Tourism BC Slope Angles, December 2009

Looking to make some fresh tracks this season? Thirteen of British Columbia's finest resorts are offering special deals for all the shredders in your family. Visit www.hellobc.com/bcskideals for more details.

• Getting an Edge at Panorama Mountain Resort
• Lights. Camera. Bella Coola Heli Sports in Action
• Bulkley Valley Nordic Marathon
• Circus Time at Apex Mountain Resort
• Sun Peaks Resort Catches a Bad Case of Olympic Fever

Getting an Edge at Panorama Mountain Resort: When visiting pros first dialed Panorama Mountain Village's new Showoff Terrain Park last spring, they were quick to label it the biggest and best in the Canadian Rockies. To prove that was no fluke, this March 20 – 21, Panorama (due north from Cranbrook's Canadian Rockies International Airport and a short drive from Calgary) will host the second annual Showoff Freestyle Weekend, featuring four events, cash prizes, and live music. The park's freestyle terrain nestled alongside the Mile 1 chair provides a haven for those not tempted by the breezy expanse of Founders Ridge. Plus, the Mile 1 quad lift offers improved access for those snow sliders who want an "I can see forever" experience. Further up the 2,370-metre (7,775-foot) mountain, Panorama has opened a formerly inaccessible heli-ski area between the View of 1,000 Peaks and Stumbock's runs. Deep powder turns, glades, and plenty of the intermediate-level terrain that Panorama is renowned for gives skiers and riders a glimpse of what to expect in this new area in coming years. In preparation for the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games' alpine ski races held at Panorama's sister resort, Whistler Blackcomb, watch out for an international gathering of Olympic alpine ski teams—including the Canadian Women Alpine Ski Team, the Canadian Alpine Snowboard Team, the Canadian Para-Alpine Ski Team and local Olympian, Nick Brush, guide for Paralympic silver medalist alpine downhill ski racer, Chris Williamson—here to sharpen their edges and skills. www.panoramaresort.com

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Lights. Camera. Bella Coola Heli Sports in Action: If something's worth doing, it's worth doing again and again. That's the mantra of Bella Coola Heli Sports (BCHS), which boasts the world's single largest helicopter-serviced land tenure. How big? If you guessed the size of the Swiss Alps you wouldn't be far off the mark. There's nothing land-locked about the trio of intimate lodges gathered under BCHS's big-tent operations spread between sheer-sided fiords on BC's Central Coast and the towering fang of Mount Waddington on the Chilcotin Plateau. (At 4,019 metres - 13,186 feet - this area boasts the highest summit in a province rife with peaks.) With that much snowy expanse on offer, the question facing guests is whether to ski or snowboard as many vertical descents as possible or combine a snow sliding workout with an extended sightseeing adventure. After all, when you've got the most glaciated summits on Canada's west coast at your doorstep, BCHS's terrain is as close to fabled Shangri-la as you're liable to find this side of the Himalayas. With walls of mountains almost as tall as Waddington, surrounded by 3,050-metre- (10,000-foot-) deep gorges that drop away to sea level, small wonder filmmakers have repeatedly tapped this location for adventure flicks, such as "K2" and "Seven Years in Tibet." Time now to become your own real-life action figure. www.bellacoolahelisports.com

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Bulkley Valley Nordic Marathon: Maybe it's the rolling white landscape, the crisp mountain air, a touch of cabin fever, or a distillation of all three. Whatever the draw, expect a competitive, pent-up field of skinny-ski skiers to turn out for the Bulkley Valley Nordic Marathons—both classic and skate. Held in the snowy heart of Northern BC on February 27 - 28, winter marathons epitomize the region's esprit de ski. From past experience hosting such loppets, most recently the Western Canadian Championships in 2007, volunteers at Smithers's Bulkley Valley Nordic Centre know how to stage always-colourful, mass-start races. Plus the centre's wood-frame Buchfink Lodge is plenty big enough to handle all comers, whether in search of a good wax job or a cup of steaming mocha. Cross-country ski roots run deep here on the slopes of massive Hudson Bay Mountain, home to the largest nordic club per capita in the province since 1984. When it comes to enjoying the countryside, the 5,575-strong citizenry of Smithers (seven of which qualified as cross-country skiing officials for the 2010 Winter Games) outperform their Yellowhead Highway town's size. One caveat: majestically-horned moose also call the Bulkley Valley home. Don't be surprised to find the occasional ungulate munching its way along a backstreet, not to mention in one of the valley's moose meadows that double as nordic terra
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