Moses2013

It should be you going over though. The wife and eldest daughter will go over on holiday in July, enjoy an expensive wine, sit outside in the park when it's a nice day. They won't think of cost of living, house prices, job salaries, winter etc.

Souvy

Yup. They are both adults and have all the kit, which they are not going to grow out of. Break, upgrade or be cut out of by paramedics, possibly.

Souvy

There are many such stores. I got my X-country skis and poles from one. Hardly used. The boots have to fit properly, though. Worth buying new, so they fit exactly. Too tight and you feet freeze quickly. Too loose and your heels are ripped to shreds in minutes.

beckiwoo

May as well add helmet and gloves to buy new aswell

Shirtback

Cheaper than what? I can't give you a direct uk/Calgary comparison. The family I mentioned above moved from a large, New-ish construction house (small garden, no land) in a nice part of MTL to the Calgary equivalent which cost twice the price (400k in mtl, 800k in Calgary, for more or less the same house/garden)...

Mad Jockette

Probably not too relevant, but renting equipment is an option.
I rented the skiing equipment when I had skiing lessons at Lake Louise. Can't remember the cost.
I did find out skiing is not my forte

Oink

It can get really really cold there in the winter.

Photoplex

Moved to Calgary about 10 years ago from England. Love it here.

We spend most winter weekends riding up at Sunshine, Lake Louise, Norquay, and Nakiska. Lots of weekend trips to Panorama, Kimberley, Fernie, Kicking Horse. When we're not out skiing/boarding, we'll be snowshoeing the mountains or frozen lakes of Kananaskis and Banff national park, or ice fishing through a hole on a lake etc.

Summer we spend hiking around Kananaskis and Banff national park, or driving out to the lake house in BC. I do a lot of back country fly fishing too, so I spend a fair bit of time hiking to hard to reach mountain lakes and streams.

There's all the outdoors you can handle out here, however, you will find it a struggle on that salary if it's the only salary coming into the home. Rents have tumbled since the recession, but when I moved here 10 years ago I was paying $1300/m for a 900 sqft 2 bed condo, and I considered that a deal. By the time you get here in 2018, things should have rebounded considerably back.

And as Oink said, it gets ridiculously cold here in the winter, but we do get chinooks - a weather pattern that brings warm pacific air directly to Calgary and warms it up suddenly. This week has been way below -30c with the windchill, yet in 2 days it's supposed to be above 0c.

JonboyE

Yeah, no doubt they will spend the rest of their time shopping for shoes and handbags.

christmasoompa

FWIW, I've said it before and I'll say it again - if you're not an 'outdoorsy' family in the UK, then I don't see why that would change in Canada. If you spend time in the winter 'stuck in the house' because of rain, then perhaps you're just not that way inclined.

We are an outdoorsy family, and weather in the UK doesn't stop us being outside pretty much every day at the weekends, whether that's just a dog walk, a horse ride, bike ride, hiking, canoeing etc. We will happily go for an 8 mile walk in the pouring rain (pub at the end, obviously). If you don't already do that, don't expect your family to suddenly become the Von Trapp family running around the hills and singing just because they've moved to Canada.

What I'm trying to say is that if the weather in the UK gets its in the way of you doing stuff there, it's likely to do the same in Canada.

Jase84

I understand what your saying but the reason we are not as outdoor'y here as we would like to be, is that we live in an urban area which we hoped would be different in Calgary having the rockies on our door step. Are kids currently do Gymnastics, basketball, hockey and swimming every week so we are quite an active family.

Jase84

Thanks for you response, that sounds a little more positive! $80k is the lowest I have seem my type of job so been using that as a worst case, will have to just look for the better paid jobs then to try and make the dream a reality!

christmasoompa

OK, I got ya. Most urban areas in the UK have countryside on the doorstep too though, that you can get to in a similar amount of time that it would take to get from Calgary to the Rockies. Maybe not quite the Rockies, but certainly space to be outside.

Just playing devil's advocate, but if all you want is a more rural area and more countryside, why not move to somewhere less built up in the UK and save yourself £25k or so?

christmasoompa

Iirc, you need a job offer to get a visa, is that right? If so, then you'll need a decent paying job anyway, as it must be at the average or higher end of the scale for your job for the LMIA to be granted, anything lower and it will be refused.

What's your job/NOC code?

Siouxie

I believe he may be Canadian..