Get away from the coast, emerge from the muggy interior and get yourself to the Rockies. If you hit it right, you’ll swear that Superman pushed the planet backwards to give us another month or two of creamy skiing.






The range’s characteristic cold—a source of instability and discomfort in the winter—protects mountain flanks from mother nature’s hot stinky breath. As an added bonus, spring squalls consistently freshen the upper elevations. Of course, there’s no such thing as a weather-related absolute, so do your homework before you quit your job and blow off your impending wedding.




To simply say “The Rockies” can be quite deceiving. According to The World Atlas “the Rocky Mountains, about 2000 miles in length, extend from the Mexican frontier, up through the western United States, and on into Canada and eastern Alaska.” That’s not very helpful. But the Western Canadian Ski Community considers the dramatic series of peaks within the Banff, Yoho and Jasper National Parks 'The Rockies'.






There’s a tick-list of monstrous faces, serpentine couloirs and endless icefields that can keep you skiing dry snow well into May. If the backcountry’s not a go, get yourself to either Sunshine. The massive resorts see a minimal number of tourists in the late spring so you may find yourself having an inbounds pow day that feels more like heli-skiing.





Of course, whenever you ski blower pow in late April, there’s always an element of luck involved. Spring skiing in the Rockies also has a knack for producing some of the worst skiing imaginable. If you really want to scare yourself, try dropping into an ungroomed lower mountain run at Lake Louise before the sun gets at it. Screw skiing Stanley face or Amers Couloir. The real gnar happens on the wrong side of the melt-freeze cycle.
Spring’s an emotional time for any rider. For many of us, once summer rolls around it’s not quite as easy to fill our days with such a constant source of amusement. And if you’ve only been working one day a week for the last four months, the time has come to get serious, get a job and start paying some mother*!#@ing bills.





But if you just want to cut a few more pow turns, there’s affordable hope to be had off the Jasper, Radium and TransCanada highways. Getting boozy is one way to deal those springtime woes. But getting yourself back into the goods is a worthy alternative.