Ski season in Canada

Not whistler or banff but i did go to marmot basin i.e jasper. Pretty epic skiing conditions but not much park to speak of. Either way you'll have a sick time.

Hey

I did a season in Banff last year. I worked for the year before and did a snowboard (yeah, deal with it) instructor course so I can go out this year and work. I didn't need a VISA as I didn't work out there but speaking from people who have got one, it's a bitch. The VISAs are released in batches and they go real quick- have an account set up before the day so you can get one. Literally they're snapped up within 30 mins. It's this hard as the UK apparently refused Canada a small loan during the recession so they're pissed at us. Having said all of that, my mate was in the low thousands on the waiting list having missed it and he still got one. If you have a confirmed job offer then this helps getting a VISA as well.

I can't speak for Whistler but Banff is soooooo sick. I'm from Birmingham and being in a town where everyone is stoked on snow is pretty pimp. The board shops know their stuff and aren't out to rip you off (ask for a locals discount anywhere and it'll normally get results). None of the residents are really making it rain but everyone's really chill, the nights out are great (the girls are pretty fit generally) and the town in general is just super chill.

The snow is great as well. I was mostly just at Lake Louise for the season and that was fine. The park there is better than Sunshine and Norquay (although night riding at Norquay is sick- it's kinda like nights at a snowdome but with legit kickers). It's pretty snow sure, the powder is great, there's loads of tree skiing and by the end of the season you know loads of sick spots which are pretty much untracked.

So yeah that's pretty much it, feel free to ask/PM me if you want anything else

I think you've already missed out on getting a working holiday visa for this year btw so you'd need to wait until the 15/16 season.

I might be wrong but I'm pretty sure that's the case.

.Tom.I think you've already missed out on getting a working holiday visa for this year btw so you'd need to wait until the 15/16 season.

I might be wrong but I'm pretty sure that's the case.

Yeah I think he's right. Your only chance for this year is if you have a confirmed job offer in which case you might be able to get one. My mate screwed up his first VISA application (be incredibly thorough when checking your VISA form btw, it's so easy to get it rejected by missing a letter in your middle name or something ridiculous like that) but I think he got told that he could get one if he had written proof that he had a job offer. It's worth a shot at least.

The other thing is that it depends on the company's nationality. I did my course with a group called Basecamp which is a UK company. Their rep out in Canada was working in Canada but because it was for a UK company he didn't need a VISA.

Alternatively work some serious magic and marry a Canadian chick within a week of turning up

HubstaI've been thinking about doing a ski season out in Canada, preferably at Whistler or Banff. Does anyone have any experience doing this?

More specifically with visas, did you work whilst there?, did you have a job lined up prior to flying out?

Thanks!

Hey man, never worked at either resorts but skied both,

Depends what you want really, I mean if you want a medium sized cool community with some pretty rad nightlife but nothing ridiculous with lots of mountain choice I'd go for Banff, there's 3 mountains within driving distance of Banff town however I get the feeling jobs might be a bit tight seeing as its a fairly smallish community and there's obviously a high demand for work in ski shops etc

Whereas at whistler the nightlife tends to be a bit more lively, jobs would probably be a but easier to find etc, really depends on where you wanna work man but I would strongly advise you line up a job before going out there as like I said jobs can often be hard to find and you don't want turn up and find the only job in town has you cleaning bathrooms from 9am to 4pm or some nasty shit like that!


Good luck!

Yeah mate, I've been skiing whistler all my life and it's sick so definitely look into it for sure. I am planning on doing a season next year and the visas are really tough from what I've seen and they haven't been released yet just watch like a hawk.

I am gonna (hopefully) be instructing out there so if you and I are successful I'd love to show you a bit of what I know of the place.