Canada - skiing at it's best!

Yes, it's a long way to go but boy when you get there, it's amazing.

People often choose a big-name resort like Whistler - the saying goes you ain't skied, until you've skied Whistler! Or Lake Louise and Banff perhaps. Large ski areas to match the best of Europe. Over the years I've been lucky to ski both and would definitely go back. But some of my favourite ski trips have been to a few of Canada's lesser known resorts and boy were they good too!

Fernie Resort and Kicking Horse, great piste and back bowl skiing everywhere we went. Perched high above the old mining towns of Fernie and Golden, they have developed into top class ski resorts with something for everyone. If you like it steep, then try the runs "Truth", "Dare" or "Consequence" in Kicking Horse!

The aptly named Sun Peaks is a gorgeous resort reminiscent of some of Austria's pretty Alpine villages or Big White and it's eerie "Snow Ghosts". Fantastic snow conditions in both made for memorable family ski trips. Silver Star and Revelstoke are also resorts gaining a big reputation across the pond.

Many ski operators now offer twin centre or ski touring holidays combining a few days to sample the best skiing in two or more resorts. If you're going all that way, then it's worth seeing as much as you can.

We are having a vintage ski season in Europe - in fact some resorts have had "too much snow" if there's such a thing! That's not always the case. Canada enjoys bumper snow, year in year out. Some resorts have had five metres already this year and that's the norm every winter!

There are regular flights into Calgary and Vancouver from the UK and with onward connections to Kamploops or Kelowna you can reach some of the smaller resorts easily.

The resorts are busiest at weekends when all the locals come out to ski but there are times when you have the slopes to yourself and unlike Europe any queues are polite, orderly and move quickly!

Add to that great value food, laid back and friendly service Canadian style and après ski to match the best in Europe, it's definitely worth a try.

If you are stuck for ideas of where to try, I'm happy to help. I first skied in Canada over 15 years ago and have been hooked ever since!