Kicking Horse, BC 2/25/2020

[tseeb]

After three great days in and at Mustang Powder, Tony Crocker and I skied Kicking Horse where they reported 1” new. The day started bright enough for me to change from bright yellow googles I used all three days at Mustang to medium rose ones, but it was light to moderate overcast most of the day and 9* F early in Golden.

My summary of the day is 3 gondolas, 4 chairs and 3 hikes; one each to White Wall, Super Bowl and Ozone. Tony Crocker skipped the last one and took an extra lap on Stairway to Heaven chair. Ski tracks said I skied almost 17K, but it also said I hiked to 8400’ in Ozone while https://kickinghorseresort.com/blog/lar ... en-public/ says terrain which opened last Feb. tops out at 8,218’.

The main part of the hike from the saddle past entrances to White Wall took about 15 minutes, but I took another 5 minutes to get to where a couple of guys ahead of me waited near a snow-block wall near the top. It looked possible to get off Cornice without doing as much hiking but navigation would be difficult and due to flat light and skiing the fall line, I ended up not getting into my planned easier line.

In this pictures of Tony C near bottom of White Wall, I meant to ski the green line, but ended having to sideslip a little chute with narrower choke (yellow line). The other two guys who waited for me at bottom skied the blue line.

 

[Tony Crocker]

As at Revelstoke the cold air settles in the valley overnight but by this time of year can warm to about freezing during the day. High in the ski area, temperatures ranged from 7F at dawn to perhaps 15F midday. This weather preserved winter snow on all exposures, so thus Tseeb was lured to those south facing steep lines on Ozone.

While it was mostly overcast, there were a few sunny breaks. One of these was well timed for our Stairway to Heaven hike to the White Wall, which at a sustained 40 degrees can be scary in flat light.

Tseeb at top of White Wall with Ozone in background, about a 300 vertical hike from the saddle:

View down White Wall and Feuz Bowl:

Tseeb near bottom of White Wall

By the time we got back up the gondola it was overcast again.

We headed south to Super Bowl.

In 2018 it was a plowed cat road with some uphill walks. Wind drifting this year made the walk narrower in spots. View down Super Bowl after the walk:

After skiing that, view up to T2, another hike now open.

There’s a nice line coming down from the left of the peak and then through a chute into the bowl.

We traversed high out of Super Bowl and skied Double Header, top of that run here.

Lower down it develops moguls, but widely spaced as traffic out of Super Bowl is relatively low.

From our last gondola we skied a north facing chute from CPR Ridge.

We rode the Stairway chair and Tseeb set out on his hike to Ozone. My legs were worked from Mustang so I didn’t want to press my luck. I skied a Stairway groomer, then a north chute from Redemption Ridge into Feuz Bowl and called it a day with 17,900 vertical.

 

[tseeb]

Adding a few more pictures taken with my phone. First is sign at the end of hike to Super Bowl. Somebody added "If you have a shred of decency" and "below chutes" to the "No Traversing" sign. It looked like there was an entry at the top of the ropeline which was not much of a hike.

Tony Crocker on exit from SuperBowl

Sign on hike to Ozone. The two guys from CO I caught up with at top are halfway up.

Ozone chutes from below and picture of me after skiing Ozone taken by guys who I caught up with (or waited for me at top and bottom)

Picture of White Wall taken at same time I finished Ozone

The wild boad schnitzel with spaetzli and sprouts and hunters sauce with mushrooms I had after 3+ hr ride/drive from Kicking Horse to Fernie that may have been start of my back problem. I also did not take the time to do my usual daily back exercise that morning. I saved enough of the schnitzel to make a sandwich with the next day.

I also got this 8pack in Fernie to go along with the Toques of Hazard 9.2% beer I'd bought in Revy. I'd had the Trash Panda and Jerkface before and made it home with one each of the new to me ones.

 

[Anthony]

Good pics , Just returned from Golden BC.

 

[jamesdeluxe]

Of course, claiming "scariest run" or "most extreme ski hill" IN THE WORLD is just clickbait. I've never been to KH but am aware that a lot of its terrain is above my pay grade. In any case, a nice recent clip:

 

[Sbooker]

Of course, claiming "scariest run" or "most extreme ski hill" IN THE WORLD is just clickbait. I've never been to KH but am aware that a lot of its terrain is above my pay grade. In any case, a nice recent clip:

That does look steep. Particularly for a video.