J.Spin
New member
Links to pictures are available at the bottom of the text
Last week we headed up to Kicking Horse Mountain Resort near Golden, British Columbia for a couple of days. Although Kicking Horse also got hit with the unseasonably warm temperatures that plagued much of British Columbia and the northwestern U.S. in January, their relatively high elevation (summit = 8,033 feet) meant that they received heavy snow on the upper half of the mountain instead of rain. So, despite the poor snow season in the area, the upper mountain actually has its deepest base (300 cm, ~118 inches) since the resort has been in operation (~5 seasons). They are reporting a mid-mountain base depth of 152 cm (~60 inches), and they actually have all 106 of their runs open. Although everything on the lower mountain is skiable (base elevation = 3,900 feet), the groomed runs are the best bet because the ungroomed runs (bumps etc.) have a lot of hard snow. The groomed runs on the entire mountain were excellent packed powder, except for a few spots of ice that formed from runoff at the very bottom (4,000 foot elevation range). There had been no substantial snow in the two weeks leading up to our trip, but sun-protected terrain on the upper mountain still had surprisingly soft snow, and even powder in places. They don't get a huge amount of skier traffic, which obviously helps in terms of snow quality.
I've posted some pictures from the trip at:
http://www.JandEproductions.com/2005/14FEB05.html
Greg has also posted some pictures at his website:
http://gprior.eskilade.com/2005_0216-Kicking
J.Spin
Last week we headed up to Kicking Horse Mountain Resort near Golden, British Columbia for a couple of days. Although Kicking Horse also got hit with the unseasonably warm temperatures that plagued much of British Columbia and the northwestern U.S. in January, their relatively high elevation (summit = 8,033 feet) meant that they received heavy snow on the upper half of the mountain instead of rain. So, despite the poor snow season in the area, the upper mountain actually has its deepest base (300 cm, ~118 inches) since the resort has been in operation (~5 seasons). They are reporting a mid-mountain base depth of 152 cm (~60 inches), and they actually have all 106 of their runs open. Although everything on the lower mountain is skiable (base elevation = 3,900 feet), the groomed runs are the best bet because the ungroomed runs (bumps etc.) have a lot of hard snow. The groomed runs on the entire mountain were excellent packed powder, except for a few spots of ice that formed from runoff at the very bottom (4,000 foot elevation range). There had been no substantial snow in the two weeks leading up to our trip, but sun-protected terrain on the upper mountain still had surprisingly soft snow, and even powder in places. They don't get a huge amount of skier traffic, which obviously helps in terms of snow quality.
I've posted some pictures from the trip at:
http://www.JandEproductions.com/2005/14FEB05.html
Greg has also posted some pictures at his website:
http://gprior.eskilade.com/2005_0216-Kicking
J.Spin
