Beautiful British Columbia was the last region to join the Dominion and encompasses an area larger than the states of Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Utah and Nevada combined. Nearly all of this vast territory is covered by jagged mountains that are home to more than thirty premier skiing areas, rivaling those of Colorado, Utah and the European Alps.
Skiing resorts are to be found all through the province, not only on the mainland but on Vancouver Island as well. One of the most popular resorts, Mount Washington, is a year round resort with easy access to economical vacation rentals such as the Cona Hostel, with rates ranging from only $23 (CDN) for dorm accommodations to $55 for private rooms. More luxury accomodations are to be had at one of Canada’s bed and breakfasts or cabin rental accommodations.
Most of British Columbia’s most enjoyed and easily accessed skiing areas are on the lower mainland, where over half of the province’s 4.1 million residents live. Whistler-Blackcomb is possibly the best known outside of B.C., but Grouse Mountain, Mount Seymour and Express Bowl are in Metropolitan Vancouver’s back yard, within easy driving distance and convenient to Seattle as well. Sun Peaks Mountain and Harper Mountain are also near a chief B.C. city, Kamloops, which is located in the province’s Cariboo Region but still inside 250 miles of the U.S. and Canada boundary.
To visit other B.C. skiing resorts, it will be necessary to trek much further but you are likely to find the expedition well worth it. Northern B.C.’s distant skiing resorts,which consist of Murray Ridge, Tabor Mountain and Purden near Prince George, and Powder King Mountain, located in the northeastern Mackenzie area, highlight skiing for all skill levels from beginner to semi-pro, in an environment that is virtually unspoiled and a good thousand kilometres or more from the nearest major population centres. There are lovely romantic getaways all through out this area as well.
British Columbia’s distant northern skiing areas also have a couple of contemporary variations on this very old sport, known as heliskiing and catskiing. This has changed the traditional chairlift, gondola or rope tow with a helicopter transport and offers veteran downhill skiers and snowboarders the occasion to ski on slopes unavailable to very nearly everyone else. Some of these are offered near Vancouver while others offer three and four day tour packages in some of the most remote and picturesque regions of B.C.