Saw your posting and can comment on the Ptarmigan Tours option. I have been going to the Purcells with Ptarmigan Tours for the last 8 years.

On the plus side for Ptarmigan Tours, the people are thoroughly delightful folks.

As for the level of skiing, the beauty of their layout is that all levels of skier can find challenging skiing (avalanche conditions permitting). The stronger skiers will climb higher and make more runs - but it can be a pretty social kind of skiing. I take a strong coed group. No one has reported feeling "held back", nor has anyone been dragged into conditions beyond their comfort level. Another plus - they have exclusive use at Boulder Mt. At some areas, the hut skiers compete with the heli-skiers for the same slopes. You can guess who wins...

The Ptarmigan format is guided and catered. The guests help with dishes and chores. Ptarmigan does the menus, cooking, and guiding. The meals are great.

Ptarmigan has a "sweet - and exclusive deal" with the local heli owner/operator. The week normally includes fly-in/fly-out. In addition, with good snow and good flying conditions, they can offer a day of heli-skiing (I forget the price but was very reasonable) or a day of heli-touring, which we took advantage of last year. We were flown to a drainage that had never been skied before, got dropped off (in fact the pilot skied with us). Yo-yo'd (earn-your-turns) and then picked up and returned to the Ptarmigan hut area and dropped off high, for a last descent to the cabins. For $97/person.

We've found the terrain good and varied - from open bowls to tree skiing. You don't get the huge - glacier - vista's. But there's almost always good skiing regardless of snowpack, wind, visibility, avalanche danger.

(Hut Name) Ptarmigan Tours
(Hut Address) http://www.cyberlink.bc.ca/~ptarmigan/ski.html
(trip was guided) yes
(trip was catered) yes
(I rate the skiing as) great
(I rate the hut as) great
(I rate the food as) great
(I rate the people as) great
(Would I go again) yes

(Comments) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- I have taken 3 trips with Ptarmigan Tours to their Boulder and Ptarmigan huts, including a much reccomended week long avalanche course following Canadian Avalanche Association course for recreational skiers. The terrain at Ptarmigan runs the gamut from high alpine bowls to scrumptious steep tree skiing. A lot of the terrain is steep, and it's not uncomon to yo-yo on 40* slopes, though since the terrain is a little more compact than other places I've skied, there always seems to be enough mix of terrain to suit a group of varying abilities. The snow, during the 3 years I've visited has been very stable and predictable, falling in frequent smaller storms, which provides for a graduated consolidation of the snow pack for even consistent powder skiing that tends to be the bouncy boot to knee variety of snow rather than the bottomless keep your mouth shut or you'll suffocate variety. The client to guide ratio is a civilized 6-1, ensuring that if you need assistance it's never far away, but also a smaller group means that the other clients you get grouped with are more likely to be compatible. The daily routine favors yo-yo over tours, but Margie usually tries to get the group to get out at least one day a week for a yo-yo-less tour. All of the full time staff on the ski tours have been women, including the lead guide Kirsten, who was the first woman Canadian Full Mountian Guide certified in all diciplines by the CMGA, Margie, the owner of the operation, and skier/cook, Rhonda. Margie has been skiing and guiding out of her huts for more than 25 years, so she's got just about everything figured out by now about how to make a great ski week. The atmosphere of the huts is pretty comunal - with a common sleeping hut/loft for all the guests, and some shared chores. The views from both the hot tub and out house are spectacular. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Name) John Lee
(email) John.Lee.in.SLC@att.net