Following on from last year’s (2001) miserable snow depth I was
expecting big things from the Canadian winter of 2002. In Australia we traditionally have
a BIG year after a BAD year. This was not exactly the case for 2002 in the regions of
British Columbia that I visited. Not that I’m complaining but snow depths did appear
somewhat average for February. "Average" for Canada makes most other
countries look poor, even in a good season.
After many discussions
with friends and taking into consideration my budget, the low value of the Australian
dollar, the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City and the whole September 11 thing, I decided
to do a circular tour starting from Calgary and travelling/skiing down the British
Columbian side of the border with Alberta before returning to Calgary to fly back to
Australia.
I chose 3 resorts in which to spend my time. The first week was spent
exploring Kicking Horse for the first time. This was followed by
a week in Panorama to check out the new Tayton Bowl and
the last 2 weeks would be spent in Fernie.
| < A Panorama ski patrol home for their sleds. |