Kicking Horse Living Offers a Different Pace of Life
As our gondola cabin flies past the third tower, the Columbia Valley comes into focus to the south. North America’s second-longest river winds along banks already turning green in the spring sun while a bounty of late-season powder awaits in the alpine. It looks like a fantasy landscape. “This is why we live here,” a spry fellow in his 50s says, shooting me a knowing wink. He gets it: there’s no competition here, no glitz, no glam. It’s just us and the mountains—an unvarnished, direct relationship. There are few places like it, and fewer you can call home.
Now brimming with self-confidence at 25 years old, Kicking Horse Mountain Resort knows exactly what it is—one of the last holdouts of authentic mountain living in the frenzied world of resort developments. Sat in the Purcell Mountains’ Dogtooth Range above the blue-collar town of Golden, Kicking Horse is a confluence of giant landscapes and simple values. It’s a tight-knit community of homeowners and Golden locals whose priorities are exactly the same: unfiltered mountain life in the largest setting possible, with as few distractions as possible. Think Whistler or Jackson if no one was there, and you’d start to get the picture, but still miss some of the nuance.
There’s 1,315 metres (4,314 feet) of vertical drop spanning ski terrain that’s rowdy enough to host a
Freeride World Tour event, or mellow enough to baby sit the kids. All of it funnelling back to a single base area that feels like a family ski hill, and all of it at elevations resilient enough to deliver over 6.5 metres of dry, consistent snow every winter. A small village with restaurants, cafes, pubs, and shops keeps the vibe centralized, making it easy to find your friends and neighbours. Some of whom might be just as entranced by the perfect pitch of the Dawn Mountain Nordic area only a hop away.
Come summer there’s a raucous downhill bike park to keep the energy going, or the Moonrakers cross-country mountain bike network, where you can flow endlessly through untrammelled forests of cedar, spruce, and pine that orbit the year-round resort. You can likewise spend long, warm days hiking or running the lofty alpine trails via gondola, or go it with human power alone. Whatever you choose, you’ll be in good company—but no too much company. And that’s the point. When you have the biggest outdoor recreation in North America at your doorstep and a decidedly small cadre of like-minded souls to share it with, you don’t need much else. And that’s the way we like it.
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Construction is well underway for the final phase of The Cedars development and sales have already started! This first release of homes will be on lots 19, 20, 21 and 22 and will be ready by Spring 2025.
4 Bedrooms / 3 bathrooms – 2594 luxurious square feet – Starting at $1,499,000
At The Cedars, healthy mountain living is a priority, offering clean air, pristine water, and a vibrant lifestyle. Commitment to High Performance goes beyond energy efficiency – it’s about enhancing your comfort. All Season Comfort, Climate-Resilient, All-Electric, Net Zero Energy Ready homes.
See the Buyers Guide for more information.
Contact Ned Johnson directly, njohnson@innovationbuilding.com, for all the details on the straight forward ‘Developer, direct to Purchaser’ sales process.
- Published in Real Estate, Real Estate, Summer, Winter
Biking Trail Map
- Published in Uncategorized
Yes, You Can Shred Kicking Horse as a Beginner
Kicking Horse is known for some of the most interesting and technical terrain on the Powder Highway, but if you’re a novice snowboarder or skier, that shouldn’t scare you from earning your chops on the slopes.
A few starter runs on the Jellybean and Pony training hills are the perfect way to get things started whether you’re a first-timer or are coming back from an extended absence.
From there, our trainers from our snow school will work with you to figure out which hill to tackle next.
Our Catamount chair services a solid chunk of beginner and low-intermediate terrain (primarily green runs). This includes runs like Big Ben and Wolverine, heading down towards Beaver Tail and Crowfoot. Overall, it’s a great lift for to build your confidence, nail turns and improve general skill. Since most of our beginner and intermediate terrain is located below mid-mountain, it’s not a very daunting proposition if you’re a rookie.
When you’re ready to progress to longer runs and looking to work in some blue/intermediate terrain, take our gondola to up to Eagle’s Eye and use It’s a 10 (green cat track) to enter Crystal Bowl. There’s a mix of blue and green terrain available in Crystal Bowl (one of our personal favorites is a blue: Northern Lights) They can then use It’s a 10 to travel down the mountain (a 10 km long track from top to bottom!) to access more beginner runs in the lower mountain. Alongside this run, you have to check out Kicking Horse classic #43 Blaster as well, which is a green run.
Turns in Crystal Bowl
If you’ve earned your chops and tackled this suggested lineup, that’s a solid day’s work. End your day back at Peaks Grill with a couple of beers to analyze the day’s runs and take a look at tomorrow’s conditions. There’s so much terrain to discover at Kicking Horse, you’ll find yourself with far more to conquer than you could ever do in one trip, but the best boarding/riding weekends are the ones that leave you wanting more!
- Published in Uncategorized, Winter
Preventing in-bound avalanches
Keeping a ski resort free of inbound avalanches is all about prevention
It’s early. As in, the sun hasn’t even thought about rising for the day. But if there was any snowfall last night, the safety team at Kicking Horse Mountain Resort is already at the office deciding what to do. Their office? All 3400 acres of puff that can go poof. The last thing the team wants to see is a cornice crumble and sweep down the slope potentially endangering the lives they are protecting.
Steve Crowe, one of the members of the Kicking Horse Mountain Resort safety team knows firsthand that being caught in an avalanche is unpleasant. He was caught in two on the same morning. But here is the difference between Crowe and the rest of us. He is highly skilled, is prepared with all the avi gear he needs and knew what he was doing.
“It was early season conditions and we were assessing the stability of the snow, trying to weaken the snow load. I was anticipating the slope to slide so I was prepared and was able to stay safe,” said Crowe. “When we ski cut, we always work in pairs. One person will quickly cut across a small slope from a safe spot to another safe spot testing the movement while the other patroller stays out of the zone but watches. Usually, we feel the snow move and can move away quickly. On both of these avalanches, because of my training, I was able to stay above the snow. If I thought I was in any danger, I would not have gone onto the slope.”
Safety Team
The safety team includes the mountain manager, the avalanche forecaster, the mountain safety team lead and a whole bunch of patrollers with specific roles. Each bowl from Super Bowl all the way over to the newly opened Rudi’s Bowl has an avalanche technician monitoring the bowl all day, reporting back to the avalanche forecaster.
“There are two places on the ‘It’s a Ten’ road that have to be maintained for avalanche control each day. The knob right at the top where almost everyone heading towards Crystal Bowl uses and a corner called G7 at the egress of skiers using Feuz Bowl further down. Those spots have to be clear for snowmobiles and groomers,” says Crowe. A normal day starts at 7:30 but if there was snow overnight, a crew shows up at 6:30 so they have plenty of time to push off the excess snow and set off the bombs.
Lobbing bombs for a living can be cool
Ah yes, the bombs. Crowe admits there is an adrenalin rush working with explosives.
“Throwing the bomb is pretty thrilling. It’s quite the adrenalin rush – especially when you have a result. You are torn though. You want to make the slope safe, but you are also taking off some pretty great snow.”
An avalanche is trigged in a few different ways by the team. Usually, they throw 1 or 2 kg bombs onto start zones, but for the road control a tripod is set up There is a small detonator with a meter-long fuse on it. That is lit by an igniter giving the team at least 2 and a half minutes to get clear of the area. The air blast caused by the explosion will hopefully release the snow. If there has been a heap of snowfall overnight, a helicopter from Golden is called in. “Big snow days we bring in the helicopter to hit a lot of areas quickly and get the terrain open. A helicopter can do in 20 minutes what a crew would do in a day. But if there is no visibility, we still have to send the team out,” says Crowe. There are guns aimed at closed areas and wires hung across some slopes that are used to send explosives further down the slope before they ignite.
The terrain is opened in a sequence that caters to the most people first so that’s Crystal Bowl, Bowl Over and CPR Ridge. The avalanche control will move out from those prime locations trying to avoid pockets of closures.
Crowe says they take care of the macro avalanches. The smaller pockets that could sluff are in chutes and slopes where people using it are usually capable of riding out a small avalanche.
“”People get mad when we are slow to open terrain, but we have to think of everyone’s safety. Yes, we are overly cautious – but we have to be. We put up as much rope with tons of signs as possible which either delineates the end of the resort property or a closure. If people duck under our boundary ropes to go out of the resort area, that’s fine, hopefully they are prepared. But inbounds, a rope with signage means a slope or run is closed. If people choose to duck under those ropes (they are called poachers by the patrollers) they know the slope is shut for a reason. We can’t protect people who don’t respect our efforts,” says Crowe. “If poachers are caught, we have zero-tolerance. If they have a season pass, it’s frozen for three weeks.”
Prevention is an all-day effort
Crowe says as the avalanche forecaster the day starts in the office creating the initial plan of attack, but the rest of the day is out looking for spots and assessing the potential for avalanches. He’ll dig snow pits and check the snow characteristics always asking, “Did the forecast match what is going on?” As much as they rely on data and education, gut feeling is also a major component and that comes with experience.
The forecaster can’t just think about how yesterday’s storm is affecting today. There are so many layers of snow under that last dump that add to the story. Crowe says they have to think about how the weather has impacted the other layers. If snow came down warm on a broken surface, it bonds. If the surface has melted and refrozen, it creates a crust that can contribute to a weak layer beneath the next snowfalls. It’s all about preventing that release from happening when the slope is open.
“The safest slope is the one skied the most. If you see a rope across a run with that sign saying the slope is closed, it’s for a better reason than saving freshies for the weekend.”
Stay safe
So, what can patrons at mountain resorts do to stay safe? Simple. At the ski resorts, ski between the lines and follow the rules. If a chute or a run or a ridge within the resort boundaries is marked closed for the day, the season or forever, it’s for good reason. If you don’t want to feel the confines of the fences, the backcountry is the perfect place to get fresh tracks. Take avalanche awareness courses, load up on all the avalanche gear you can find and then, get out there. But make sure you come home to tell the story.
Learn more about avalanche safety by checking out Avalanche Canada
- Published in Uncategorized, Winter
Kicking Horse Mountain Resort Glistens High Above Golden
Don’t stare at the Kicking Horse trail map for too long. The diamond glare might hurt your eyes as in 39 black diamonds to go with 60, yes 6-0, double-black runs. It’s no surprise the very same topography that defines this mountain provides what most consider the best backcountry fodder in the world. There’s really no other way to put it, the Horse’s badassedness resides in a corral all its own.
Like everyone I know who’s skied here I still vividly remember my first time. I was heading to the backcountry out of Golden for a few days so I figured I’d warm-up at Kicking Horse, ease my legs into my boots before tackling the challenging stuff deep in the Purcell Range. I hadn’t bothered to look at the trail map, figuring one interior B.C. ski area was pretty much like any other Powder Highway stop. After my first 4,000-plus foot vertical descent I suddenly felt like that kid who hadn’t bothered to study for a test only to enter class and discover it was the final exam. (Come to think of it I was that kid!)
My saving grace on the mountain was the justification that cutting down blue Sluiceway and Cloud Nine all day would preserve my lactic acid for what was to come. In other words, I had a ready to excuse take it easy. “Let’s stick to the bowls and gullies,” I suggested to my partner, an outstanding skier who doubles as a Seattle architect. “There’s no reason to pop onto the ridgelines given where we’re heading.”
He readily agreed.
I didn’t harbor the same excuse the next time I pulled into Golden and, truth be told (again!), my previous backcountry foray had paled in comparison to the “warm up” terrain anyway. On that day I’d peeked at all the chutes just below Eagle’s Eye Restaurant off CPR Ridge with a ready excuse to avoid them. Not so this trip. It was time to see what all the hype was about, the chatter about the regular Freeski IFSA Nationals held here and the 100+ diamond runs that glitter like the studs in David Beckham’s ears.
It may sound strange but CPR Ridge reminds me a little of the coral reef in Indonesia. Though individually named, the chutes are so abundant they’re just listed as 49-64 on the trail map. What recalls diving in Komodo National Park is their diversity, not simply this ladder or that gap. One could spend the day floating around down “Spurline,” “Iron Horse” or, my favorite, “Craigellachie” and never get bored.
The mundane does not actually exist anywhere at Kicking Horse, one of those rare resorts where you can ski every terrain type on a single run, an unanticipated virtue, at least by me, of skiing a hill top-to-bottom on a regular basis. I’d sum it up this way, to steal a cliché and turn a few stomachs: Kicking Horse is a little bit backcountry and a little bit rock and roll.
“Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.”
Words by Crai Bower
Photos by Felix Dallaire & Nick Nault
- Published in Uncategorized, Winter
A Family Adventure at Kicking Horse Mountain Resort
“You’re taking your kids to Kicking Horse to bike? That’s an aggressive hill…”
Those words rang in my ears as we headed west to Golden for a family trip to Kicking Horse Mountain Resort. The kids, ages 1, 5, and 7 were buzzing with excitement. The parents were buzzing too – but with nerves. Our little boy had ridden lift-access trails only a couple of times, the girls were both too young to bike, and we hadn’t looked into whether or not our golden retriever was welcome. Great planning – I know.
When we pulled up to our campsite right on the hill, our breath was taken away. We couldn’t help but give in to the kid’s excitement with the sweeping mountain views. Within minutes, the kids discovered a park, beach volleyball court, frisbee golf and a pump track that got them grinning. The members of staff were all so friendly, giving directions and tips and even patting our vagabond pup. Things couldn’t have been better and we hadn’t yet gotten on a lift.
The five of us hopped on the high-speed quad chair to go see Boo the grizzly bear who’s lived at the sanctuary since his mom was poached as a cub. Between his enormous presence and the guide’s funny and informative lecture, we were enraptured. (The Steve Erwin-type experience was only enhanced with his Australian accent – the guide’s, not Boo’s.) The kids could hardly believe that we came so close to this huge grizzly, and I could hardly believe we were spending all this time together as a family even though only a couple of us were riding at a time. After the tour, our son chased us down the mountain on our bikes where we all met again to head up the gondola.
The views from the top were staggering, and we drank it in from the Eagle’s Eye restaurant. We enjoyed watching climbers on a via ferrata adventure before heading back out where the younger two scrambled at the top with their dad and our seven year old and I tore down the mountain. The green and blue runs were perfect for him the entire way down. Often, green runs at lift-access locations means cross country-like up and downs that would never be found at the top of the mountain and they can be a bit boring for downhill riders. Not so at Kicking Horse. Green runs meant appropriately steep single track with equal care put into the building and design as black diamond trails. Rolling wood features, little jumps and fun sweeping berms were characteristic of the easier runs. My husband and I loved taking turns biking with our oldest, while the other enjoyed endless activities with the younger two which often included all of us taking lift and gondola rides together and spending time exploring between biking. It was really hard narrowing down the best parts of our trip – so we asked the kids. The “pro list” got ridiculously lengthy, so I tried asking what they would change.
“Next time, let’s stay for fourteen days instead of four!” That summed it up perfectly.
Photos & Words by Chelsea Mackenzie Photography
- Published in Summer, Uncategorized
Monster Energy Presents: 7″ of pleasure tour
The 7 Inches of Pleasure DJ tour, featuring Monster Energy artist roster headliners, will be doing a Western Canada swing early 2017.
No CD’s, no MP3’s, no Laptops, Just 45’s & good vibes. The night features some of North America’s most prolific record collectors and turntabilists including DJ Scratch from EPMD (Brooklyn, NY), MAT THE ALIEN (Nanaimo) & DJ ILLO (Ottawa).
https://soundcloud.com/
https://soundcloud.com/
https://soundcloud.com/
The 7 inch vinyl record is the preferred audio delivery device from some of the best era’s in music history. Between the years of 1950 – 1975 it was the only physical way to manufacture some of the best songs ever created, and continues to be used to capture some of the most iconic and original tracks recorded today.
DOORS: 8:00PM
COVER: $10
FREE SHUTTLES ALL NIGHT FROM ROCKWATER TO KHMR!
- Published in Uncategorized
Snowy Image of the Week – December 13
Snowy Image of the Week – December 13
As far as we remember, we’ve never seen T1, T2 & Whitewall all open at this time of the year, especially with knee deep powder.
Let’s admit it: This is the best opening KHMR has ever known. Cheers to an amazing season start… and to the good times ahead!
Photo captured on Saturday, December 13 at 3:00pm on Terminator 1.
- Published in Uncategorized, Winter
The best deals of the winter season have just been released! Book now for winter and save up to 35% on your getaway. Packages available include The Weekender for shorter stays, The Midweek pack for the best deals, the new Ski Weeks packages (booking everything for you from air/car to lodging/lifts) and The Holiday Pack – already taking bookings for Christmas & New Years.
Freebies are included in some packages – view our Early Booking offers, all are available to be booked online. Give us a call at 1-800-258-7669 to book with a friendly vacation specialist over the phone or visit www.skircr.com/vacations to chat live with a specialist (during business hours).
We’ve already been hit with a few snowstorms, hopefully this foreshadows an awesome season to come! The below image was taken at Eagle’s Eye restaurant on September 2nd, 2015.
Stay up to date on our Facebook page!
- Published in Uncategorized, Winter
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