Just a few words about one of my best skiing experiences ever. On March 30th, we flew to Castlegar, BC in Canada and skied 3 days at Red Mountain, which is located 10 miles north of the U.S. border, 125 miles north of Spokane, WA. There was plenty of snow this season, 13�, and plenty of base left, 5�. Weather was great, received new snow 2 days, warm the third day, but the snow was not mushy. Stayed at a great hotel called the Uplander in Rossland, 10 minutes to the mountain. Food was great, hot tub, garage etc. The mountain had many trails, lifts, a 2300� vertical, and 6100� long. The mountain was used primarily by local skiers and there were no crowds. Many trails were not groomed but the powder was easy to handle.

After the third day of skiing, we drove about 3.5 hours to Big White Ski Resort, which is about 1 hour SE of Kelowna BC, 283 miles north of Spokane and 273 miles east of Vancouver. Got up the next morning, the temperature was just about freezing, about 4 feet of snow on the lodge roofs, total snowfall about 24.5�, base about 5�, snowing powder. Went to the top and found the trails groomed and the glade and tree areas not groomed but loaded with powder snow; yes, real powder. Big White is huge with many lifts and 4 high-speed quads. Want more info: go to www.Bigwhite.com. My buddy Oleg and I skied our buns & legs off in the trees, glades, bowls and high speed cruising on the groomed runs.

It snowed the three days we were there and we only lost one afternoon to fog. The snow was powder, and it never got soft. It was great.!!!!!!!! The price of $1000/person inc. air, car, hotel, 6-day lift tickets, cancellation insurance and 4 breakfasts. Staying slope side at Big White for 4 nights in a fancy hotel cost an additional $180 per person but it was worth every penny. There were no crowds, great snow all the way to the base (heard that Whistler/Blackcomb was soft down below) and a lot cheaper than Whistler.

We booked through Skican, who had cheaper package deals for the same trip providing one did not book the last minute as we did. Our return trip started in Kelowna about an hour�s drive from Big White, where we flew to Vancouver, on to Toronto and home to DC, about 6 1/2 hours flight time. We did not ski at Silver Star Mountain, which is about an hour drive from Kelowna airport. We were told the area is not as big and demanding as Big White, but the village, restaurants, and accommodations are great. If I do it again, I would probably go to Silver Star first and then to Big White.

A BIG PLUS TO REMEMBER, YOU GET ABOUT $1.50 CANADIAN FOR $1 AMERICAN and you get the part of the tax back if you apply when you get back home. I enjoyed Sun Valley this year, but BC was better!

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