April 3, 2009 Kicking Horse, BC

On the way to Golden, we stopped at Radium Hot Springs for a relaxing soak. We thought about skiing Panorama but they were reporting a 20” base at the bottom of the mountain. I remember our previous visit had a similar snow depth and it was rather rocky. It has been 5 years since I skied at Kicking Horse. My last visit was in a storm, and I enjoyed deep powder on the upper mountain and rain on the lower mountain. The number of lifts and trails has remained the same, but the major growth, as could be expected, is the infrastructure of shops and condos. The day started in the 20’s, no wind and sunny at the base and brief snow flurries in the alpine at 8000’. The mountain has extensive expert terrain off a couple of ridges but limited intermediate terrain on the upper mountain. So unless you have a bit of fresh snow, the advanced terrain is somewhat rocky and crusty on the southern aspects. As we were riding the upper lift it was definitely crusty on looker’s right and ‘hostile’ on looker’s left! The lower mountain, which was originally Whitetooth ski area, is where all the intermediate and easier groomers are located. It sure was easy and fun to ride the gondola and rip down to the base, skiing about 4000vf. There are some impressive touring opportunities from the top to additional bowls and ridges. The advanced lines off the ridges are rock-lined and no one was out scraping their bases. It appeared that it must require a lot more coverage to make those lines skiable. We had hoped to get some incredible views from the summit, but a fog layer drifted around the summit area during our visit. You have to descend the runs between the gondola and upper chair to remain on the upper mountain. Descend on the ridges to the south of the gondola or north of the upper chair and you must descend all the way to the base area. We had a pleasant day cruising around the limited terrain. I think I can wait at least another 5 years before returning.