If you’ve been reading my blog for awhile, you might be aware that I’ve been going on a ski trip with friends every winter since 2016, we missed two years because of the pandemic, so this year was our 8th Annual Ski Trip. We always go to a different resort every year, with the goal being to ski as many resorts as possible!
Last year we went to Manning Ski Resort, but it didn’t result in a blog post because the skiing was so terrible last year that only one run was open! This year, we’d planned to go down to Mount Baker. Unfortunately, our AirB&B fell through at the last minute and we ended up going to Sasquatch Ski Resort instead because it was easier to find accommodations there at the last minute.
Sasquatch is located northwest of Harrison. It’s quite close to Vancouver, with the driving distance similar to Whistler, but it’s not very popular considering the proximity. I think the main reason for this is that it’s a relatively small resort and it’s not super easy to get to. In addition to winter tires, you are also required to carry chains when driving up the mountain to the small ski town. The road is only paved halfway, which is why tire chains are needed. That said, I’d heard it’s a fun little mountain with low crowds and good snow, so I’d been wanting to visit for a while. We were able to scrounge up enough sets of chains on facebook marketplace and decided to go for it!
There were 8 of us, plus 2 dogs. We left after work on Friday, with most people arriving early evening. We had a really nice townhouse near the lifts. It wasn’t completely ski out access, but only a short walk to the lodge. As is our custom, the trip was as much about eating as it was about skiing! I made pisco sours (which I learned how to make in Chile last year) as a welcome drink, and Brandon provided a delicious raclette, while we took turns lounging in the hot tub.
Sasquatch has a relatively small village. There is a lodge and rentals and a cafeteria, but there’s not a lot else in the town besides accommodations. The stargazing is surprisingly phenomenal at night though! We had a bit of a slower start to the day. We all bought our passes online because it’s $20 cheaper to buy in advance. Once you have an RFID card, it’s easy to load up, but the line to pick up your card for the first time is pretty long in the morning. If we had our time back, we would have gone down to get our passes the previous evening since there is night skiing available until 8pm.
We ended up not needing chains to get up the mountain. It has been at least a week since the last snowfall, so the roads were clear the entire way up. There was a good base of snow on the mountain, but given the lack of fresh snow, it was pretty crusty. There are two main lifts going the whole way up the mountain, and a half lift in the middle.
The groomed runs were in really nice condition, but all the other runs were in rough shape. There’s lots of spaced out glade runs all over the mountain that I think would have been really fun on a powder day, but after giving one a try, we steered clear for most of the day because they were so crunchy and hard to navigate. There are several key groomed runs that cut back and forth across the mountain, and a lot of more rugged terrain, but we mostly stuck to the groomers on this trip.
The lifts are really slow. One seems to have been upgraded and is not too bad, but the other one (Sasquatch chair I think), is REALLY slow and pretty uncomfortable because there’s no cushions on any of the seats. We played a lot of Harry Potter 20 questions on the way up to pass the time. While the snow wasn’t the best, the runs were all open and we had the real benefit of a beautiful view! Sometimes you get cloudy powder days and those are great, other times you get sunny, crunchy days, and I’ve learned to appreciate those for the views! It was warm and sunny and we could see all of the Harrison backcountry, which was very beautiful!
Carolyn and I had a good time making reels on the slopes and skied until around 3pm in the afternoon. I cut out early to cook up a Jiggs Dinner for everyone! Jiggs Dinner is a traditional Newfoundland feast – I used to do it every year on the ski trip, but it is a lot of work, so I haven’t done it since pre-pandemic. I didn’t end up having Jiggs for Christmas this year, so I decided to bring it back for the ski trip! While it was cooking, we sang karaoke on a machine Adriana found in the games closet and did a boxed escape room that Carolyn had brought. After a delicious meal and far too much dessert, we all relaxed in the hot tub!
My original plan had been to snowshoe on Sunday, but I was feeling pretty wiped out, so me and Seth slept in (as much as Sadie would let us), and then drove back to Vancouver after check-out. A few friends stuck around to do some more skiing and snowshoeing on the local trails. While I had a better experience than at Manning, I’m still keen to re-visit both mountains again. I still need to ski most of the terrain at Manning and I would really love to come back to Harrison on a powder weekend. Both resorts are close enough that you could get up early and drive there just for the day. Especially since Sasquatch has night skiing! it was a fun little mountain and I would like to explore it more.
The Road Goes Ever On 