Ski Canada Dec24/Jan25 Vol.53#3

Surely the most optimistic skier in the country is Charlie Finley. I finally had a badly needed 77-minute catch up call with the long-time Jasper bon vivant and loyal friend of Ski Canada. It had been four months since Satan tore through town last summer, melting Charlie's land-line along with everything it was attached to. Forty-eight years, all of his worldly possessions, and those of so many of his neighbours, were literally vaporized in late July. “I lost 52 pairs of skis,” said a stoic Charlie, one of the country's most prolific retro ski gear collectors, and then added, with his classic sanguineness, “but storage has always been an issue for me.” “We had a half-hour warning to evacuate and we all thought we were going camping for a few…

When this February's inaugural winter edition of the Invictus Games lands in Whistler—the international event welcoming hundreds of wounded, injured and sick military personnel to compete in several new winter sports—it will come with a slate of benefits for the resort. But for the athletes, their families, and coaches coming to Whistler from 20 nations to compete in alpine skiing and snowboarding, nordic skiing, biathlon and skeleton, the most important legacy is one you can't easily put into numbers. Thanks to the Whistler Adaptive Sports Program (WASP) and the long-standing support it has received from community partners, the local adaptive community has been well-equipped to thrive. But for the teams without the same history of adaptive sport in their home countries, the experience the Games can provide will prove invaluable…

I remember riding the Solar Coaster on Blackcomb in the ‘90s with Intrawest CEO Hugh Smythe on a cloudless, bluebird day. Fifteen centimetres of snow had fallen overnight, but all Hugh could talk about was hitting the groomers. Gesturing down at his shapely K2 Fours, Smythe enthused, “These babies just turn themselves. With the outstanding grooming we have these days, the average skier can experience the same feeling that World Cup racers get when they set an edge. I can even carve without using any poles; over in Europe, it's huge." “Getting your hip to the snow has become aspirational for many skiers.” We got to the top and I left Hugh to do his trench digging on the groomers. I was after fresh tracks—after all, isn't that skiing? Two…

I often dream of having my own private ski hill. It's usually when I'm at the back of a lift line on a powder day, or walking from the furthest parking spot into a north wind. I imagine myself and a few friends sliding right onto the chair for first tracks on all my favourite lines, paying no need to the Skier's Code of Conduct and, of course, scoring prime parking. It turns out the reality is even better than the fantasy. On the first run at my private ski hill I don't even wait for my two friends. I just pin it down the face, carve two high—speed turns, launch over a fall—away roll, ski right into a homemade kicker and straightline it back to the none—existent lift line.…

For many southern Ontarians, Blue Mountain Resort is our home mountain. It's the 291m-tall slope on the Niagara Escarpment where we can dependably find some sort of snow— not always natural, not necessarily white, but something to ski on nonetheless—between the months of December and March. It's the place we learned to ski, or the “big mountain” we graduated to after linking our first turns after school on the bluff or converted garbage dump that our lowland neighbourhoods dubbed a ski hill. This conventional image of Blue, however, belies the resort's increasing importance as the workhorse of skiing in Canada, as I discovered on a tour of the resort's operations one unseasonably warm day last February. That day revealed another side of Blue. More than being just my local mountain,…

Don't be fooled by the faux Wild West architecture of SilverStar's village, both it and Sun Peaks are modern, purpose-built resorts. That doesn't mean they are both cut from the same bolt of corporate cloth. Each has grown up in its own way and has a distinct set of offerings for the travelling skier (even non-Australians). Read our side-by-side showdown before deciding where to book. SILVERSTAR ACCESS Destination skiing doesn't get much easier than this. SilverStar is just 65km from Kelowna YLW, an airport that manages to stay relaxed despite having direct flights from the hellmouth called Pearson (something Kamloops can't readily boast, though that seems like the wrong word). Kelowna Concierge offers shuttles from the airport to the resort for $95 per person and the resort's ample ski-in/ski-out accommodations…