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| Reviews: 11 |
| Greater Manchester |
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  1 of 5, "Very few brightspots in this Canadian backwater" 05/03/2008 @ 08:44:16 |
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| 1 member has given this review a rating of 3 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 |
I spent a half season here in 2003/2004, admittedly a very dry season in Canada in general, but this resort was particularly hard hit.
We went to Panorama on the promise of a great 'hidden' resort with a great lift system, the most challenging area in Canada, a job earning good money and accommodation thrown in.
Arriving in October the signs were good, we had about a foot of powder on Halloween alone, but unfortunately this wasn't followed up very often.
The resort early in the season is taken up by ski racers from around the world, so there was a couple of runs with cannon cover on them, but the problem of no snow was a huge one. The problem of the mountain being built on the opposite side to where the sun faces is another.
The mountain isn't the best kept & the guys have a hard job making any areas worth going (Taynton Bowl & the Sunshine Bowls being 2 v.good areas) in a condition that is vaguely acceptable.
The mountain itself is very small, the sort of place that you can run out of places to go after a couple of days, but sometimes that can make for fun when you have some good hits to go through again and again, this wasn't the case that year unfortunately.
Mt. Panorama is a self-contained resort, meaning that there's nowhere else to go if you fancy a drink or outside of the resort-owned bars & restaurants.
I eventually left Panorama (Invermere, the town at the bottom of the hill actually) in the January & it was the best decision I made.
The best thing about Panorama is that it's fairly close (in Canadian terms) to a lot of great resorts. Save yourself the petrol & go to Fernie, Kicking Horse, Banff, anywhere! |
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| Strengths |
The Poutine was second to none
It's a golf course in summer!
Actually good for families, if the snow is good
Saw a moose |
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| Hot Spots |
Taynton
Sunshine Bowl |
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| Weaknesses |
In the dark most of the day = ice
poor snow record = brown
isolated
small selection of Apres options
Not many runs in general |
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| Similar Resorts Visited |
| Nowhere compares to here for shitness, though Puy Saint Vincent in the French Pyrenees was probably a similar size (and rubbish when brown) |
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| Reviews: 1 |
| Greater Manchester |
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 3 of 5, "Panorama BC - Canada" 07/02/2007 @ 13:38:34 |
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| Price Paid |
| £750 (inc lift pass for 10 days) |
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| Booked Trip Through |
| Inghams |
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| Times Visited |
| Just Once |
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| Review Detail |
My girlfriend and i went there in Jan 2007 and stayed at the Pine Inn for 10 days.
To give a quick overview of the resort, it is a small village situated at the base of the mountain divided into two parts.
At the slope the Pine Inn is board in board out and is part of a complex which of note has a good bar (Crazy Horse I think was called - Wing ding Wednesdays for cheap chicken wings awesome!!!), a restaurant, rental and repair store and a small Showcase Snowboards store.
The other part of the village is situated at a lower level with a Gondola running from the Pine Inn. Here there is a village store and another smaller pub (Jack Pine - v friendly but a bit small plus the 20 and the 5 on the dart board seem to have exploded!) and I think another restaurant but thats about it.
In short limited nightlife but friendly and the Wild Horse pub is a good pub and has sport on & pool tables.
The mountain has a good range of runs however the majority of runs from the top are either narrow winding runs down the mountain or moguly blacks. The lower part of the mountain is the main part with wider runs which have some good natural kickers. The majority of the mountain is also north facing so on a sunny day it is still in the shade so its best to get hold of some low light goggles (and extra thermals as it was flipping freezing).
The resort had 2 parks with both situated on the lower part of the mountain. The larger park has a good no. of kickers boxes and rails, with the smaller park having a half pipe and a few boxes and rails.
We were unfortunately unlucky with the snow, with the piste after the 5th day being v hard and icy once the top cover of snow was removed. One thing which was a bit naff was despite the lack of snow, none of the snow blowers were ever on even though the temp was -20 or lower. I know the other places I have been to in N America (Banff & Killington) even when there is snow, they still have snow blowers on to make sure the piste is in good nick.
So overall, I dont want to be too harsh on the resort due to the snow not being that good as if we had been a few weeks earlier it would have been good, but it would have been useful to get them blowers on. The nightlife is v limited and if you want somewhere with a wider range of bars / restaurants then this is NOT the place for you. I think it is a good resort to spend maybe 1 week of a 2 resort holiday but anymore than 10 days and it might send you a bit mad.
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| Strengths |
Quiet slopes
Good parks
Most accommodation at base of slope
Wing ding Wednesdays
Cheap for Canada
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| Hot Spots |
Erm Crazy Horse
The hotel bedroom? |
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| Weaknesses |
Limited nightlife
Limited ski area with a lot of the runs either moguls or narrow winding.
Lack of snow and runs not maintained as well as could have been. |
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| Similar Resorts Visited |
Banff
Killington |
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 4 of 5 03/12/2002 @ 14:32:05 |
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| Price Paid |
| £399 |
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| Times Visited |
| Just Once |
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| Review Detail |
Panorama is a real gem, deep powder, tree runs,bowls and whisper it, no crowds.
Very chilled place to ride with the extreme dream zone giving some stunning riding that used to be helicopter access only. Lots of terrain and space to play with.
If freeriding is your thing then put Panorama on the list.
At the moment the final two drag lifts to the top keep the crowds down but the other chairs are fast and the queues short.
Panorama will be huge in a few years time.
Get there before the crowds do. |
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| Strengths |
Powder, trees and freeriding.
Cheap deals to get there on the net. |
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| Weaknesses |
Apres board. There's nothing, only a couple of bars and a rubbish club.
Small park and pipe with a couple of rails, nothing to get too excited about.
Long transfer time. |
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| Reviews: 34 |
| Review Mod |
| Kirkcudbrightshire |
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| 4 of 5 19/07/2002 @ 02:00:39 |
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| Price Paid |
| N/A |
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| Booked Trip Through |
| Frontier-ski. |
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| Times Visited |
| Just Once |
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| Review Detail |
| This place really impressed me . We stayed in the Pine Inn which is right at the foot of the slopes.The riding is nearly all amongst the trees, has a good choice of fairly challenging runs set in magnificent scenery and during the week it does not get very busy.The film "Alive" about an Argentinian rugby teams fight for survival after a plane crash in the Andes had many of its scenes shot here and there is a run named after it in the Sun bowl area. |
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| Strengths |
| One of the biggest vertical drops in Canada/USA.It has a lot of areas for future expansion.I can recommend the extreme dream zone at the top of the mountain,although the trees can get a bit close together at times.This is not a huge resort for choice in eating out but the standard was good in both the Toby Creek ( Caribou and triple grade A Albrta steaks) and the Kicking horse bar.If you have a car the resort of Kimberley is within striking distance. |
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| Weaknesses |
| It depends what you are looking for at night as this is not the place to live it up till daylight.I would find a whole week here too limiting but there is a good Heli operation in the resort. |
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