Skeena Cat Skiing Inc., British Columbia, Canada

5DBS 5:00 PM Mar 2, 2020

Middle of nowhere skiing perfection
My wife and I skied here for 4 days. For background, we've cat skied at one other location in BC too, and ski about 25 days/year, mostly in Vermont. We had a great time here! People need to understand that you generally pretty ski tame slopes in terms of pitch when cat skiing. The steeper terrain is too avalanche prone (this is true of most cat ski operations) so you ski slopes with a 30 degree or so pitch. An advanced intermediate can handle the skiing although my wife and I are both experts. Unless you nail your timing perfectly with spring temperatures and snow stability, you won't be skiing 50 degree lines like you see in ski movies. If steep skiing is your thing, you're better off waiting until late spring or going to a formal ski area where they can control avalanche risks daily. We flew into Terrrace airport, which has many more daily flights than recommended Smithers. Depending on exact dates, the staff may be able to pick you up in Terrace but you need to confirm with them prior to booking. After landing at Terrace airport, we had a two hour drive to New Hazelton, followed by a 40 minute car ride, followed by a 30 minute cat ride to base camp. They have a nice main tent with heat, couches, wifi and great food served by a very competent chef. Food was superb. You eat dinner and breakfast in the main tent, and eat lunch (sandwiches, homemade cookies, fruit) on the cat. Each sleeping tent has two twin beds, and heaters. There is a separate bathroom facility and washing facility, with hot water for showers. This means that you need to walk out from your sleeping tent to the bathroom tent to use the bathroom, even at night just to go pee. We generally skied about 15-20 short (less than 1000 feet vertical) runs per day on a mix of alpine and gladed terrain. We had a full cat with several unrelated groups, but everyone had at least an advanced intermediate ability so we never had to wait. The location has more than one snowcat, so the backup cat (normally used for road building) can be used as primary cat if primary breaks down. While this wasn't an issue during our trip, it's extremely valuable to know that your skiing won't be limited because the sole snowcat is broken down and awaiting a spare part that needs to be sent from a parts supplier in a big city. This can happen at other cat ski operations. For us, the group dynamics were odd, but that may be particular to our group. The lead guide had only been guiding this particular location for a few weeks, and lacked the experience of skiing the complete terrain over multiple seasons, which encompasses several thousand acres here. We had several runs which were difficult wind slab that were tough skiing. You don't learn all the terrain nooks and crannies in a few weeks. The tail guide Carla was superb. She was warm, personable, competent, eager to help guests and has skied the terrain over her several years guiding at Skeena. She's a great asset to the organization. We had two minor avalanches during our stay- the first one was caused by a repeat guest who skied beyond the guide's designated boundary (the guides will give you landmarks for how far left and right of their tracks you should go). This person knowingly went slightly outside the guide's direction and caused a small avalanche on themselves. The second avalanche was on a relatively tame (maybe 35 degree) but unskied slope when several people congregated in the same place. The weight of several people in the same spot on the slope crown caused a minor avalanche below them. Nobody was injured in either slide, but several people were very spooked by witnessing the avalanches, and this unease threw the group dynamics off even further than they were before. The group dynamics on our trip were very strained. Guides were justifiably furious with the person who knowingly skied outside of boundary, and there was a lot of arguing. There seemed to be personality clashes too between the tail and lead guide.It's a small group (12 skiers+ 2 guides) so these fights flow through to the entire group. In summary, we had a great experience of skiing powder for 4 days in a very remote area that few people will ever get to see. I will treasure this unique experience for the rest of my life. Seeing the stars at night, the clouds whip over remote peaks, the adventure of the unknown, sharing the passion for skiing and life, good food, and lots of laughs made for a great vacation. If you're the type of person who treasures a unique wilderness active ski vacation, there's nowhere better that I've found. Unlike heli skiing, you won't get grounded due to weather. A special shoutout to Lynn, who helped with the logistics and billing. Without her, we couldn't have made it happen!

4laurence k 5:00 PM Feb 25, 2023

Skeena Cat Skiing--mixed experience
Skeena Cat Skiing offers massive terrain, great guides, and a sublime skiing experience. For many people, that will be enough. However, the owners haven't decided if they are offering a 'roughing it' back country experience or a 'glamping' experience. There are a lot of problems they need to sort out. Travel from Smithers to the base camp is now by helicopter. The helicopter is scheduled to leave about 30 minutes too early to make the heli flight with a same day arrival from Vancouver, and similarly arrives too late on the departure . This adds 2 full days of travel, with a day and night spent in Smithers before and after, to get in and out of the base camp. Some of out group drove from Terrace, but still required an extra night in Smithers. Frankly, this is a deal breaker for busy people. We arrived at the Smithers airport only to find there are no taxis in Smithers; apparently ground transportation to the overnight hotel must be arranged in advance. We were not informed about this by the Skeena folks. We scrounged a ride, but otherwise would have been stranded at the airport. The huts are comfortable, but: One towel per person was provided for 4 days. A porta potty provided in each cabin; but guests expected to empty it themselves when it gets full. Electric space heaters provided for each cabin; but if both turned on full at the same time, all power goes off and the hut rapidly freezes. Better if guests had been warned about this. There was a $440 per person surcharge for the mandatory heli ride to the camp which we were invoiced for in the middle of the trip. This cost should have been built in to the overall guest fee so that one can calculate the overall cost of the experience when choosing where to go. It is also possible to reach the camp by 4x4 and snow machine, but this option was not made available to clients. Overall this mid-trip invoice left a bad taste. There is a hot tub, which was nice, but despite the camp being full, it was not opened 2 of the 4 nights. The owners/managers (husband and wife team) showed up only on the last night. They expressed little or no interest in the guests' welfare. No one inquired at any time how the experience was going, suggestions for improvement, etc. I had extensive emails and negotiations on behalf of my group in the 6 months prior to the trip, and found the 'face' of the organization to be very uncompromising and unsympathetic. None of the above are deal breakers; but attention to detail would have made a real difference. On a positive note, it is a beautiful environment, the guides were excellent; the food was good to very good; and the facilities have improved compared to our first trip there in 2020. Wind slabs can make for tough skiing. Skiers require a high degree of fitness and at least advanced intermediate skills. Going in February not for the faint of heart; temperatures reached -40.