| Can I bring my own transceiver, probe & shovel? |
| We provide transceivers (Mammut Pulse), however if you feel that you will be more proficient with your own transceiver, you are welcome to bring your own, and our guides will just check that it is functioning. We have two guest packs per group, with probes and shovels, and everyone takes turns carrying them and going last (the next run they get to go first). However, we never say no to more shovels - the more the merrier!
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| Can we drink alcohol or smoke weed during the cat ski day? |
| No, it is not permitted to drink alcohol or use any non-prescription drugs during your cat skiing day. It is permitted to bring a can (cans only please) of beer to enjoy after you have completed your final run of the day, but there can be no drinking during the day, as it can impact the safety of yourself an others in the group. If you are found to be doing either of the above, you will be asked to sit in the snowcat for the rest of the day and discontinue skiing. If you request to be removed from the area, there is a $50 charge. |
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| Lunch is provided and is eaten during ascents in the snowcat, which allows us more time for skiing each day. We focus on whole and organic foods as much as possible, with two sandwiches, two cookies, and an apple per person, as well as water. If you don't like ham sandwiches, please tell us in advance and we'll make you something else. |
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| What is the weather like? |
| Big Red Cats is very close to Red Mountain BC which is in BC’s famous Powder Triangle. It snows and snows hard - sometimes it will snow for weeks without stopping. We receive about 40ft of it per year. In general, temperatures range between -1 and -10. However, prior to mid February we potentially can get brief periods of very cold arctic air with temperatures in the range of -20 to -30 Celsius. Please be prepared for all mountain weather conditions. We recommend that you bring a face mask or a snorkel for those days when the powder is so deep the every few turns you have a mouthful of snow. |
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| Am I ready for snowcat skiing in deep powder? |
| If you are a strong intermediate skier or boarder, able to ski with confidence on blue (red in Europe) runs at ski resorts in varying snow conditions (not necessarily powder), you are then ready for snowcat skiing with us. You should have been skiing actively for several consecutive years. Backcountry snowcat skiing is not for beginner skiers. As a local rule of thumb, you should be able to ski Red's Paradise "Mini-Bowls" before signing up for an Intermediate tour, you should be comfortable in the "Powderfields" before signing up for an Advanced tour, and you should be able to ski the killing fields of Red's "Cambodia" before considering an Expert tour. If you aren't sure, it is better to underestimate your ability than to over-estimate. |
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| Do you offer discounts for groups? |
| Yes! Our pricing includes the 12th person free if you pay separately, or, if you are willing to pay with one cheque or card, you get 2 seats free with a full-cat rental of 12. |
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| Can I rent fat powder skis? |
| Yes, we have a large fleet of skis, but it's best to book early to request the style and size that you prefer. As it is very busy on the morning of the cat skiing, we also try to encourage people to book in advance because it saves time in administration. If you book at the same time that you book your trip, you get a $10 discount ($29/day vs. $39/day) |
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| How many runs can I expect to make in a day of snowcat skiing? |
The number of runs that you can expect to ski depend on the level that you choose:
- Intermediates can expect to make about 7-8 runs - about 10,000 vertical feet
- Advanced about 8-11 runs and an average of 14,000 vertical ft
- Experts generally make between 9-12 runs per day. You will likely ski approximately 14,000 ft. - 18,000 ft of vertical per day. Our vertical record is about 23,000 vertical feet.
If it has been a long time since the last snowfall, we will have to travel further between runs to find fresh tracks, and you may get fewer runs in. If you come in March, the days are longer than in December, which will also affect the number of runs.
Each run is about 1200 feet,on average. |
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We take your safety seriously and our safety record speaks for itself. However there is always risk in the back-country beacuse we are dealing with a natural and uncontrolled enviroment. We can not fully eliminate this risk, but with a good team and with good procedures it is possible to reduce and manage this risk. We believe that we are the only Cat skiing operation of have a mobile safety team on the mountain every day. Some of the many steps that we take to help manage this risk are:
- We use only qualifed guides:
Superrvising Guides must be ACMG Ski Guide or Canada Ski Guide Level 3
Lead Guides must be Canada Ski Guide Level 2 or ACMG assistant guide.
Tail Guides - must have at a Minimum their CAA 1 and a 40 Hour wildderness first aid. 3 of our tail guides for this winter are professional para-medics
- We have a safety and support team out on the Mountains every day - they are mobile on snowmobiles - and can provide rapid extra assistance if required.
- We use our own radio repeater - that gives us constant communications. We also have a satellite phone.
- We do snowtesting and take weather observations every day.
- We are part of Infoex for the CAA - this means that share information with about 100 other operation in Canada every day in relation to avalanche and weather observations
- We have rescue Caches in the snowcats and on the toip of the main mountains that we ski.
- We use what we think are the Best Modern Transcivers the Barryvox and the Barryvox Pulse.
- Our terrain and Cat Roads allow us to get to the top of all the Mountain that we ski - this is helpful as iit means that we do not have large avalanche slopes overhanging what we ski.
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| Where and when do I go when I arrive? |
| You'll need to be at the Red Shutter Inn cabin at the base of Red Mountain ski resort at 0815. It is at 4420 Red Mountain Road, right before the main roundabout and Red's Central Reservations office. If you are renting skis, you'll need to arrive by 0800 at the Red Shutter Inn. Even if you have pre-arranged ski rental, you'll have to fill in and sign the ski rental form and waiver.
You'll sign your waivers and we'll take you by bus out to our snowcat staging area.
If you are traveling in from Nelson or points west for the day, you may arrange to meet us directly at the staging area. From the Nancy Greene Junction of highways 3 and 3B, travel 400m south on 3B towards Rossland. Then turn left and go in about 500m to the parking area. If you want to meet here instead, it must be arranged in advance, and you must arrive by 0845.
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