| Reviews: 36 |
| Review Mod |
| Kirkcudbrightshire |
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  4 of 5, "My sort of hill" 18/09/2008 @ 20:00:13 |
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| 2 members have given this review an average rating of 4.5 of 5 |
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| Revision #1 (Last edited: 18/09/2008 @ 20:05:15) |
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| Price Paid |
| N/A |
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| Booked Trip Through |
| Road Trip |
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| Times Visited |
| 2-5 Times |
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| Review Detail |
I wrote the following as part of my report on our 2006 Canada road trip. We were back at Castle in Feb this year but only for a couple of hours on our way to Fernie. We stayed at the lovely Aspen Grove B&B.
We were soon on our way out of the Airport and heading South on Highway 2. There was a real heavy snow shower as we set out but it soon passed and we had nice clear skys all the way after that as we headed out through the Calgary suburbs and down towards Fort McLeod. It was a nice drive on a very straight road with nice scenery as the sun went down. We had the vast Alberta Prairies on the Left and away over to the Right was the Eastern edge of the Canadian Rockies.
We stopped at the small town of High River for a quick bite to eat then it was on down to Highway 3 West and along towards Pincher Creek. As darkness fell a lot of windblown snow was drifting across the road, it was eerie and made driving difficult at times. Once through Pincher Creek we followed the signs for Beaver Mines and Castle Mountain until we came to Buckhorn Road. We had a 2km drive up this track in the wilderness until we arrived at Aspen Grove. It was 7.15 and the journey from Glasgow had been very good without any real problems. We were shown to our room which was excellent then had a coffee and a chat to the owners John and Helen before retiring early for the night.
Tues 21st Feb 2006
We woke early but refreshed after a comfortable and quiet nights sleep. Had a look out onto the patio and could really see how far out in the wilderness we were. The house is surrounded by forest with nice views over the mountains.
We went through for breakfast and sat down with the other guests who were all from Alberta and were out for a few days Skiing at Castle Mountain. Breakfast was brilliant with lots of nice waffles,cream,berries,bacon etc. This is a lovely house and I would certainly stay here again when we return to this area in future years. We payed the bill and bought our lift tickets here too which saved us a few Dollars ($37.50 instead of $48.00) before saying goodbye and heading along the road on the short drive to Castle Mountain. On our visit Castle was said to have the best snow conditions in Alberta. This place has developed over the last few years from when it was known as Westcastle Ski area. I had heard good things about the place and I was surprised just how good the infrastructure was as soon as we arrived at the base area car park. The main hill and lifts to the front looked impressive and the area has a vertical rise of 863m. There are a few nice houses and condos spread out along from the base area which are all well located in the trees. Castle will never become a major resort simply because of its location and its remoteness although it is less than 3 hours drive from Calgary. My first impressions were good.
There were a few vehicles at the base but it was certainly not busy. The main part of the hill is accessed by two long chairs and a T-bar (which can be avoided as it runs along side one of the chairs). We made our way to the Sundance triple chair (445m vert) where we were greeted by the friendliest liftie ever. The lady had a few words and a big hug for everyone before they got on the chair and was keen to know which runs you had done and to offer advice on where the best snow could be found,excellent. From the top of the chair it was a short distance across to the top chair. The Tamarack chair (420m vert) takes you up to the top of a huge bowl where there are limitless options off to both the right and left. We checked out the runs to the right side first where there is a mix of blue and black runs which drop down through the bowl towards the treeline and back to the base. The snow was in fine condition.
It had clouded over this morning and we now had a few snow flurries and quite cold temperatures to contend with. We then paid a visit to the base lodge. This is an impressive and fairly large building where yet again all the people were very friendly and pleased to see you. Prices for food and drink here are very reasonable and nothing near as expensive as Whistler or Banff/Lake Louise. Also down at the base area there is a hire/repair shop and a small retail shop and another seperate Pub/grill but it was closed on our visit.
After our coffee break it was back up to the top to explore the black diamond runs down from the other side of the Tamarack chair. Runs like Drifter,Showdown and Trapper were all excellent and Jill and I had these virtually to ourselves. The snow was hard packed powder with around 5cm of fresh on top which made for an excellent riding surface. I would love to have had more time here as the "Chutes" area has some fine challenging terrain which all drops back down to a traverse back to the base area past the learners area and some of the homes and condos.
Sadly our time at Castle was passing far too quick and as we had another long drive in front of us that afternoon we headed down to the daylodge for lunch.
We enjoyed our short day here and will certainly return. The resort is going to be opening up another new area on Haig Ridge which will provide a lot more beginner and intermediate terrain.
There are a few nice B&Bs like the one way stayed in and there is also a small Hotel/Hostel situated at the entrance to the base area. Other than that the nearest town is Pincher Creek where there is more options and is also close to another small hill called Pass Powderkeg. |
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| Strengths |
Everything I like in a ski hill.
Small and friendly,
Great terrain and snow,
Remote and away from the crowds,
A beautiful setting. |
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| Hot Spots |
| Plenty of hotspots on the hill so go for yourself and find out. |
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| Weaknesses |
| Not a great deal of accomodation on the hill....but thats maybe a good thing. |
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| Similar Resorts Visited |
| Fortress Mountain,Nakiska,Red,Whitewater,Phoenix Mountain,Kicking Horse,49'North etc. |
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| Reviews: 1 |
| Gloucestershire |
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 4.5 of 5, "Small but packs a big punch" 15/09/2008 @ 18:28:18 |
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| 2 members have given this review an average rating of 3.5 of 5 |
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| Price Paid |
| n/a |
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| Booked Trip Through |
| n/a |
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| Times Visited |
| Just Once |
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| Review Detail |
Hit Castle up as day trip from Fernie Feb '08. I'd wanted to go the year previously after I'd heard of it's legendary status - a small community-owned hill that gets a heap of snow on really interesting terrain.
First impressions were good with towering steep-sided peaks marking the end of the long quiet access road in from the Crowsnest Highway and, turning into the base area, a car completely buried by snow in the car-park with nothing but its wing mirrors visible. A 50 metre walk to the base buildings is always welcome especially with the back-drop of an, apparently, near vertical chair rising straight up behind and disappearing into the cloud.
Day lift passes bought we headed straight up that same chair to start by getting as high as possible and head across to the chutes. Riding the Tamarack chair, the second stage, to the top changed all that as we rose over some fantastic terrain covered in small trees, lips, etc and, most importantly, a shed-load of fresh powder. A first run to try it out was so good we got straight back up but were baffled to find we couldn't see our lines. The weather had cleared over us but had started to snow lightly over the peaks west and a strong wind was blowing it across the hill. We quickly realised that our tracks were being filled in as fast as we were making them so we were faced with endless freshies on the same lines !!.. Started to lap the area trying slightly different lines each time and got about 5 in before the wind got too strong and the lift was closed temporarily. Headed across to the chutes instead and found them to be a series of steep but wide runs (not at all like the narrow, rocky stuff I'd become used to at KHMR) that were filled with pow and asking to be taken at full speed. Even the traverse back out to base, which I hadn't been looking forward to particularly, was awesome fun being steep enough to maintain a good speed with a couple of features - some surprisingly sharp turns and a bit of 'roller-coaster' - on the way to add interest.
By the time we'd had lunch we found the top chair had been closed for the rest of the day due to the wind so lapped the main chair riding steep lines thru the trees back to base which revealed some more great runs..
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| Strengths |
Terrain, terrain, terrain..
'Localness'
No other punters
Cheap hostel at base |
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| Hot Spots |
The bowl & flowing runs off the Tamarack
The chutes |
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| Weaknesses |
It's a good way from anywhere (though that could be one of its strengths!)
Limited area (not that we found it a problem on a day trip)
No town (again that could be a strength) |
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| Similar Resorts Visited |
| In the words of Omar "There's nothing like it".. (not that I've been to anyhow) |
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