Canadian rocky mountain high

By STACEY BODGER

Life can't get much better than soaking in a hot pool, 900m high in a Canadian Rockies ski resort, as snowflakes gently fall and melt into the steamy water.

After three days' skiing, it was a relief to ease the bumps and bruises by lying at night in the hot water and gazing at the tree-lined slopes of Panorama Mountain Village. The day had been a turning point in my tour of seven Canadian Rockies ski resorts, with five other journalists and guide Julie Rice, Canada's West Ski Consortium's New Zealand representative.

After five years of dismal seasons at New Zealand's North Island ski fields, the first two days on the Canadian slopes proved I was a skier of great enthusiasm but little finesse.

But at Panorama my technique was revamped by the resort's real estate manager, Gilles Olesen. One of our guides for the day, Olesen found me stopped in exasperation on an undulating intermediate run, Heaven Can Wait.

In minutes he helped me to rediscover my ski feet, and for rest of the trip I could see for myself the upper mountain views and fresh powder that other colleagues had boasted about.

After our arrival in Canada we were on a plane to Cranbrook, a small British Columbia town in the heart of the Rockies. From the air I caught my first glimpse of the famous snow-covered range.

I marvelled at its gargantuan expanse and itched to get fitted with skis and boots and hit the slopes, which we did after busing an hour west to Fernie Alpine Resort. Fernie has exploded with development since it was bought by Calgary-based oil magnate Charlie Locke, also the owner of Lake Louise, Kimberley, Fortress and Wintergreen fields.

The resort's wide-open bowls and abundance of deep, super-soft snow, even at season's end, make it the country's best-kept secret - but not for long.

In 1996-97 Fernie hosted 90,000 skiers and snowboarders. That number grew to 250,000 in 1998-99 after word started to spread.

But the bonus about Fernie is that, with as much skiable terrain as Canada's giant Whistler field, there's plenty of room to play, and only 4000 visitors daily compared with up to 12,000 at the bigger fields.

The next day we travelled north-east to the Kimberley Alpine Resort, which hadn't had the best of snowfalls. The mix of slushy and icy snow at the base was painful to crash on.

It was a relief when guide George Neeve, a retired Mountie, took us up the speedy new quad lift to the back face of the mountain to Kimberley's real snow. For my last run of the day I cruised down Kimberley's main front trail, from where it looks as if every piercing Rockies peak stretches out before you.

Our next ski field was Panorama, which boasts a 1200m vertical drop and offers some of the longest continuous skiing in North America.

At day's end the new heated waterpark was bliss to our burning muscles, as were the $4.40 Long Island Iced Teas in the Kicking Horse Bar afterwards.

But there was no time for hangovers as we embarked on a two-hour drive to Banff, famed since 1885 for the beauty of its surrounding national park and home to two superb ski fields.

The first, Mt Norquay, is the region's oldest field - its first chairlift was installed in 1948 - and although it has only 26 runs, the mountain's steep gradient still allows for novice to expert runs.

Sunshine Village is Banff's second ski field and I can't help but boast that it was here that I nailed my first black diamond (advanced) run.

At 2730m, Sunshine is Canada's highest ski resort - there's a 15-minute gondola ride to reach the slopes - and it has the longest season, averaging 195 days.

It's also blessed with a giant snowfall of around 10m a year - no need for snowmaking.

The resort is made up of three mountains, Lookout, Standish and Goat's Eye, which was opened in 1995 and doubled Sunshine's capacity to 89 runs, 1254ha and 12 chairlifts.

Sunshine is not a place to forget your beanie because it is exposed to the elements. The day was so bleak that it froze my sinuses.

But I kicked aside self-pity and, after tackling Mt Standish, I opted for a tougher challenge and headed up Goat's Eye with guide Marie-Joelle Driard.

My stomach turned as I stood at the top of the black diamond run but I began turning slowly before picking up speed and swishing to the bottom to the applause of a couple of colleagues.

When Driard told me to look back up at the run, I was blown away by the steepness of what I'd conquered.

We were reluctant to leave the variety of Banff but ahead was the incentive of skiing the glamorous Lake Louise, This field is the biggest in Canada with 1699ha spread over four mountain faces.

It's not hard to see why Lake Louise is rated the most scenic resort in North America. The sight of Rocky Mountain peaks stretching to infinity from the Top of the World chair is spectacular.

After warming up on the front face, we headed over the summit to the back bowls, which included huge glades and rock gardens - terrain beyond my ability.

Lake Louise was everything I'd hoped for - big and beautiful with such variety we were left wanting more. But it was time to discover Marmot Basin in the Jasper National Park. Known as the "Big Friendly," Marmot is a relaxed and uncrowded with fantastic mid-mountain trails and an upper mountain which is like an adventure playground.

This was our last day, and for a finale I was dared to tackle the expert (number 20) run which is long and awfully steep.

The "Most Difficult" sign should have stopped me but what the hell, it was the end of our Rockies trip. I dropped over the lip and made about four nervous turns beforethe gradient got the better of me and sent me tumbling spectacularly for about 200m.

I performed a "yard sale" - the Canadian term for losing your skis and poles - and an amused member of Marmot's ski patrol had to return them as I lay laughing, relieved I hadn't broken anything.

As I stood up and skied off again, I took a last look at the spectacular Rockies scenery and vowed to myself that I'd be back to conquer those Most Difficult runs.

* Stacey Bodger travelled to Canada courtesy of the Canadian Tourism Commission, Canada's West Ski Consortium and Air New Zealand.

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