Compare Canada Cat Skiing

Canada is the capital of cat skiing and there are 21 Canada cat skiing operations, 18 of which are in British Columbia. All cat skiing in British Columbia is fabulously insane and the purrrrrfect way to get untracked fresh powder turns! So the only problem is choosing which of these fabulous cat skiing operations to go with. For some people the choice is largely based on location, or availability considering that many of the high profile British Columbia cat ski operations are pretty much booked out 12 months in advance because repeat customers get priority booking and they will never give up their coveted spot.

To aid in your decision making:

• See the Snowcat Skiing Canada Packages for an indication of availability.
• See our best cat skiing in Canada awards. 
• Check out the Powderhounds cat skiing ratings which are broken down into aspects such as the powder, terrain for different abilities, snowcat, safety, guiding, and value.
• See the cat skiing in British Columbia comparison information below which includes a cost comparison.

Day Cat Skiing Canada

Compare Statistics for the Day Cat Ski Operators

Cat Skiing Canada  Day Operators	Location	Hectares	elevation (m)	Annual Snow (m)	Daily Vert  (ft 000s)	Our Review
Big Red Cats	Red Mountain	7,810	2,200	12.2	9-15	Our review
Fernie Wilderness Lodge	Fernie	1,214	2,170	11	10-12	Our review
K3	Revelstoke	13,354	2,256	18.3	*
Kpow	Fortress Mountain near Nakiska	809	*	7.5	*
Powder Mountain	near Whistler	1,741	*	*	7-10	Our review
Powder Stagecoach	Castle Mountain	364	2,190	9	11-16	Our review
Ski Chic Chac	5hrs E of Quebec City	*	*	7	*
Valhalla	near Nelson	8,500	2,438	13	13-18	Our ratings

• * reliable information not available or not applicable 
• We all know that Canadians can’t decide whether to use metric or imperial so we’ve used a bit of both!

Cost Comparison of the Day Cat Skiing BC

This table outlines the costs (in CAD) of the Canadian Cat Ski outfits that offer single day packages. The availability is the likelihood of getting spots if you booked in the middle of the year (e.g. July).

Cat Skiing Canada  Day Operators	Cost/Day High Season	Cost/Day Low Season	Availability Likelihood
Big Red Cats	$719	$649	moderate
Fernie Wilderness Lodge	$750	$650	moderate
K3	$740	$640	n/a
Kpow	$595^^	$510^^	n/a
Powder Mountain	$715^^	$715^^	n/a
Powder Stagecoach	$650	$550	moderate
Ski Chic Chac	$950	$650	moderate
Valhalla	$950	$650	negligible

• Prices are in Canadian dollars (not including tax).
• The prices listed are for the 2024-25 season unless otherwise specified and serve as a guide to compare Canada cat skiing costs. ^^ = 2023-24 season prices

Multi-Day Cat Ski Canada Operators

Compare Statistics for Multi-Day BC Cat Skiing 

Cat Skiing Canada  Multi-Day Operators	Location	Hectares (000)	Elevation (m)	Snow (m)	Daily vert (ft 000s)	Our Review
Backcountry Snowcats	Pemberton near Whistler	6,070	2,340	10	12
Baldface	near Nelson	12,950	*	*	15
Big Red Cats	Red Mountain	7,810	2,200	12.2	9-15	Our review
Chatter Creek	100m NW of Golden	23,472	2,900	*	12-20
Fernie Wilderness	Fernie	1,214	2,170	11	10-12	Our review
Great Northern	SE of Revelstoke	7,500	*	15	12-15	Our review
Island Lake	Fernie	2,124	2,134	10.5	12-17	Our review
K3	Revelstoke	13,354	2,256	18.3	*
Keefer Lake Lodge	near Cherryville	35,005	2,140	14	8-15	Our review
Monashee Powder	near Vernon	6,880	2,438	18.3	10-18	Our review
Mustang Powder	near Revelstoke	12,140	2,440	18.3	15-20
Retallack	north of Nelson	4,046	2,591	14	*	Our review
Selkirk Snowcat Skiing	Meadow Creek	7,800	2,500	15	12-18	Our review
Skeena Cat Skiing	NW of Smithers	*	1,760	*	13-16	Our review
White Grizzly	Meadow Creek	4,452	2,500	13	16-20	Our review

• * reliable information not available or not applicable

Compare Cost for Multi-Day BC Cat Skiing

Cat Ski Canada Multi Day Operators	3 Days	4 Days	5 Days	Availability Likelihood
Backcountry Snowcats		$4,800		n/a
Baldface Lodge		*		nil
Big Red Cats	$2451	$3,660	$3,268	moderate
Chatter Creek	$6,009	$7,871		negligible
Fernie Wilderness	$2,877	$3,836		moderate
Great Northern	$5,040	$6,720		low
Island Lake	*	*		nil
K3	$5,850	$7,800		n/a
Keefer Lake	*	*		nil
Monashee Powder	$4,500	$6,000		low
Mustang Powder	$5,700	$7,600		negligible
Retallack	$5,068	$6,758		nil
Selkirk Snowcat Skiing			*	nil
Skeena Cat Skiing	$4,350	$5,800		moderate
White Grizzly	$5,145	$6,860		moderate

• Prices are in Canadian dollars (not including tax).
• The prices listed above are for the 2024-25 season and serve as a rough guide to compare cat skiing costs. ^^ = 2023-24 season costs.
• Rates listed are for high season.
• Multi-day snowcat ski packages include lodging. The cost listed is based on twin share.

Ability Level Required

Some British Columbia cat skiing operators can accommodate strong intermediate riders up to experts. A couple of companies only cater to the expert rider, with terrain that has mandatory drop-offs and/or tight steep trees. Double check the type of terrain on offer because you might think you’re an expert until you compare yourself to some of the Canadian locals!

You might want to check out our cat skiing ratings for terrain by ability level.

All of the Canada cat skiing companies have terrain that is ideal for advanced riders. Where companies differentiate themselves is largely around how well they can cater for intermediate and expert riders.

Best Cat Skiing for Intermediates
About half of the cat skiing Canada operations can provide an experience for intermediates.

Big Red Cats has a distinct advantage over many other cat skiing companies because they have three to four snowcats that cater to different ability levels (intermediate, advanced and expert and uber-expert). This separation allows strong intermediates the comfort of knowing that they’re not holding up gun skiers and boarders. On the flip side, experts don’t need to worry that they’ll be twiddling their thumbs whilst waiting for less experienced powder riders.

Monashee Powdercats also caters reasonably well to strong intermediates.

Best BC Cat Skiing for Experts
Most cat skiing companies have great expert terrain, but whether they go there is somewhat dependent on the group that you’re out with (unless you organise your own snowcat with your expert mates). Once again, any company like Big Red Cats that separate the snowcats by ability will generally provide a better experience for experts.

Keefer Lake has some kick-arse steep tree skiing that’s ideal for experts and it doesn’t attract cat skiing newbies.

White Grizzly cat skiing solely caters to experts. Their mantra is “ski good or eat wood” (ie hit the trees)!

Retallack tends to attract hard-core skiers so you’re less inclined to get stuck with intermediates.

Vertical

Most Canada cat skiing operations offer 12,000 to 15,000 vertical feet per day (3,656 – 4,570 metres), but it varies somewhat. There are various factors that affect the amount of vertical covered each day, including the power of the snowcat, the efficiency of the snowcat roads, the length of the runs, and the elevation that the snowcat starts from each day. However the major consideration is the speed of the group.

So if you want max vertical, the highest likelihood of achieving this is with companies that cater well to experts.

White Grizzly, Big Red Cats and Mustang Powder all offer up to 20,000 vertical feet per day. Chatter Creek can also offer up to 20,000 feet.

At the other end of the spectrum, some companies offer significantly less vertical. Powder Mountain provides approximately 7,000 to 10,000 feet per day (equivalent of about 2 top to bottom runs at Whistler Blackcomb) and Great Northern Snowcat Skiing about the same. For many intermediate and advanced riders, this is more than enough powder turns to burn your legs and send you to the masseuse to get the kinks ironed out!

Cat Skiing Terrain Size

Is bigger better? The answer is generally yes. Terrain size of greater than 4,000 hectares is more than adequate (and if the terrain is too big it may take too long to get to some of the slopes anyhow).

Large terrain size provides a variety of aspects so that particularly during dry spells, the guides have lots of options to find some good snow. Small terrain results in the risk of not always having fresh tracks if it hasn’t snowed in a while.

Small cat ski operators include Powder Stagecoach (324 hectares) and Fernie Wilderness Cat Skiing (1,213 hectares). Mustang Powder (12,140 hectares) has a big cat skiing tenure, whilst Chatter Creek near Kicking Horse has massive terrain with nearly 24,000 hectares.

See our Canada cat skiing stats for comparisons on terrain size.

Cat Skiing British Columbia Lodging

The type of cat skiing lodging varies significantly across BC. Big Red Cats’ accommodation is at the Red Mountain ski resort in rustic private lodges or you can choose your own condo or hotel. Most other BC cat skiing involves lodging at a remote backcountry lodge.

Some of these mountain lodges are cosy and rustic (e.g. FWA Cat Skiing, White Grizzly), whilst commonly they are quite salubrious. An example of luxury lodging is at Island Lake Cat Skiing near Fernie. There is deluxe lodging at Keefer Lake Cat Skiing and an example of middle of the road lodging is Retallack Cat Skiing.

And Skeena Cat Skiing is incredibly unique because the backcountry lodging is at a remote base camp formed with large tents. It is incredibly cool and whilst not luxurious, it's far from roughing it! A purr-ffect ending to a day of cat skiing in northern BC!