Cat skiing

It’s the flow! With our summit-based lodge, a 7 min chairlift ride, and literally one pole stroke or foot-kick away from Schweitzer’s summit lift puts you almost immediately into the cat skiing terrain. Our longest vert is 2,200 ft; the average is 1,200 ft. The fall lines are incredible. The snow conditions and temps: typically awesome. The cat lap times are quick and efficient. Water in custom, reusable bottles, electrolytes, and snacks like Clif Bars, nuts, chocolate, and salty chips are provided. Lead and tail guides are tops in their field, playful yet stern, and adeptly lead groups to achieve an average of 8 runs and surpass 10,000 ft of vertical per trip.

While every snowcat operation is intrinsically different, perhaps what really sets Selkirk Powder apart from other cat skiing operations is the breadth of our permit area and speedy access in the morning: no vans, no long snowcat ascents, just a quick ride up the Great Escape quad, a skiing safety session (always important), and you’re dropping into the flow.

We ski with two cats (a maximum of 20 guests per day) in one huge drainage of the U.S. Selkirk Mountains. The Selkirks run north; our drainage runs west. This great combination provides the perfect aspect for 75 shaded runs interspersed along our 6½ mi upper cat road—that’s right: 6½ mi of continuous drop points!

Just like cat skiing in BC, we rip through big, open powder fields, steep pitches in fir glades, and find flow among wicked fun, natural terrain features like monster cornices and droppable cliffs. Steeps range up to 40° or more down to mellow cruisers. Size-wise, compared to all North American ski resorts, our 4,350 acres rank us #6, just behind Heavenly.

Visit the Terrain page for more information, or jump straight to the media gallery.

The snowpack in our area is a mix between continental and maritime and is famous for being deep and well-bonded. Lying in the natural storm track, snow is often refreshed, which results in an annual snowfall that exceeds 300 in. Depth-wise, we average 120 in of snowpack in April. In our history, we have observed areas with depths over 20 ft and cornices reaching outwards 50 ft. View the webcams and weather reports

• licensed guides *
• BCA avalanche transceiver for the day
• snow safety awareness and equipment training
• single-use lift ticket for the initial chairlift ride to the summit
• snacks like Clif Bars, nuts, chocolate, and salty chips
• water with complimentary sports bottle

Ski rentals

Powder skis and snowboards may be rented from Schweitzer’s Ski & Ride Center.

We would be happy to contribute some frosty fun to your special event. Examples of occassions we serve include:

• birthdays
• bachelor and bachelorette parties
• weddings
• anniversaries
• corporate outings
• reunions

To rally our guests for their day of pow, we purr along in PistenBully snowcats, outfitted with custom-built “in-the-round” seating cabins that comfortably accommodate ten (10) passengers. Cabins are heated and vented, sport wireless speakers, and are funished with comfortable, padded seats. Helicopter-style fresh air vents are installed into the window system to cool and provide fresh air flow in addition to fully-opening windows.