Cat skiing trips are almost always a great experience. Whether you go alone or with friends, you can count on wonderful powder skiing and a good time. However, good times are always best when shared with friends and, with cat skiing, getting together with 12 of your mates can lead to a significant discount.

Chatter Creek has many group organizers who bring together 12, 24 and even 36 friends to share a cat skiing tour. There are two busy times for a group organizer. First, in the late winter and early spring assembling the group and getting in deposits, and then in late October and November sending out information and taking in completed forms and final payments.

It's all going on right now. Organizers are sending out information and forms and cat skiing enthusiasts are digging down for that final payment, getting fit and priming themselves for their annual powder skiing bash. Lots of first-timers get brought along, folks with no prior backcountry skiing experience. They are in for a treat. If you have never skied the backcountry powder, cat skiing is the way to start.

Bookings are filling and very little space is now left for mid-winter. However, as with my group, there will be openings, here and there. Ask one of the cat skiing operators if they know of group leaders with openings. Early and late-winter openings may still remain. I've skied at Chatter Creek in mid-December in 150cm of storm snow on a good base. The media groups that visit Chatter Creek every year for magazine and video "shoots" always ski in late April, so I presume that the snow in late March through mid April must be pretty good, although I have never tried it. Take a chance, try an early or late booking at a discount and be first in line for better times the following year.