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.

 

[HirafuHeartAttack]

Day 14:

After an all too brief 2 nights in Red we were again up fairly early to get on the road. This time it was a 300km odd drive to Penticton. Despite it being a relatively short drive in the scheme of some of the days we had we were eager to get to Penticton to catch up with my fiances family and watch the superbowl.

The morning of departure served up what would have been one of the best ski days of the trip, cold, sunny and no wind... Unfortunately we only got a quick glimpse of this before leaving.

We took our suitcases and boardbag down to the car which had been parked just in front of the hotel the past 2 nights. Thijs, the staff MVP of this trip, almost appeared out of nowhere with our skis, board and boots and we loaded everything into the Tacoma. We had been somewhat parked in but managed to move some barricades to reverse out and get on our way West.

We went north through yet another stunning mountain road - Strawberry Pass, and saw tonnes of people gearing up for a beautiful day of ski touring and sledding. After this we turned westward and past Christina Lake.


Before stopping in Grand Forks for a Maccas breaky and some god awful but much needed coffee. We got back on the road climbing up over the Eholt Summit and down into Greenwood. I had never heard of here before but it was a charming little town that seems to have retained much of its heritage western architecture.



We pushed on through the final stretch up over Anarchist Mountain and sighted the Okanagan Valley for the first time.



We grabbed some fuel and some beers/seltzers for the game before finishing the drive north through Osoyoos, Oliver, OK Falls and finally into Penticton itself. We were staying with my partners cousin so no check in necessary, just bags dropped off and on our way to watch some football!

It was a great, albeit blurry, night with lots of beers, plenty of snacks, great company and a big Philly win. I'm not much of an NFL fan but we were around a few die hard Eagles fans so it was a great night with their spirits high!



Whiskey (above) was also a huge fan of the attention he got! After the football we kicked on for the rest of the night at The Barking Parrot, a real divey (in a good way) pub before calling it a night in the early hurs of the morning.

 

[HirafuHeartAttack]

Day 15:

After a few too many beers I was pretty dusty to start this day and the weather in Penticton matched my mood. Cloudy and grey...

We packed the car for one last day on the slopes and headed up to Apex just out of Penticton. The drive was about 45 minutes and very windy, certainly the road to a 'locals' ski hill and not a big interntational resort. We arrived and grabbed some breakfast at The Edge Bistro which had this fantastic BELT bagel, highly recommended!


The girls and Whiskey were setting off on a morning snowshoe while I headed off snowboarding with the guys. Fortunately the weather up Apex was a lot nicer and we had a brilliant, albeit freezing cold, morning riding up there on some brilliant groomers.




Meanwhile the girls were off exploring some handbuilt log cabins and frozen lakes.



After 7 or 8 runs I called it a day as my hangover was not getting any better and retreated to the Gunbarrel Saloon for some lunch. The food here was terrific and again not extortionate for an on mountain venue. The meatball sub and crispy chicken sandwich (below) were both huge hits after big mornings snowboarding and snowshoeing.



We spent a good few hours catching up on everyones days here, with the only complaint being the inside of the pub was absolutely freezing... We eventually headed back into Penticton around 4pm and caught some of the local widlife grazing.



We had a pretty quiet one this night, loosely packing away the skis and board as well as some of the outerwear with our last day riding done. Ordered in some pizza and took advantage of having a washer and dryer to reduce the load when we got home.

 

[HirafuHeartAttack]

Day 16:

A slow start this morning with no rush to be anywhere. I got some work done with a pretty nice view as we awoke to a stunning bluebird day. After i finished what I needed we had Tim Hortons for breakfast and a little drive around Pentictons downtown.



Around lunch time we got dressed to head up the mountains east of Penticton to find some snow for Side by Side driving and sledding as well as a little campfire. This was a really fun way to spend our last day with family and new friends. Between the sunshine and whipping an SxS around in the snow for the first time I was properly stoked.






As the sun began to set the temps dipped fast and we all packed up. We returned, showered and went to one of my fiances family friends houses for dinner. A home cooked meal was well appreciated after 15 odd days of eating out and it was a great way to end our time in Penticton.

After dinner I was tasked with packing up the skis and snowboard bag which took far longer than I had anticipated but was eventually done before calling it a night ahead of our drive back to YVR the next day.

 

[HirafuHeartAttack]

Day 17:

I might have messed the trip title up here - it was probably more 15 days below 0 as today we headed from Penticton back to Vancouver and finally saw the temps creep into the positives. Though not before some flurries of snow in Penticton.

We started with some emotional goodbyes before packing the Tacoma up one last time and heading west toward Vancouver, after first indulging in some A&W for breakfast.



Can confirm it's better than McDicks in Canada for breakfast! Our journey west took us through Princeton, completing the KIJHL roadtrip, as this is effectively the South Eastern boundary of the league Revelstoke plays in. Princeton was a cute town and had banners everywhere for the hockey team. It really is such a different culture to Australia for Junior sports particularly. Even in Osoyoos a brewery had done a special edition beer celebrating the Coyotes, their local team there. The pride of these places is palpable, especially when their teams are performing well as Princeton and Revelstoke have the past 7 or 8 years.



We continued west through Manning Provincial Park to Hope. We took a look at the Hope Slide, not as big as the Frank Slide but still an awe inspiring reminder of the power of nature.



We stopped for some Sushi in Hope before rejoining the Trans Canada for the last push through the plains of Chilliwack, into Abbotsford where we briefly stopped to wash the truck, and then onto YVR for our last nights accommodation and to hand the truck back over.



The real trip MVP looking slightly cleaner than it had earlier in the day. After giving the keys back we checked into the Fairmont YVR in a Gold Runway view room. I was initially confused as we had 2 double beds but remembered when I booked it was $100 cheaper for this option for some reason.






This place was unreal and I can see why a lot of people rave about it as the best airport hotel in the world for planespotters, if not the best period! The staff were fantastic and the room was spacious and well thought out. The telescope was especially cool, particularly using it to look across to people night skiing on the North Vancouver slopes. The only downside was the pool area which overlooks the check in desks and isn't particularly private, nor was the pool warm. The hot tub was also pretty tiny so we only used these briefly before returning to the room to change for dinner.

We headed to the gold lounge for some pre dinner drinks and snacks though this was certainly the least impressive selection wise when compared with Banff and even Calgary. We went to Globe YVR, the hotel/airport semi fine dining restaurant and bar for dinner. To be honest this was a little dissapointing. I had the most expensive steak, and worst, steak of the trip here while my partner ordered a lobster carbonara thinking it would be similar to the one in Banff. It was not and had an overpowering fishy flavour more akin to an asian style dish, particularly with the onsen egg, than italian. My other gripe was despite booking we were seated at a table in the middle of the restaurant with no views while walk ins were seated with the airport window views. Minor issues in the grand scheme of life but not a great representation for the price. (The oysters, however, were a big highlight!).




After dinner we wandered the pre-security areas to burn some calories, but ended up buying some poutine and cinnamon scrolls as the above pasta was not near finished and my fiance was still pretty hungry. Had those in the room while I watched the passing parade of flights from the window before turning in for our last night in Canada.

 

[HirafuHeartAttack]

Day 18:

I'll split this into 2 parts covering the Canada-US then transpacific portion of travel.
A final bluebird morning summed up the trip well. Mostly cold and clear conditions but beautiful sunshine.



We checked out from the hotel and saw a live painter in the lobby which was cool.



Check in was pretty painless. Priority lane utilised and regular bags tagged and sent to be next seen in Sydney. The oversize here is similar to Sydney, in that you must take it to the drop off yourself, with an additional step of x-raying the bags. This took a bit of time as it seemed like there was 100s of kids heading to Hockey tournaments all over the States needing to do the same with their gear bags.

After sending the snowboard bag off to Sydney we had priority security passes thanks to our Fairmont Gold room which certainly saved us considerable time. Following this we pre-cleared US CBP which was a long but ultimately painless process.



Once airside we did some souvenir shopping and ate Burritos from a small, very popular, mexican place for lunch. No lounge access here for Oneworlds on US bound flights unfortunately.

We boarded on time, albeit the last in business as the gate was the furthest from where we were waiting, and climbed through some building cloud to our cruising altitude. We were in First/Business so got served some cold platters which were actually half decent tasting. My fiance had a pasta salad and I had a roast beef sandwich.




The flight was fairly bumpy, especially so on descent into a very gloomy, wet and windy LAX where we got absolutely tossed around in the little Embraer. Ultimately we landed without incident and taxied to AAs regional terminal which was a little confusing as I thought we would be at T4. From here there was some confusion as 2 lines looked to need forming, one for connections and one for arrivals, though ultimately we all boarded the same bus bound for T4.

After disembarking the bus in what can only be described as the middle of nowhere we walked about 100mtrs through the pouring rain to enter T4.



After arriving into T4 we navigated the sterile, haunted like labyrinth that is the T4-TBIT connector though ultimately we were just happy to already be airside and once we made it to TBIT we headed straight to the QF first lounge.

 

[HirafuHeartAttack]

Day 18 (part 2):

QF takes over...



On arrival to the LAX first lounge our AA boarding passes were tossed in favour of new QF printed boarding passes for god knows what reason. We promptly made our way to the restarant area to get a table as the lounge was already around 2/3 full at this stage.

We grazed our way through the next 3 hours or so, while I completed some more work between different plates being served.



We started with squid, tuna and halloumi. All were fantastic though as I've noticed in Singapore the outstation lounges don't seem quite as generous on the squid plating.



We followed the starters with a burger and steak. Again both fantastic and the steak was miles better than the one I'd paid a considerable amount for the night previous. Washed those down with coughtails and champagne.



Before finally finishing with a strawberries and cream granita and sticky date pudding. Again flawless and a really good meal ahead of our flight home. After finishing the desserts we had to collect buzzers for the showers as the lounge was now completely full and humming with Aussies heading back down under. Following the showers we retreated to a couch to free up the restaurant space, indulging in 1 last glass of champagne before a quick wander through the terminal to stretch our legs.

We arrived to find a bit of a mess of lines at the gate but found the group 1 line and joined behind 10 or so others. Boarding began about 15 mins late but group boarding was well enforced as the surge of groups 2-4 were promptly given marching orders by the Qantas ground staff. Once on board we settled in and perused the menus with yet another glass of champagne.




I ultimately settled on what was basically my 3rd steak of the last 26 or so hours. While not as good as the lounge it was certainly more than passable for an in flight offering flavour wise.



Following dinner we both chnaged into the provided pyjamas before I settled in for a movie while my partner went straight to sleep. Given our morning arrival into Sydney I was trying to get back onto our time zone but following 1 movie I was pooped and turned in.

I probably got 7 hours of sleep which is again a minor miracle for me in flight before watching some more TV shows and being served breakfast about 4am Sydney time.

The rest of the trip was fairly uneventful. We changed before arriving into Sydney at close to the scheduled 7:30am. Immigration was very fast for a change and the bags came qucikly. Out through Customs and in the car within 30 minutes of landing must have almost been a record.

And thats it... 18 or so days returning to the place I called home for 2 years. A very emotional trip seeing old and new friends and returning to some of the most visually stunning places on earth. A few bucket list hotels ticked off and some great Hockey games seen. All in a very succesful trip. Not sure when we'll return to Canada given future life plans but we have both said the next trip will likely be in Summer to mountain bike, hike and enjoy long days by lakes and rivers.

Thanks for reading as always! The next TR could either be in 3 months or 12 months depending on whether I can wrangle a nearly entirely points paid trip for July.

 

[RooFlyer]

Excellent TR, thanks. It takes quite a bit for me being a non- skier take an interest in skiing TRs but it brought back a lot of great memories about Western Canada.

The dishes in the QF Flounge do look attractive.

I miss Tim’s !

 

[jastel]

Good Trip...doubt I would be in the Fairmonts but.

I drove much of the same route in Nov 18 months ago, no skiing, just a little snow.
I need to go back in full winter for some skiing...one day.
The Revelstoke section was a washout with rain but, so good to see what I should have seen from my car but couldnt.

 

[Quickstatus]

Out through Customs and in the car within 30 minutes of landing must have almost been a record.

Amazing!. So priority luggage came through as priority luggage using AA priority tags ? Did you have oversized luggage?