Canada 2025 - 16 days below freezing...

[Quickstatus]

I really want to do Banff in the Fall

 

[RooFlyer]

@HirafuHeartAttack , is the die-back of the pines in the forests in the parks still occurring? (due to spread of mountain pine beetle - it bores in and eventually kills the tree)?

When I was visiting regularly abt 2008-16, driving Calgary to Golden, the progressive march of the dead trees across the mountains was painful to see.

 

[HirafuHeartAttack]

Do they still all shout out "SEA" and "RED" during the singing of the US national anthem?

Yeah they still do, quite a shock when you don't expect it! I was wondering if they would boo it like they did the week before but no luck.

 

[HirafuHeartAttack]

@HirafuHeartAttack , is the die-back of the pines in the forests in the parks still occurring? (due to spread of mountain pine beetle - it bores in and eventually kills the tree)?

When I was visiting regularly abt 2008-16, driving Calgary to Golden, the progressive march of the dead trees across the mountains was painful to see.

I think the mountains have made a pretty good recovery. I do remember hearing a lot about the Pine Beetle when living over there but I think they had started to get on top of it, and the mountains seem more vibrant now than 2019 when I left.

 

[HirafuHeartAttack]

Day 12:

Dusty heads from a big night at the hockey meant getting up and out of bed took a bit more effort. We packed up and headed to the lounge for some breakfast and coffee. Sunrise was almost as stunning as sunset from the lounge and the breakfast spread was reasonable, though not as good as Banff.




We went back to the room to finish packing and I called to get the car brought around. Unfortunately after being placed on hold twice for 5 minutes each we decided to head down to the lobby. Due to this it took another 10 minutes before the car was delivered. At -17 outside this meant waiting around in the lobby until we saw the Tacoma arrive.



Finally we set off from downtown Calgary initially south towards Okotoks. We had a bit of a scary moment coming out of the city, with the amount of dirt and slush on the road I needed to clean the windscreen. Unfortunately we'd picked up a stone chip a day earlier and the windscreen washer fluid combined with the cold outisde air and warm cabin meant that chip made a big thunk sound and turned into another solid crack. Pretty inconvenient to drive with but fortunately the previous renters misfortune meant the windscreen already needed replacing so we weren't hit for any damages.

The scenery out of Calgary isn't as stunning as the mountains but provided for some nice photo opportunities.



This was a really long drive day for us. The plan was to head south out of Calgary then west at the Crowsnest Pass. All in about 740kms of driving. One saving grace was gaining the hour back we lost heading east between Revelstoke and Golden so that afforded us a little more time. We drove through the lowlands at the base of the Rockies until we turned right up and over Crowsnest Pass and through the Frank Slide. Unfortunately I don't have any photos but if you are ever around here it is an awe inspiring thing to see and a reminder of how much more powerful nature and earth are than us...

After the Crowsnest we stopped in Fernie for some lunch. A place on my bucket list to ride, but unfortunately not this trip...


After lunch we continued west towards Cranbrook. The road was pretty hairy in some places, although not particulalry where the below truck came off so no clue what happened there...



We continued through Cranbrook, then Creston and up over Kootenay Pass which is the highest highway pass in BC. It was crazy seeing the changes in snow conditions on this drive, as you can see with barely any in the photo above at about 800m above sea level and the one below at over 1700m. (You can also see the above mentioned crack...).



After Kootenay Pass we descended through Salmo and onto the final push through to Trail and then Rossland. Trail is basically a big smelter with a town attached as you can see below.



Just as dusk was setting we passed through Rossland, and then onto Red Mountain where we were staying at The Josie, and Autograph Collection Hotel.

 

[HirafuHeartAttack]

A quick few words on The Fairmont Palliser...

Easily our least favourite Fairmont of the trip. Not a bad hotel by any means, just very tired. In particular the rooms and hallways felt like they were last renovated in the 80s... See the photo of the couches below for example. This was a contrast to every other Fairmont (except maybe the Waterfront) which had all gone through recent renovations or were just far newer hotels.



The upgrade to a junior suite was appreciated and even though I somewhat regret paying $100 more for a Gold floor room the lounge was certainly a highlight. One thing that will stick is the smell though, with the room and halls just smelling a little funky. The bathroom was also huge - like 4 or 5 times the size of our one in Banff which was a bit comical and just seemed like a lot of wasted space.

The staff were kind enough although no one answering the phone at check out was a little frustrating. We didn't try any of the restaurants and just took a small peak at the pool on our way back from the hockey. Nice enough for a central downtown hotel but nothing like the Waterfront.



If the price was right I would probably stay here again. The location is great and from my research Calgary doesn't seem to have the luxury hotel market you'd expect for a city of its size.

 

[HirafuHeartAttack]

Day 12 (part 2):

We arrived at Red and promptly got lost when were only 50 mtrs from the hotel. The directions were a bit hard to understand as the main street to the hotel is pedestrianised in winter. Eventually we pulled up and checked in. The staff were super friendly and more than met our expectations. We knew this wasn't going to be same level of on arrival service as some of the Fairmonts so we unloaded ourselves while the staff took our boards and boots straight up to the ski valet.

I booked a slopeside King room and we were fortunate to get the top floor. The building is only 5 stories I think but the top floor seems to have much higher ceilings giving the room a great sense of space.


There are limited dining options on the mountain and we contemplated driving back into Rossland to eat but given that night skiing was on the main apres pub, Rafters, was still open for dinner. We wandered over there from the hotel and parked up by a window with some beers and menus to watch the night skiing.


We ordered some burgers and poutine and enjoyed watching the last few runs of the evening.


Given our bodies thought it was 8:30pm by the time we finished dinner (even though it was only 7:30) and after driving nearly 750kms we headed straight back to our room to watch the groomers get to work before having an early night in anticipation of exploring a new resort the next day...

 

[RooFlyer]

The location is great and from my research Calgary doesn't seem to have the luxury hotel market you'd expect for a city of its size.

Agree but if you go back I'd suggest you look at Le Germain Official Site | Le Germain Hotel Calgary (downtown) (almost opposite the Palliser, which I only stayed in once!). Their restaurant, Charcut Roast House, was one of the best I found downtown.

We ordered some burgers and poutine

That's a pretty ratty looking poutine.

 

[HirafuHeartAttack]

Agree but if you go back I'd suggest you look at Le Germain Official Site | Le Germain Hotel Calgary (downtown) (almost opposite the Palliser, which I only stayed in once!). Their restaurant, Charcut Roast House, was one of the best I found downtown.



That's a pretty ratty looking poutine.

Yeah Le Germain and the Hyatt Regency were the only 2 others I looked at but considering the theme of the trip we just went all in Fairmonts... I've actually been to Charcut too in 2019 after seeing it on a Matty Matheson show. I will double down on your recommendation, great place!

And hey - ratty looking poutines are often the best!

 

[HirafuHeartAttack]

Day 13:

This was a cracker of a day! We woke up to a little overnight snow and a clear view of the main base lift lines. Despite it being a saturday the lines never really grew beyond what I got to enjoy my coffee with.


We got dressed and headed to the ski valet where the amazing staff brought our skis and board out quickly and were more than happy to have a chat about where to explore given we'd never been here before.

We wandered down to the lift at about 9:30am and popped straight on. We absolutely loved Red and exploring its different peaks. The snow was cold and crisp on the groomers with just enough left in the trees to have some fun off piste.



We rode around until lunch when we decided to hunt out the Constella Cabins. These are normally on snow cabins you can stay overnight in but during the day the communal clubhouse has been turned into a beer and pizza venue. We settled in for a couple of beers by local brewery Strathcona and a pizza each by the fire to warm up.



The beers were amazing and vibe was really fun in there, albeit a little busy. Pizzas were a bit meh but good fuel for the last few runs home.

We returned and had another good chat with the ski valet staff who happily stored out skis and board despite us leaving the next morning. We showered and changed and headed to The Josies restaurant for a happy hour drink and snack. While doing this we saw s'more making was going on for hotel guests on the patio so we went out and had a few while chatting to one of the staff, Thijs, who was honestly a highlight of the trip. Between helping us unload and load the car, being in the ski valet and then the chief s'more supervisor he was everywhere and probably the best staff member we encountered on the whole trip. Also had one of the wildest backstories being half kiwi, half dutch and having played professional cricket in the Netherlands before doing ski seasons.



After s'more making we checked out the village's retail shop and then wandered to Donnies Bistro, one of the few on mountain restaurants, at about 5:30pm for an early bite. Thank god we got there early as we were the first and last people seated without a resevation and by 5:45pm the place was absolutely chockers. Despite this we enjoyed a couple of drinks and our meal here, with the quality of food being surprisingly high for what we expected for the price and location.


Caesar and a Fernie Blueberry Ale to start


Tuna tartare


I think this was a korean fried chicken salad bowl



And a special spicy chorizo rose sauce pasta.

We finished dinner at about 7pm and just called it a night after what was by far our biggest day on snow. It was great to get a full day in after all the ski boot issues that marred the start of the trip. We also agreed that Red might be our new favourite Canadian resort. Yes Revelstoke and Whistler offer more varied terrain and a pow day at Revy will always be my number 1, but for the both of us to enjoy terrain, the various different peaks, the lack of crowds and the snow quality we whole heartedly recommend Red to anyone!

 

[HirafuHeartAttack]

Thoughts on The Josie Hotel, Autograph Collection.

We couldn't have been happier with our stay here. The room was spotless and basically brand new given that its only about 6 years old (and obviously was barely used during Covid). The bed was comfy and the slopeside room was such a good choice to be able to wake up, watch the eager beavers get up there with a coffee and pick the perfect time to stroll straight onto the chair. The bathroom was generously sized, as were the rooms themselves with plenty of space for suitcases and a snowboard bag.

The staff here were absolutely top notch. Honestly the best of the trip and people that seemed genuinely stoked about where they worked and were more than happy to give tips about the best places to ride, eat etc...

We didn't really eat in the hotel other than some wings and a beer but the in hotel restaurant was always quite busy so we expected it would have been decent.

We did contemplate staying in Rossland itself but being able to truly ski and ski out, even more so than we could at The Fairmont Whistler, is such a cool and unique experience, made even better by having a room basically on a slope.

Would highly recommend this place even though it's a little more expensive than what else is around. Particularly would be good for Bonvoy elites I think.