A Dream Ski Road Trip

11 days, 9 ski days, 7 resorts

When you get added to a group chat with people you just met named Powder Highway Road Trip, you don’t really think twice about going. It was an immediate yes from me since a goal of mine last winter was to explore more resorts and what better way than to do a Powder Highway trip. What will quite possibly be a road trip of a lifetime became the winter highlight I couldn’t help but talk about this summer. Last winter I went on an 11-day road trip which involved 9 days of skiing at 7 different resorts. The best part is I only paid for one day of skiing! Here is how the trip came to be and how with two people we each spend about $75 a day to do this! Our goal was not to make this a budget trip but that said we were both working as liftys at the time.

The Route

We were living in Golden last winter so that is where we started and ended. We headed west to Revelstoke for our first stop and ski day. The following day was a driving day to Rossland with a stop at Nakusp hot springs. We skied RED Mountain and the next day Whitewater. Then we had our second full driving day to ski Castle Mountain the following day. We spent the next three days at Fernie; the snow was good so we had to stay. After we headed to Kimberly and Lussier hot springs. Our last day was spent at Panorama before driving home to Golden. With more than 1600 km driven and over 19 hours on the road, we took turns queuing music, taking naps and passing time with internet questionnaires.

Free Skiing

Working a seasonal job at a resort you don’t get paid much, although the job comes with some perks that can make up for it. One of the best perks can be the reciprocals for other resorts, often times coming as free skiing days. Out of the resorts we chose to ski on our trip, all but two were free days. Those two days we had to pay for, I still managed to get a deal. When you purchase certain Helly Hansen gear it comes with a Free Ski pass which is sometimes a full free day or in our case a buy one get one deal. Since I had purchased a new HH winter kit, also with a discount from working for the resort, I had two BOGO passes which we used for the two resorts that weren’t part of our reciprocals. Our 9 days of skiing quickly costed one full price day pass, pretty good if you ask me. We had all our own gear so there was no cost for rentals.

Accommodations

This is where you might start to think I’m crazy. Before we had left there was only three nights of the trip we knew where we were staying. The first night being at a friend’s place and two nights in Fernie at an Airbnb with some other friends. There was a plan to camp in my car which was going to be cold since this was the beginning of March. Before heading out, we tested to make sure this idea was possible and could be done with all the gear we had to bring. Sure enough, a twin-size mattress fits perfectly in the back of your average SUV. Now for the skis, I didn’t have roof racks so the skis were going to have to be inside. The original plan was to have them suspended from the roof on the inside while we slept, which we soon learnt was not the most comfortable so the skis ended up being left under the car overnight. We packed what we thought would be enough blankets to keep warm and make the back of my car feel cozy. Six nights were spent in the car and five were spend inside. We booked two last minute hotel stays and picked places with a good deal since what we really wanted was a warm place to rest our heads and maybe have a shower. We found places to park overnight with help from the app iOverlander, and since it wasn’t camping season, we were the only ones where we parked.

Food

When you’re skiing every day, you’re going to be hungry! We tried our best not to buy lodge food since it can add up pretty quick. For lunches we usually had peanut butter and jam sandwiches or noodle cups since pretty much every ski lodge has a microwave or a place to get boiling water. For dinners we ate out a few times but mostly cooked when we could. Bringing a camp stove with us definitely helped here or we would buy pre made grocery store food that didn’t need cooking. For breakfast we cooked eggs on the stove many times but did treat ourselves to a lodge breakfast. Snacks consisted of nerd clusters, granola bars and really anything we wanted from the store.

Here’s a cost breakdown of most of our expenses for the two of us. This does not include the mid road trip car repairs that luckily happened during the few nights we had booked a stay on a resort. 

Eating out	$260
Grocery store	$225
Gas	$215
Experiences	$30
Lift pass	$360
Accommodation	$525
Other	$50

The goal for this trip was to explore all the resorts we could along the Powder Highway since both of us had never been to many of these towns and resorts. These were some of my trip highlights.

• Downloading the Revelstoke Gondola with an older couple and the lady saying she saw me skiing well that day. I asked how she knew it was me, mean while I’m the only one out in all pink.

• Having some friends I met the previous summer show us around RED Mountain.

• The staff at Whitewater being the friendliest and happiest people, making the hill feel like a locals resort.

• Getting hugs from the older lifty at Castle Mountain that hugs everyone!

• Deciding to stay an extra day at Fernie since there was fresh snow and friends to ski with!

• Running into a friend in the Lussier hot spring.

• Getting to revisit the mountain I spent the previous season at, Panorama as a better skier. Plus seeing my cousin there.

Honorary mentions to:

• Locking the car keys in the car at a gas station on possibly the windiest day.

• Falling in heavy powder at Kimberly and breaking my pole.
  

This trip was truly amazing and I hope to revisit many of these resorts again. I love this sport and everyday of this trip was extraordinary, filled with goofy moments and smiles with friends. I am truly grateful for this experience and hope I can do a ski bum road trip again even if it means waking up in a freezing car.

To the Powder Highway, I’ll be back!