Mt Carlyle

The area around Carlyle is steeped in old mining history, claim sites, relics and an abundance of tall tales. Even though the lodge isn’t as old as the stories, it is a place that is built by people whose passion for the area runs deep and whose stoke for skiing is at the maximum. Still clinging on to its original routes with one of the founders, ‘Bomber’, the torch is now being passed on to a young family, Brendan, Mel and Val, with a great team of cooks, caretakers and other staff at the ready to help you out. It is truly a magical place, surrounded by ancient larch trees that make you think you’re skiing in Japan on the storm days. But then it clears and you have epic huge runs on all aspects. The lodge is tight and funky, but works so well. Great sauna, easy bucket shower, indoor pee toilets, amazing food. If you can get a spot there, take it!

Lodge ****

Terrain ****

Snow *****

Strengths

• Huge variety of terrain, great tours, a few summits in the mix.

• Safe tree skiing right out the door, you will never be shut down and the lodge is high, so you can survive the warm spells.

• Amazing catering - the food is awesome.

• Staff/hosts are top notch. The owner/operator experience, from passionate people who love being up there and skiing with you.

• Small group size of 10 is common, so much nicer than skiing in a massive possee!

Weaknesses

• Not a true weakness but more a heads up. The lodge is smaller, meaning more bunk style housing. It can feel tight at the end of the week, and no couples double occupancy for rooms, so be friendly!

• No big glaciated terrain, which is no big deal, but I do love the true glaciated alpine. Thats why I prefer to go earlier season and maximize kootenay cold smoke, which is abundant here!

• Honestly not too many. Its a fabulous place. If you need internet connectivity its not really offered there, but technology is changing…

When and why to ski at Carlyle? All year, the owners love April. But personally I’d prefer January to hit the cold smoke on all aspects. There’s a ton of fun solar terrain right out the door that would be better quality earlier season. Later in the year means longer days for big tours, but I was able to easily do the Carlyle circumnavigation in January!