Where to ski late May?

I believe that the closing date for Sunshine Village in Banff is 21 May this year.  Can't tell you how the snow will be as that will be weather dependent; however, Sunshine had a record snowfall this year and there is currently still a lot of snow.  Skiing was good this weekend and snow is predicted this week.

Banff is a 1.5 hour drive from Calgary airport. Lots of airport shuttles and bus service...or rent. Google.com

You can stay right in Banff.  Sunshine is a short hop down the highway, there are also shuttles.  Lake Louise is a bit further down the highway, but not much.  Both are very accessible right from Banff.  Epic late season stuff in Banff.

If you prefer flying on Southwest here are two options:

Portland for Timberline.

Reno for Mammoth.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gunnerbob 

You can stay right in Banff.  Sunshine is a short hop down the highway, there are also shuttles.  Lake Louise is a bit further down the highway, but not much.  Both are very accessible right from Banff.  Epic late season stuff in Banff.

Lake Louise won't be open that late.  It's usually closed by now, but is operating a little longer than normal this season (but will be closed by the time the OP wants to ski). 

Sunshine Village is definitely the place to be for late May and will be in full operation with the exception of the 'extreme' chutes.  Fly to Calgary and catch the shuttle to Banff (you can connect direct to Calgary through most major U.S. cities - it's a one-hop flight from Nashville on any of the major airlines).

This pic was taken yesterday, May 2.

Niiiiiiice........

Blackcomb's open until 28 May. Cover as of early this week was excellent.

Quote:

Originally Posted by snofun3 

Blackcomb's open until 28 May. Cover as of early this week was excellent.

I think you meant to say "some" of Blackcomb's open...

Quote:

Originally Posted by exracer 

 

I think you meant to say "some" of Blackcomb's open...

I was skiing top to bottom, so apparently you mean something I'm missing.

In terms of extent of skiing you should definitely go to Whistler or Sunshine.  Southwest can get you to Seattle, 5+ hours drive to Whistler from there.  And if you go to Seattle you should check out Crystal too.

Quote:

Originally Posted by snofun3 

I was skiing top to bottom, so apparently you mean something I'm missing.

You got lucky.  Usually you need to download on the gondola this time of year.... and ski in the rain and cloud on the top half.

Here's a shot from Sunshine today (May 5th).  It cleared mid-day and was cloudless in the afternoon.... amazing day of skiing.  I'm taking the day off tomorrow and heading up again... forecast is for bluebird skies.

Quote:

Originally Posted by exracer 

 

You got lucky.  Usually you need to download on the gondola this time of year.... and ski in the rain and cloud on the top half.

Nonsense. It's usually top to bottom until late May, and sometimes into June, at least for the past 6-7 years that I've been there late season. At worst you're only missing maybe a 1000ft of vertical if you download, which still make it (much) more vertical than anywhere else that's open.

you've also got Mt. Bachelor till the last weekend of May. I think they are running a thursday through Sunday schedule. Timberline at Hood is open, this time of the year you have some pretty extensive terrain off of Palmer. I'm not sure how late Mt. Hood Meadows is open, but they usually have some fun terrain to hit. Does any of the above offer 55 degree slopes, no but they do offer som evariety and Bachelor can still have new snow through May. Anyway just a bit of promotion for my area. P.S. Crystal is always fun.

We're just back from Mt. Bachelor in Oregon and it was awesome! Their snow base is HUGE. It seemed like mid-WINTER last Thursday and Friday during snowstorm conditions (really good low visibility powder skiing), and then we had an amazing Bluebird Saturday with the Summit chair running and really sweet wind slab powder above the treeline from the storm. Below the treeline was groomed down many of the slope center corridors still allowing you to ski ungroomed between slopes.

Mt Bachelor is open Thursdays thru Sundays (9-2) thru the end of May.

Bend, OR is 22 miles away from Mt. Bachelor, and is a really fun small city with over a dozen micro-breweries and a wild variety of nice eats, which made for a well rounded trip for us in the afternoons/evenings. Best bet is to fly into Redmond, OR and then drive 25 minutes to Bend for accomodation, and then drive back and forth 22 miles on ski days to Mt. Bachelor.

My smile tells the rest:

Hey CHRIS^. Are those Head skis?

I skied blackcomb this past weekend. Skiable top to bottom? depends on how you define skiable. Saw lots of people downloading. Even saw some guy sucking his GF's tit as they rode the chair down, as I went up in the afternoon.

Snow is great off the upper chairs. 

They're this year's Nordica SideCountry Burners in 170cm, with an 84mm waist, and 17m radius - and they were a good choice for this trip as I could only bring one set with me across the country to cover a wide range of possible conditions. I also used KneeBindings and Rossignol B Squad 120 Comp boots. 

Good choice. Thought I rode up the Skyliner chair w/ you on Sat. I was riding a 170cm Rossi Avenger 76 Ti/15R. Sat. was indeed a great day.

Quote:

Originally Posted by slider 

Good choice. Thought I rode up the Skyliner chair w/ you on Sat. I was riding a 170cm Rossi Avenger 76 Ti/15R. Sat. was indeed a great day.

 Did take that lift once with my wife who was wearing an orange parka, though she really loved Olympian Saturday before she found the yurt/glass Cinco de Mayo round bar in front of the West Village Lodge. The summit was sure sweet all day!

Yes lots of good skiing still left at Blackcomb. Snofun is right, we usually can ski to the valley on the May long weekend. Have for years. Usually gets a bit thin on the last 1/2 kilometer or so and if it's hot it will be as mushy as the Cascades or the cat track down from Sunshine. But it's nice to blast thru the bump build up and cool yourself off with the spray. I've also had many powder days in the alpine late May where it can still seem like winter. Sunshine is fine too and just as easily accessed from Calgary as Blackcomb is from  Vancouver but only one hill will still be open in both areas. (and in both cases it's not the best hill in my opinion )

Quote:

Originally Posted by exracer 

 

 

Sunshine Village is definitely the place to be for late May

Aren't we boycotting sunshine?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Metaphor_ 

 

Aren't we boycotting sunshine?

I boycotted all this season (and last)... but now it's the only place still open so I have no choice if I want to continue to ski this season (of course I buy discount tickets so I put as little $ into the owners' pockets as possible).

Interestingly, I heard from someone in the know that Ralph Scurfield withdrew from any kind of operational involvement this year (due to stress, maybe?).

Quote:

Originally Posted by noncrazycanuck 
Sunshine is fine too and just as easily accessed from Calgary as Blackcomb is from  Vancouver but only one hill will still be open in both areas. (and in both cases it's not the best hill in my opinion )

What do you mean by "one hill will still be open".  It's extremely rare that at least 90% of Sunshine isn't open still by late May.  It's 100% open right now, including the extreme chutes.

Only Sunshine not Lake Louise as well , same as only Blackcomb without Whistler... 

Quote:

Originally Posted by noncrazycanuck 

Only Sunshine not Lake Louise as well , same as only Blackcomb without Whistler... 

I was thinking he meant Goats Eye mountain at Sunshine wouldn't be open.

would not recommend Sunshine if Goat's is closed. But as a local can you tell me if the snow cover on the rock band about mid-point on Freefall holds up in spring ? I've always found that to be an annoying rock check point - but maybe coverage has just been our timing, we only ski the Rockies on road trips and roll the dice with weather.. never skied there this late in season

Quote:

Originally Posted by noncrazycanuck 

would not recommend Sunshine if Goat's is closed. But as a local can you tell me if the snow cover on the rock band about mid-point on Freefall holds up in spring ? I've always found that to be an annoying rock check point - but maybe coverage has just been our timing, we only ski the Rockies on road trips and roll the dice with weather.. never skied there this late in season

Lots of snow this season, and I skied down the section of Freefall you're referring to a couple of days ago.  That particular rock band is usually a bit dicey, no matter what... it's the nature of that particular spot, but it's been better this season than I've seen it in years.  They won't be shutting Goats Eye down until they shut down the entire operation closer to the end of the month.

Here's a shot I took from just above upper Freefall on Goats Eye two days ago (Monday, May 7th).

The extreme areas are still wide open as well.  Here's a shot taken from about the same position as the one above, looking towards Delirium Dive and Silver City area.  You can't tell in the photo, but there was fresh snow the day before and Delirium was fully tracked up.

Here's Delerium again from a different angle.

And here's a final shot taken while going up the Divide chair looking towards Bye Bye Bowl.  The snow has been phenomenal for spring.... not too hard in the morning, and not too slushy in the afternoon.  Once you get going you don't want to stop until they shut the lifts down.