The guides, the terrain, the lodge and the staff are all FANTASTIC.

We arrived during a relative drought, only 4-5 inches of snow in the prior week and only 1.5 inches while we were there for 4-days. One would think that the skiing/riding would be iffy. One would be thinking wrong.
The amount of terrain and the skill of the guides allowed us to ski mainly fresh un-tracked boot to knee deep powder on almost every run. Service was 5-star all the way. A few people in our cat, couldn't handle the steeper stuff so, they brought out a third guide to help those people get through the runs or take them on easier routes down.
The food is superb, gourmet, delicious, and frequent. The staff is super friendly, and almost every guest has their own bedroom with their own bathroom. We are definitely returning.

We had a really fun time at Great Northern Snowcat Skiing, enjoying the unhurried approach to scoring powder and the old school no frills lodge, home style cooking and very friendly hospitality.

Great Northern has found a niche in the BC cat skiing industry, and it plays very well to its strengths. It prides itself on not pushing to score maximum vertical and the guides don’t even track the amount of skiing each day. Great Northern also advertises that they can cater to strong intermediate riders, and the combination of the no-rush approach and the abundance of open terrain makes it ideal for those who are a little nervous about their ability or fitness level. Great Northern also has plenty of terrain for upper advanced and expert riders, but whether you’ll get to tackle it may be dependent on the make-up of your group.

Pros
- Great Northern is situated in a fabulous zone with a fridge effect for amazing snow. Even though temps were reasonably high across in Revelstoke, we enjoyed pristine powder on a variety of aspects.
- The tenure has a large range of terrain including sub-alpine and lots of open zones, very widely spaced trees, natural glades, and leaping features. Pitch varied from mellow to steep.
- We were treated like family at the lodge and the “den mum” was fantastic. There were only 11 guests, so it was a lovely boutique experience and not an energy draining party atmosphere. It wasn’t an overly fancy lodge but very comfortable and functional, and generally everyone can have their own room (with ensuite) so the only snoring you may hear is your own.
- You can drive to the lodge and its proximity to Revelstoke makes it ideal to combine with some resort skiing/snowboarding and/or heli skiing.
- We had a couple of fine days (with inversion) and the views were spectacular.

Cons
- Not a major detractor at all, but the guides made us farm snow like old school CMH heli skiing, which is not the norm at other cat ski operations. Stacking tracks was fine on open slopes but not so good in lightly wooded areas where we wanted to spread a little wider (e.g. 15-20m) to get fresh lines, and the tail guide chided us and often contradicted the lead guide. With the addition of the 2nd snowcat for day skiing, it seemed that the guides were nervous that the terrain (for specific ability levels) wasn’t large enough to sustain fresh tracks for very long without fresh snow.

Pro or Con Depending On Your Perspective
- The runs were mostly very short and there was absolutely no pressure for efficient transitions between runs. We did just over 2,000m (6,600ft) of vertical each day (if you don’t include the home run down the kitty litter to the lodge), so it’s ideal for those new to cat skiing or those who aren’t uber fit. It’s all about quality not quantity.
- The outfit can cater well to strong intermediate to low-end advanced riders, but this may result in some experts not getting their fill of challenging terrain.

Full review coming soon.

I came up for 2 days in March 2017, it was a last minute trip to release some stress of city life.
Starting with the booking process it was a great experience. The approach of the staff is very personal, just about every person there took the time to learn guests' names.
Now on to skiing. The terrain is varied, from steeps to glades and everything in between. Guides knew every inch of the many peaks they took us to. We never had to ski over the same area and everyone got to ski/ride freshies on every run.
As far as safety, the guides were proactive and vigilant. Starting with the training where everyone got to practice drills and equipment operation. Throughout the day, if any line was in question, one guide would go out and survey the line before we even got close to it. I felt extremely safe and confident in guides' knowledge and expertise.
The snow was plentiful to say the least. It snowed before I got there and again when I was there. It snowed so much that on the second day you couldn't tell where we skied the day before.
I can go on but there's only so much time I have. I will definitely come back and when the kids are older they're coming with me.

I recently visited GNSC with a group of 15 - fathers and sons. We arrived 8 days after a 3 meter dump and there was no shortage of fresh powder, and mother nature added 47 cm in the three days we were there!

The 35 square miles has plenty of terrific terrain. We particularly enjoyed the steeps in the trees. You really do get the sense that Brent, Dan and Chris really know the terrain and make sure you always have a good run.

I can't imagine skiing gets any better than our three days here.

Fantastic terrain, amazing people, great food, very unique experience!

Customers return every year because they understand how amazing this place is!!!