Kicking Horse Mar 1-10th ***Advice

Pfunkride

Pfunkride

New member
I'm heading to Kicking Horse from the 26th of Feb --> Mar 10th. I'll be hopefully hooking up with some friends from VT(my current location). She's been out there for a few years, but I wanted to drop a line here to see what advice i could get from the great people on this board.
Do people drop off the backside? Where does that go? Can you hitchhike back? .... It didn't look like anything was back there.
How long of a hike does it take to get to some of the outer bowls? How far do people typically traverse these ridges? Like 4-5 bowls out ?
What about runs? Are people making the top to bottom runs to get the Gondi rides?

Thanks!
 
I think it's a mistake to park yourself at Kicking Horse for 10+ days when there are so many other interesting areas in the region.

Kicking Horse has serious logistics issues with its lift setup, discussed toward the bottom of this thread:
viewtopic.php?f=3&t=619

That thread was in response to my experience in the poor Canadian season of 2005:
viewtopic.php?f=3&t=608

Nonetheless Lake Louise usually provides a better ski experience, and Revelstoke just 1.5 hours further usually has much more snow.

Feuz Bowl to the north of Blue heaven is quite expansive. Most entries are along Redemption Ridge running east, but going north you have to hike so those drop-ins see little traffic. Going south from the gondola Super Bowl is a separate bowl beyond Bowl Over. 20-30 minute hike to reach from what I read, but I've never been there. Go any farther than those and you might not drain back into the ski area without a lot of low elevation grunt work. Remember the base area averages barely 100 inches, so I don't think you want to be in the backcountry down low.

Reports from better days at Kicking Horse in 2007 and 2008. I'll be there again in 2 weeks.
viewtopic.php?f=3&t=2748
viewtopic.php?f=3&t=6336
 
Kicking Horse is a great place!

However, the backside of Kicking Horse - good luck. Nothing is back there.

If you go 1 bowl out-of-bounds, things are great. You do not need to travel far - but need gear and acumen. And there are short-cut traverses...so it's too easy to get to. A top 5 Sidecountry place for sure! Full of Scandi bums.

I skied there 1 day - but would not want to be there too many. Fernie. Louise. And now Revelstoke. Move around! Or stop by Louise on the way in or out - day-trip to Revy.

The biggest issue is lift system....with mega vertical lifts like the gondola - you need to counter-weight them properly for safety. This reduces capacity. And increases lines. You can see this at any lift > 2500-3000 vert feet. Very few can serve over 1500 people/hour. It's like having a double chair. And Kicking Horse is a one-lift hill. So you get a little screwed if slight crowds show up.
 
Useful explanation on the lift capacity. Local reports are that that gondola line can be excessive on popular weekends,
 
Great advice!
I did start research how close other mountains are.

Is anyone been riding out there yet? How are the conditions?
Seems that they aren't getting hammered with snow this year........
 
They are about average on snowfall. But remember KH averages 275 at the top and about 100 at the base. And backcountry stability is horrible this year.
 
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