sport of making money.

I assume you don't want to come all the way out here to ride park and groomers. So with that being said, Big White (Kelowna), Silver Star (Vernon), Sun Peaks (Kamloops), Panorama (Invermere), and Kimberley are on the "not recommended" list.

Now, I live in Rossland, and it sucks here. You get lonely sometimes skiing pillow lines all alone, there's no high speed lifts, or lift lines, so that just adds to long times of being lonely. No... Ok. The reality of Rossland... it's a smaller town, the scene isn't REALLY there. A handful of bars, good house parties. The owners of the hill have no clue what WE want, and everything they try to do to "improve" the hill is totally backwards to what I think SHOULD happen. The inbounds skiing combined with the slackcountry is some of the best I have encountered in my life. I have a number of friends who didn't like it here as much as other places and have moved on, but if you like slow lifts, no crowds, no bullshit awesome steep tree skiing with enough cliffs and pillows to keep you happy for years. It seams like rent is going up slowly, and places seam to be harder to find nowadays, but not as bad as Revy, or as expensive as Whistler.


there you go. a bit longer than I intended, but, hey, i'm not up to anything right now, so whatever. Revelstoke, Golden, Nelson, Whistler, Fernie, Rossland... they all have their good and bad, none are perfect, but you will enjoy yourself sliding down snow covered mountains at any of them. If you have time and can afford it, I recommend you show up in the early summer, do a big road trip around the province, check out the towns and the mountains, see what feels right and go there.

It's a pity the town is missing a scene.
I absolutely love skiing Red. It's my second favourite next to Kicking Horse.


And yes, Golden is close to Alberta, and Alberta does suck sometimes. I grew up in Lake Louise till I was 12, then moved to Golden. Now I'm deeper in the belly of the beast and living in Calgary. Ugh. The Alberta towns are dead end towns, they can't really evolve, with the exception of Canmore, Parks is just holding them back.
Golden and Fernie get most of the traffic from Alberta. Weekends can get pretty bad at Kicking Horse, our gondola isn't the fastest. But, you'll be there on week days, which is always empty. I loved it last year. Took the year off to ski bum at Kicking Horse, with some travelling down south.

From the results of my road trip to Nelson and Rossland, I found that they're two places that I wouldn't want to live. I don't see the hype of Nelson, and, like stated, Rossland has no scene.

So, I go back to my first point. Look into Golden, cheap cheap rent everywhere (my friend is living in a house with others. The rent is 950 a month, split between 3 people).
We'll be more than happy to take you in and show you around Golden/Kicking Horse, we have befriended you Norwegians before.

Look into Revelstoke too. This summer was the first time I actually went into the town, I liked it. I don't know how the skiing is, or the town life though. So I can't really help you out there.

Huge thanks to all of you for giving us tips, much appreciated!

man whats with the hate on for alberta? who the hell wants condo developments in the mountains anyways. Banff is such a sick place (fuck canmore).

I might know you...Age?

I don't have hate, it just can suck sometimes. I've lived there for more than half my life. Lived in Louise, and went to Banff for school till I finished grade 7.

I live in Calgary now, I'm back to my Alberta status. I never was fully from BC. I just live there.

I'm sure Banff has evolved a lot since then. I take my previous post statements back.

One more question: How do we find a place to live, is it cheaper/easier to rent a house than living at a hotel?

Thanks guys

haha yes. that will always be the case.

Roll into town, meet people and tell them your situation.
I'm sure you'd be able to crash at my friends house if you roll into Golden. They have plenty of room, and a girl lives there too so you won't feel "scared"

My bumming recommendation. Mobile home. If you can find some cheap mobile home that you can buy or rent for a number of months you can hit up wherever. Whistler is awesome as long as you don't go on holidays or weekends, the crowds are insane. I loved revelstoke, the terrain was awesome and it isn't as big with tourists. Mind you, Revy has no terrain park.

Does anyone know how the snow conditions are in British Columbia now? We are starting to get pretty excited for this.

Isn't Chico a boy? whoever said they would have their choice in men is making a pretty big assumption.

That being said. We have a lot of Norwegian CHICAS that come to Kicking Horse. Everyone shows up the beginning of January. Hands off. There is quite the scandinavian scene that come here and they all come back multiple years.

The snow has been hit and miss here. The base isn't huge but it is starting to snow again. Had a few good weeks on nive pow. Avie conditions are usually higher here. Right now there are two early season layers that are fairly reactive but are slowly starting to stabilize (people will still die from them this year).

Slack country is rad here. Just be careful. Scandis have a reputation of getting caught in avalanches almost as much as the french and albertans.

You can google the GOLDEN STAR and look in their classifieds for housing. Or, show up, go to the bar, make a friend and things will fall into place. It's a tight community and it doesn't take long to meet everyone.