Big Red Cats

Fresh tracks, deep powder, and no lines - cat skiing and boarding at Big Red Cats provides all that and more!  Conveniently located near the ski resort at Red Mountain BC, only 2.5 hours north of Spokane airport, so that you can combine your trip with a visit to the resort as well.  Safety is our main concern (our guides have ACMG, CSGA, and Canadian Avalanche Association qualifications), but fun is what it's all about.  We love exploring the backcountry, and nearly every day someone tells us that it was the best day of skiing in their life. 

 

Because cat skiing is more enjoyable when you are with others of a similar skill level, we offer separate expert, advance, and intermediate days.  We offer fantastic day-trips, as well as great value multi-day packages - snowcat only, or including lodging and lift tickets for Red and Whitewater.  Ski the lifts to warm up for cat skiing, or come cat skiing to prepare for your heli trip.

 

We've got it all - some of the best prices around, over 35 feet of fresh Monashee powder, and two passenger cats in over 18,000 acres of trees and bowls. 

Opening Date:	December 2007
Closing Date:	April 2008

Our exclusive permit allows us to access about 18,500 acres of awesome terrain, with areas suited to intermediate, advanced, and expert groups.  The combination of deep powder snow, some old-growth forest, some large open spaces, and plenty of gladed area allows our guides to find the best powder skiing and riding that will suit your ability level and your powder skiing dreams.  We are 10 minutes up highway 3B from Red Resort (Red Mountain).  Red is known for its legendary snowfall –  and because Big Red Cats goes to even higher elevations, we tend to get even better snow than Red.    We have about 18,500 acres of terrain and will normally run 1 cat (though there is a second, for back-up and large groups) – compare this to the current market leader in the cat skiing business which runs 3 cats on about 7000 acres of terrain .  At Big Red Cats we have identified 52 runs so far, but are still finding more, so we are able to select terrain that is as safe as possible for different conditions.    Our longest run has an 1100-meter vertical and our shortest has a 300-meter vertical, with the average having between a 400-500 meter vertical.  Some of these runs are so big that they can be skied over and over again with-out skiing the same line twice. 

We are a proud Operating Members of the Canadian Ski Guide Association.  The CSGA provides guide training, qualifications, and operations standards specifically for the mechanized skiing industry in Canada, and its qualifications are recognized by our insurers.  We also employ ACMG and foreign guides, provided that their qualifications are recognized by the CSGA.

 

Ken Bibby is the Guiding Operations Manager for Big Red Cats and is responsible for all guiding and safety on the mountain. He is a certified ACMG Ski Guide, a professional member of the Canadian Avalanche Association and sits on the Board of Directors for the CAA. He has many years of experience in the heli and backcountry skiing industry and regularly guides private Spring ski touring trips throughout Western Canada. He is also involved in the Industry Training Programs at the CAA and teaches both recreational and professional level avalanche courses. 

We now have 3 snowcats with cabins, and 2 as backup. New for 2007/2008, 2 new 2003 PB300 snowcats - for faster hill-climbing and less fuel consumption.  

Call us for more information as this year is allready heavily booked - Last year during February and the 2nd half of January there were virtually no standby seats to be had.... so book early to get the days that you want.

 

Standby special pricing is available 48 Hours before the snowcat leaves this is at C$299 per day. 

• • Big Red Cats
    PO BOX 742, Rossland, BC
    Rossland, British Columbia, BC V0G 1Y0
    
  • visit website
    
• • Phone: 250-362-2271
    
  • Fax: 250-362-2271
    
  • Email: ski@bigredcats.com