Table of contents for Fall 2023 - Vol.52 #2 in Ski Canada

The Canadian Ski Instructors' Alliance (CSIA) has been training professional ski instructors since 1938. That's 85 years of nice turns, and for much of that time it's been mostly the only game in town. No longer. In August, Perry Schmunk, former managing director of the Alliance, launched the Professional Ski Instructors of Canada (PSIC), an organization that could change the landscape of Canadian ski instruction. Schmunk, who left the CSIA amid a whirl of internal conflict last season, is joined by two other recently departed CSIA staffers: Jeff Marks and Mark Sedgwick, plus newcomer Ed Cambridge. According to Schmunk, PSIC's mandate is to meet the needs of the industry by improving skiing and teaching methodology, and providing tools to enhance the guest experience. He also confirms PSIC will offer a…

“Love bureaucracy? The clerks in Brussels have just the thing for you Starting in the new year, Canadian visitors to the Alps will need to register with the European Travel Information and Authorisation System (ETIAS). Hopeful applicants are required to sign-up three days before arrival. Sympathetic Government of Canada websites report the application will “normally be processed and approved within minutes.” Accreditation costs 7€ and will be valid for three years. For those worried about madly searching in pockets or the recesses of a dying phone for the proper accreditation while at the airport, fear not. All information is stored electronically in the E.U.'s immigration system. Those worried about the inexorable drift toward a global surveillance system should just try to enjoy their ski trip. etias.com _NIGEL HARRISON…

SHORT TURNS DROPPING IN Every autumn for more than 50 years I've pined for colder days. Will we be skiing early this year? Will there be snow by Christmas? Should I buy new boots, replace the skis? Then, invariably, the snow starts to fall and my excitement builds as we approach the first day of skiing. I never dreamed this ritual, this annual dedication to a lifelong activity, would ever cease. My plan was to ski on into my '70s or '80s, just as my parents had done. Now, I'm not so sure. In the world of lifelong skiers, I started late—my first ski lessons came in Ontario at the age of seven. I had no choice, it was the thing my parents did. And whether I liked it or not,…

Not long ago, innovation in ski gear originated in one place: the race course. The freeride, powder and backcountry niches–the focus of this buyer's guide—were mere fringes. No longer. The desire for open space, fresh tracks and maybe saving a few bucks on lift tickets is sucking in the oxygen. Want proof? The BOA closure system, first used in touring boots, is making the jump to resort kicks. Atomic used its touring-focused Backland ski as a test for reducing the footprint of ski manufacturing across its line. And G3, a Canadian brand that focuses on powder, is the first to make its fleet recyclable. The upside is endless innovation. Designers are borrowing ideas and materials from other categories to make better gear everywhere on the mountain. The sport is in…

POWDER BUYER'S GUIDE 2024 I t's easy to test carving and all-mountain skis, we just ski the hill. But that approach doesn't cut it for the boards reviewed in the next few pages. For these skis, we took testing a step further, often literally. We had to go beyond the limits. We logged thousands of metres of climbing to test the versatility of touring boards in diverse conditions—the kind of snow you're bound to find in the backcountry. We took freeride skis to backside steeps to determine how they handle tricky terrain, airs and speed. And for powder skis, it was all about deep snow. We sent a team of testers to Backcountry Snowcats, north of Whistler, where steep trees and open bowls with dependable powder are ideal testing grounds.…

MIRACLE IN UTAH The Seven Mile Miracle, that's the name given to a stretch of Hawaiian coastline on the North Shore of Oahu. The name seeks to explain the high concentration of prime surf breaks there. It's not really a miracle that the North Shore produces these awe-inspiring waves—it's more a function of bathymetry and swell direction. During winter, large Pacific swells head straight toward Hawaii. They collide with a shallow volcanic shelf that takes all that wave energy and focuses it into some of the biggest rideable surf on the planet. A dream for surfers, who converge on the North Shore every winter. If there is a snowy equivalent to the Seven Mile Miracle, it has to be in Utah. Like the waves in Hawaii, natural elements line up…

There's nothing like the feeling of getting to an alpine hut to rest your hip flexors at the end of a day of ski touring. It's an experience shared with too few clients lately, according to Claudia Lamontange, backcountry supervisor for Extremely Canadian, a guiding and coaching operation based in Whistler. “We did limited trips during the Covid years,” says Lamontange, “but we're back.” Barriers to overnight ski touring trips are many. Venues are scarce, access can be remote, experience is a prerequisite. But the prospect of more people dipping their toes into multi-day backcountry trips got a big boost in the fall of 2019 with the opening of the Kees and Claire Memorial Hut a few hours' tour southeast of Whistler's busy Peak Chair. The hut, a project of…

Nothing goes better with gorgeous snow-capped peaks than Ubfl luxuriously cozy lodges for you to warm up in. From the magnificent mountains of Western Canada and Quebec to the sublime beauty of the Swiss Alps, Air Canada Vacations is bringing you the best in snow this coming season. From November until April, when winter is in its glory, the mountains come alive with the hum of ski lifts and the crackle of hearth fires. Skiers and snowboarders from all over the world flock to Canada and Switzerland, seeking the best ski terrain and the deepest, lightest powder. There's nothing better than enjoying postcard-perfect scenery and relaxing by a warm fire after an invigorating day exploring the mountains on skis. STRESS-FREE PACKAGES Air Canada Vacations is excited to offer skiers, snowboarders…

Lots of parents want to get their kids into skitouring but heavy gear or the absence of junior sizes keeps families confined to the resort. That's changing, and here are three key pieces to get you and your kids into the backcountry. BINDING -Marker's new F5 JR Tour is a frame-style binding that fits alpine or touring norm boots in sizes 23.5 to 30. It has equally kidfriendly DIN settings of 1.5 to 5 and is one of the lightest frame bindings available. $280 BOOT -The Dalbello J-Tour is an overlap-style boot with three buckles and a walk mode. It comes in sizes 19.5 to 25.5, roughly 13 kids' to 7.5 men's shoe sizing, and weighs less than 1,300g, which puts it into the same league as lightweight adult-size touring…

CATCHING THE DRIFT The top station of Red Chair doesn't offer a compelling reason to hang around instead of going skiing. There's no day lodge with a sun deck, no photographer waiting to take your photo with a drooling St. Bernard. There was, on my first trip up, a man expertly lassoing another from about 10 paces, but it wasn't a demonstration or routine, it was more off-season practice. The men, my hosts explained, were ski patrollers by winter, ranchers the rest of the year. Castle Mountain is in the Canadian Rockies, but only just barely. Foothills are scant here, 35km north of the Montana border. The prairies start at the bottom of the valley, with few curves in the roads from here to midway through Manitoba. This geography looms…

There are more than 75 ski areas in Quebec, and many remain a well-kept secret. Passionate moms and pops created these family gems years ago. Today, younger generations, co-ops and visionaries have given them a polish. Tailored for beginners, families on budgets, and energetic ski tourers, these areas offer family-friendly, all-day experiences for less than a round of burgers and beer at a destination ski resort. Bonus: no traffic. We collected five award-winning, low-altitude ski jewels in Quebec you may not yet have noticed. MONT CASTOR First opened in 1947, Mont Castor in Matane hosted early ski races in the Gaspésie region. Families remain the focus, with three lifts and 19 trails—four are open for night skiing. Passes cost less than $35. Kids can try the tube slides, snowshoeing and…

Wait for it. The best steeps, the best powder, the best aprés, the Best of Skiing in Canada returns this season in our Winter 2024 edition…Egos will be stroked, feelings will be hurt. Years ago, B.C. painter Sarah Osadetz heeded the advice of photographer Bill Pitcher to “go big or go home,” and began painting two-by-three-foot canvas watercolours of famous Canadian scenes around her hometown of Golden and the nearby national parks. Then, in 2022, Osadetz created something much smaller. Her artwork for the 25th anniversary of Golden Nordic Ski Club's Huckleberry Loppet race was screen-printed onto a Buff Headgear neck tube—and bingo, the Sarah O buff collection was born. Expanded in 2023, it now comprises five mountain scenics inked onto sweat-wicking synthetic fabric that can be worn as neck…

SHORT TURNS SLOPE ANGLES The numbers on the gas pump roll up faster than apples and oranges on a slot machine. $50…$60…$75…$85. I listen for that slurping sound that indicates a fully topped-off tank. Jesus H., I mutter under my breath. $104.20 to drive from Vancouver to Whistler and back. And, yeah, six of the seven seats in my Dodge minivan are vacant. So, I suppose I've only myself to blame. I'm not alone when it comes to making solo trips to my favourite mountain resorts. Last year, the Canadian chapter of Protect Our Winters (POW) polled 2,000 skiers and boarders, finding that 63 percent drive most often with just one occupant per vehicle. “Every aspect of the resort economy suffers if reliable public transit options aren't available.“ POW Canada is…

WHY WE SKI I have this image. My father, vital in his forties, broad shoulders and tapered waist. I am a child and he is skiing ahead of me in a red jacket on a white Colorado piste. We are alone. It's snowing and the wind is high. Great gusts sweep across the mountain's face. Snow swirls and lifts, drawing and redrawing an opaque curtain. Ahead my father disappears, appears, disappears again. Still, I continue on and so does he. I'm not afraid. I trust, simply, that my dad will lead me. Another image, a decade later. My mother pushing her tips over a Whistler ridge. I am older now, skiing on my own. I wave from the lift but she doesn't see, so intent is she on penning her…

COLD TÜRKIYE It was Friday night at Turkey Heliski when the rumours started circulating. We were about 80km from the Georgian border and not far from where the Russian military was scrambling to find pieces of the U.S. reaper drone brought down in the Black Sea a few days earlier. Hushed talk at après-ski was about some vacuum-packed contraband that had arrived in a guest's ski bag. In the din of a nearby minaret wailing the evening's call to prayer, there were murmurs of more than five kilos being smuggled in. We knew something was definitely up when wafts from the kitchen at our HQ, Haşimoğlu Hotel, began to reach our noses. All week, the dinner buffet had been tantalizing us far beyond our expectations of Turkish street food like…

SKILL SCHOOL_ Is skiing more tiring than it used to be? We're all getting older, and as we age many things become more challenging, including skiing. We get tired sooner, we need more time to recover. But we've got good news: a healthy posture makes skiing easier. It allows us to ski longer and recover faster, regardless of age. Poor skiing posture —tense joints, leaning back— puts too many muscles under load too much of the time. If you improve your posture and put your body in proper alignment, you'll enter into a healthier work/rest cycle. You'll use only the muscles essential to the current movement and allow the others to rest. The result? Longer ski days. There are many positives to this work/rest cycle, including reducing load on the…