Season of snowboarding - Canada

LegacyUser

Anyone ever done this before?

Looking to go to Canada for the snowboarding season next November...

Any ideas where to get accommodation in a decent resort? Whistler accommodation is a fortune....5,000 CAD a month minimum? ouch

ShayK1

Hey Cheese dude,

Myself, my girlfriend and my best mate are moving to Canada in June. We haven't organised anything yet but the plan is to live on the west side of Calgary and work in Calgary. Then head to Banff at the weekends which should be about an hours drive. (Hiking and/or Biking in the summer, Snowboarding in the Winter.) Looking at Calgary apartments they seem to be around the same price as dublin prices. Thats all I can really tell you as I haven't done my research yet.

Isobar

I did this in 2004. I spend the season in Lake Louise in Alberta. It as a great, great time... Ah the memories.
Anyway my friend and I just went to the ski resort in the summer and got jobs as lift operators durng the summer (they send tourists up to look at bears)... when winter came around we then got jobas as lift operators. It's a mindless job but you are outside and you get 2 hours of (paid) boarding a day, as well as two days off a week. Because you're working on the hill you get a season pass and accomodation. The pass gives you free entry to about 7 or 8 ski hills around Canada, so on your days off you can head for other mountains.
The pay is poor but your expencies are pretty much just beer and food.
I'd highly recommend it. If you want more info PM me.

Alun

cheesedude wrote: »

Anyone ever done this before?

Looking to go to Canada for the snowboarding season next November...

Any ideas where to get accommodation in a decent resort? Whistler accommodation is a fortune....5,000 CAD a month minimum? ouch

You'd be better off in Banff. Access to 3 resorts within easy reach on the same ski pass with free bus transport to all of them ... Lake Louise, Sunshine Village and Mount Norquay (sp?).

Neilthefunkee1

were lookin to do the same, well actually we are.. visa registration is out on friday 25th!! we were lookin at places and they were'n that expensive, well they weren in the heart of whistler, said half hour bus ride away!! but we were lookin at a 4 bedroom house fro 2,800 a month! there are 3 of us going definately for the whoke season, then there are a few comin for random periods of time throughout the season...

jimdev

I did a season in Whistler and got a ridiculously lucky deal that a friend dug up.

We found it in Pique News Magazine's website (free local Whistler paper).

Don't go near Whistler in winter unless you already have accom sorted, there will not be anything left when you get there.

There is always a housing problem in Whistler since the council imposes a limit on the number of beds in town in the planning stage. To build a house you usually need to knock another one down first meaning that the property there only gets higher and higher value construction (ie not enough cheap houses for seasonaires to rent). If you have a place, getting roomates is easier than shooting fish in a barrel, you can pretty much run pop idol like auditions.

I lived in Creekside and it is where I would always advise others to go. It has everything local except a pharmacy (it has 2 offies, 2 supermarkets, 2 24-hr stores, a load of ski tuning shops, a couple of bars, a diner), it has the best bus access of anywhere outside the village into the village and it has it's own gondola (probably the nicest lift in Whistler Blackcomb) and the best ski out of anywhere on the two mountains (The Olympic downhill run is your run home, free from punters and usually really nice snow).

DeadParrot

Try Jasper.
Close to Lake Louise and a fairly cheap alternative with some excellent runs (imo)