Our flight to Calgary was late so we didn't get to bed in Canmore until 1:30AM. Thus we got a late start and only skied half day at Kicking Horse. But the place was empty so we skied 17,600 and got a good look at everything.
It has not snowed in a week for there was no soft snow. But it's cold (10-20F at the base, 0-10F up top) so nothing has been through a melt/freeze. The Canadians called it hardpack, but they haven't been skiing in California, Utah or Colorado for the past few weeks. With firm chalk conditions the numerous chutes on CPR and Redemption Ridges deserved plenty of respect, as you were going for a long ride if you made a mistake. Only the very top chute into Feuz Bowl from the Blue Heaven lift had some wind sift for more fluid steep skiing.
What was most interesting to me, having been here in 2002 in powder and in 2005 in sketchy conditions, was the lower mountain. In this big snow year Kicking Horse is well covered top to bottom, and they've bought a few more grooming machines since 2002. The skier's left in particular on the lower mountain has very nice Gpaul-style steep cruisers up to 2,000 vertical. This was my first day on brand-new Apache Recons, and the groomers were great, except for the wind chill on my face. Good moguls too, well spaced due to low skier density.
In these conditions my oft-voiced criticism of the lift sytem is not as big a deal, except for weekend lift lines according to the locals. You can ski any number of hairball chutes on the upper mountain and then hit some groomed or bumps for a very interesting 3,800 vertical in total. And as I know from my first trip in 2002 KH is a very nice place to be on a powder day.
I would still advise skiers to watch the snow numbers here and avoid Kicking Horse in subpar years due to the lift system. But in good years like this one it's a much more balanced mountain than my initial impression in 2002.
It has not snowed in a week for there was no soft snow. But it's cold (10-20F at the base, 0-10F up top) so nothing has been through a melt/freeze. The Canadians called it hardpack, but they haven't been skiing in California, Utah or Colorado for the past few weeks. With firm chalk conditions the numerous chutes on CPR and Redemption Ridges deserved plenty of respect, as you were going for a long ride if you made a mistake. Only the very top chute into Feuz Bowl from the Blue Heaven lift had some wind sift for more fluid steep skiing.
What was most interesting to me, having been here in 2002 in powder and in 2005 in sketchy conditions, was the lower mountain. In this big snow year Kicking Horse is well covered top to bottom, and they've bought a few more grooming machines since 2002. The skier's left in particular on the lower mountain has very nice Gpaul-style steep cruisers up to 2,000 vertical. This was my first day on brand-new Apache Recons, and the groomers were great, except for the wind chill on my face. Good moguls too, well spaced due to low skier density.
In these conditions my oft-voiced criticism of the lift sytem is not as big a deal, except for weekend lift lines according to the locals. You can ski any number of hairball chutes on the upper mountain and then hit some groomed or bumps for a very interesting 3,800 vertical in total. And as I know from my first trip in 2002 KH is a very nice place to be on a powder day.
I would still advise skiers to watch the snow numbers here and avoid Kicking Horse in subpar years due to the lift system. But in good years like this one it's a much more balanced mountain than my initial impression in 2002.
