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Old 02-26-2005, 04:35 PM   #11
Draug
First Line Centre
 
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Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: Calgary, Alberta
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Well, Powder King was exactly what it was advertised to be.

TONS of snow. Thier snow report lists the base at 420cms, and they are being honest. The picture they use a background on thier site shows a guy skiing amongst some trees that are covered in snow; again, this is reality.

As expected, the lifts and ammenities are a little on the shy side. The onhill food was pretty good, especially in the lounge, and it was alot cheaper than the ski resorts in Banff.

We were there one week after they had 5.5 feet of snow the previous week, with 3 feet coming in the last day of that week. The first couple of days we were there the powder was great, but it became tracked up pretty quickly. As the day went on, we started exploring out of bounds, further and further to get untracked powder. By far, these areas are what is best about Powder King. Skiing through forest, in 4 meters of snow is hard to beat. There were lots of ravines, and steep inclines to go along with it in these areas. In bounds would be just as good, had the snow not become packed powder. If you like groomed runs, they probably had the best groomed runs I have ever seen. With 4 meters of snow, they were not the least bit icy, and were still nice and soft.

We drove through Lake Louise and up to Jasper through the park. The roads were dry, with the exception of the highway from Lake Louise to Jasper. Basically, this road was ice covered, as it appeared they dont use any salt or melting agent on it. The trip up took 7.75 hours, but we were driving as fast as we safely could, and only made very quick stops, and drove at night so traffic wasnt an issue. On the way home, we were awarded a speeding ticket, so slowed up, and it took 10 hours to get home. One way, to Mackenzie (about 40 minutes from Powder King) was 960 Kms.
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