Golden, a popular North American destination

Golden BC, located in Western Canada between the Purcell and the Rocky Mountains is becoming an ever more popular destination for skiers and snowboarders wanting a variety of mountain experiences. Few places in North America offer such a wide choice of winter holiday excursions. Skiing at beautiful Lake Louise is a 50 minute drive to the east, on the way to the nearest international airport in Calgary, the Panorama ski resort is an hour's drive to the south and, of course, the Kicking Horse Alpine Resort is just minutes from the center of town.
Besides alpine skiing, Golden offers a wealth of other winter holiday experiences. Great Canadian Heli-skiing and Purcell Heli-skiing are both in or close to Golden and, in the mountains around Golden, there are many backcountry lodges including Mistaya Lodge, Amiskwi Lodge, Sorcerer Lodge, Purcell Lodge and Golden Alpine Holidays with a collection of small backcounry lodges.

For competent intermediate and expert alpine skiers and riders having no backcountry experience, a three-day snowcat skiing tour at Chatter Creek provides an easy but memorable introduction to the joys of backcountry powder and probably by far the best skiing of the trip. Our dream trip would be a few days of alpine skiing at the resorts in or near Golden followed by three or four days of cat skiing and then a day of heli-skiing. After that, try dog sledding or snowmobiling, because more resort skiing will be a little anticlimatic. If you share that kind of dream, make sure you book at least a year in advance because a lot of people have similar plans. Chatter Creek has perhaps the largest area of cat skiing terrain in North America and also boasts the highest and most extensive glacier skiing for cat skiers. It is becoming a very popular spot for intermediate and expert skiers.

By the way, the cat skiing and heli-skiing require no special equipment, just your usual ski clothing and boots. For Chatter Creek, you'll also want your toothbrush and a swim suit for the hot tub. Operators rent powder skis that are well adapted to local conditions and they also look after safety gear and they train you in its use. The cat skiing and heli-skiing tours are fully guided by very experienced and well trained guides.

Scroll down to lean more about snowcat skiing. If you want to try backcountry powder skiing, this is the easiest and most accessible way to do it. You don't need to be a star. The photos we show on the Chatter News tend to be of the better skiers and riders. Don't be put off. If you are a strong intermediate, you'll have a blast! If you've never tried powder skiing in untracked snow in the trees or on big alpine slopes, Chatter's the place to start. There's no hiking, warm comfortable snowcats take you to the top and pick you up at the bottom. In between, you ski untracked powder at a pace that's right for you. Fresh tracks, every run on an endless variety of hills. Check out our Cat Skiing Articles to learn more. Our Ski Run Index shows many of the major runs and ski areas at Chatter Creek.