Trying to love the resort thing...

You can always strap your skis or snowboard to your bike, ride to the bottom of a nice mountain, pitch your tent, hike up, ski down, eat, sleep, ride to next mountain, repeat.

Years ago while touring Iceland in a campervan in spring we came across a group of bikepackers who were doing the same thing.

costs of running a resort are HIGH

I suggest the small area as oposed to the mega resort experiance,

20 min to HBM or tour up and an early bird seasons pass is not outrageous

I was getting it free in exchange for running saw

I bought a lift ticket at Hart highlands and got change back from my 20 $

Posted by: XXX_er

costs of running a resort are HIGH

I suggest the small area as oposed to the mega resort experiance,

20 min to HBM or tour up and an early bird seasons pass is not outrageous

I was getting it free in exchange for running saw

I bought lift tickets for 5 at Hart highlands and got change back from my 20 $

I grew up on the Hart. My first job as a teenager was running the old rope tow and working in the rental shop at Hart Highlands. We used to ski right from our house to the hill. Good times.

yeah HH was hardly whistler but for my young grand kids it was pretty good,

dress them at home and  thro them out of the mini van in the P-lot

actualy it was 20$ just for me but the family seasons pass was < 400 $

My parents paid to be members when the ski hill was created. Then I think we paid something like $100/season for our family after that. Or you could go down in the fall and help clear willows and your fee would be waived. We were the little brats that would go there after school with shovels from home so we could build jumps to hit at night skiing after dinner. But, talk about drops to flat. We had no clue. I probably should be 6' instead of 5'10". lol

Btw, what's happening with Hudson's Bay? Rumor had it they received some funding and were planning to open for bikes in the summer. But I haven't heard anything in over a year now.

I remember buying the ticket from the cashier in the cafeteria and getting change back from a 20 $ bill

not really that sure whats going on but here is the announcment

https://smithersmountainbike.ca/smba-and-hudson-bay-mountain-awarded-cerip-grant/

I ride the bluff a lot cuz its so handy to town, a trip or 2 to burns lake every year, now there is a mellow area in Hazelton and an area  in Terrace I havent ridden yet

My GF was heading up to the mountain to ski with a friend so I figured I would jump in the car and do a solo day.  We got there for first lift and I decided to ride one of the less popular chairlifts because it was empty. I rode the lift solo and with zero lines most of the morning which was nice as it removed one of the resort hassles that irritated me. The snow wasn't as good as last time, but I could see where I was going and that was more important! I got lots of practice just cruising around and linking fun turns. I got my equipment dialed in better than last time as well. There were a fair number of icy patches on the steeper slopes. Not something I love, but good practice for balance and edge technique.

Eventually the crowds built and things got annoying so I decided to call it a day. Doing repeat laps without breaks and no lift lines meant I got a lot of riding in before things got crowded. I enjoyed the day a lot more than last time so that's good!

Progress! ;-)

I wrote a fairly long follow up to my OP than failed to post it and lost it. **sigh** Coles Notes below.

• ended up enjoying my time on the mountain enough we bought season's passes for next year at the early bird price
• went ~15 times with some hacked/free days in the mix
• lucked out with really great snow days and some empty mountain mid-week days
• figured out how to avoid lift lines better
• figured out how to make the most of the available terrain better
• improved my boot/binding setup for greater comfort
• connected with some new and old friends to carpool
• started to learn to ride strapless boards for a new challenge
• got back a lot of my old snowboarding skills letting me enjoy riding more/harder terrain
• found a friend who wants to do some backcountry riding next season so we are going to get our avy training done and try some easy/safer side country/backcountry days

So ya all in all it ended up a lot better than it started. Living 30min door to lift from the mountain solved one of my biggest issues with the resort snowboarding and the cheap season's pass solved another one....at least on a cost/day basis. I've been interested in backcountry riding for a long time, but never had a friend that was keen and it's not a solo activity. If I can get that happening that'll be a solid Bucket List achievement.