Snowsure: 3.8
- Occasionally gets enough snow for skiing
- Is often closed due to a lack of snow
- Occasionally suffers from a lack of snow
- Rarely suffers from a lack of snow
- Castle Mountain Resort is snowsure even in the poorest seasons
Visitor reviews for Castle Mountain Resort Ski Resort
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(NOTE: Reviews may be edited by our content team for the purposes of ensuring accurate and relevant information)
(NOTE: Reviews may be edited by our content team for the purposes of ensuring accurate and relevant information)
Latest
March 01, 2011
Caesar
Caesar
February 28, 2011
Singletrackmind
Singletrackmind
Skied Castle for the first time yesterday (02/27/11) hey it was windy and the snow may have been a little better but I love this place! North of The Tamarack chair, traverse across into the trees and I feel the skiing was better there than most skiing at Kicking Horse. That's comparing the same amount snow and temps. As far as this Eaarnie Scar's post and completely slamming Castle and it's service not fair. I'll be heading back and it's nice to think I won't have to share a ride up the "slow and scary" Red with him:)
February 28, 2011
Craig
Craig
I am an American that currently lives in Canada and calls Canada home. I have skied all over North America and I can honestly say that Castle Mountain is truly a gem. The terrain is top notch, the people are fantastic, and the family atmosphere is second to none. They do not have the high speed quad chairs that other resorts have. This leads to a little longer sit on the chair and a ski mountain that has fresh powder all the way into the late afternoon. To me, I will take that trade off any day! I have skied Squaw, Whistler, Louise, you name it, and none of them are any more challenging than Castle. Castle has terrain that will test the best of the best, yet it also has terrain for the mid-level and beginning skier too. Let the kids ride Huckleberry all day while you cut your teeth on the top. If you can ski Castle, you can ski anywhere. Thank you staff and crew at Castle for an awesome weekend of great hospitality and fantastic skiing. I will be back there soon!
February 25, 2011
Dam's from
France
Dam's from
France
It's my 2nd year in Castle (Castle Mountain Resort). Why I'm back? Because it's a place begin to be rare. Don't expect a full service like Revelstoke or Val d'Isere. Somes condo or one hotel for the night and two "restaurants" during the weekend. Slow chair lifts, consistent wind,... In a way a "resort" far away from the conventional ski product.
Here we talk about mountain, that's mean know the terrain, the different effects of the weather (wind, snow, temp,...). And be able to ride in bad condition : cloudy, fog, pushing on the traverse to get to your line, deal with icy patch... If you are addicted to mountain terrain, Castle offers the conditions to challenge yourself. You will miss some pillow lines but the rest is here.
For a family, Haig chair offer a small area for beginner and intermediate but not overcrowded.
By this size and his particularities, Castle keep is own spirit like few goods spots in the Alps and the Rockies.
If you want to change of the "industrial" ski resort landscape Castle will be a good address
February 24, 2011
Merlin ManyChildren
Merlin ManyChildren
February 24, 2011
Earnie Scarr
Earnie Scarr
Disapointing to say the least. Where to start, once arriving at Castle Mountain you can instantly tell that its a "poor mans" ski hill. Calling it a resort would be an insult to resorts everywhere. The only lodging available is cabins to rent or you can stay in a hostel. There is no entertainment or nothing to do besides ski, so I doubt that qualifies as a resort. Now on to the hill itself. First off you have what the locals call the "blue chair". This is quite possibly the slowest chair ever created and probably 9 times out of 10 you don't make it to the top without the chair stopping once or twice. One of my experiences with Castle, the blue chair closed right down and everyone had to take a T-bar up the hill and I overheard people saying that this was a regular occurence. Once (or if) you make it to the top of the blue chair you are faced with two decisions. One is to ski down the hard packed blue runs, or two, you can hike...that's right, hike to what they call the red chair. Quite annoying. And for a little back story on the red chair, it is a slow speed, 2 person chair that was purchased second hand from Sunshine Ski Resort which was built to withstand high winds. And high winds is what you are looking at once you finally make it to the top of Castle Mountain. With these high winds comes white outs which is a major problem because whether you choose to go north or south off the red chair you are faced with a long traverse either way and you are supposed to gain as much speed as possible with usually very low visibility. Quite dangerous. Castle's so called bread and butter are south once you leave the red chair, on some runs called the chutes. The chutes are rarely open because they are so steep that the snow doesn't stick and it's usually just a big wall of ice. When there is snow, however, that is the place to go. You traverse over to the chutes, go down for about 5min and then you traverse back to the bottom of the blue chair. Seems like a bit of a waste. The runs, to me, seemed almost half the length of those at Lake Louise. As for the rest of the mountain, for some reason Castle Mountain decided to develop a southern area known as the Haig chair. The only thing over there is a whole lot of beginner runs and, yes, another long traverse. Also on the Haig chair is Castle's so called board park which is undeniably the worst sorry excuse for a board park in Alberta, if there is a uglier board park I challenge you to find it. So, basically the Haig chair is a total waste and leaves me to believe Haig is short for hagard. Castle should have invested in a high speed gondola that takes people all the way to the top of red instead of the two slow chairs they have now. Oh well. Another problem I have had with Castle in the past is their website. Often you will check the conditions and they will say 10 cm over night and you will go to the hill and there will be no snow, then when you check the site later is will say 5 cm in the last 48hrs, how does that make any sense? Also, they will claim that all their chairs are open yet once you arrive the red chair would be closed all day and the board park is under construction, quite frustrating. Another day they claimed to be expecting snow and I got rained on all day and once again, the sorry excuse for a board park was closed. This to me just seems irresponsible and I haven't taken the Castle website seriously after too many mistakes. Finally, last year I had enough of Castle's garbage and have boycotted the hill and have pushed myself to make it to Fernie instead. The website is more reliable and the hill itself feels much classier and organized. So now that I've vented I'll finish by saying that Castle feels like a sloppy hill that is in need of some major investing and if you are looking for a real resort I would have to insist on making it to Fernie instead. If you are coming from the east then it's only an extra hour and it's definitely worth the extra time.
February 24, 2011
DJR
DJR
February 22, 2011
Earnie Tailfeathers
Earnie Tailfeathers
We ski Castle (Castle Mountain Resort) regularly as we are from Brocket. (De closest reserve) I live closer to Castle but I'd rather go to Fernie because as my cousin said it all sucks. The terrain park at Fernie is better, the lifts in Fernie are better and the lodge is more secure. The last time I was at Castle I left my pemican in the lodge and someone stole it from my cubbie!
February 21, 2011
Josh
Josh
Castle Mountain is a free-ride snowboarder's dream. It's steep, it's deep and if you know the terrain you can still make fresh lines at 3:00pm in the afternoon, while all the fresh-faced Calgarians complain it's all tracked out. I've had a season pass to Castle for the last six years and I will never stop going. If you don't like the slow lifts, if you're scared to leave the safety of the groomed runs, if steep runs scare you, or you live for the terrain park, do yourself a favor and go to Fernie, Nakiska, or Sunshine. The wind moves snow around, it fills in the moguls; smoothing the runs out. On a good windy day, there are many runs on Castle where you can cut a fresh smooth silky line through the 'wind sift', hit the chair lift, and go back to the same run to find your last tracks already filled in!! How is this a bad thing!? If the wind is too cold for you, maybe try dressing appropriately for the weather and putting your silly fashion statement of a bandanna away and get a real face mask. I don't understand how so many people can say bad things about Castle. This mountain is great and anyone who bashes it should really think long and hard if they actually gave it a proper chance, or if you are just a negative person who can't be pleased wherever you go. Either way, if you don't like Castle, please stay away. I like the lack of lift lines on pow days. Of the 14 days I have spent at Castle this season, 13 of them have been pow days.
February 19, 2011
John
John
Nearest