Kicking Horse Mountain Resort picked to host the World’s best for historic first
Qualifying for this prestigious event, a resort needed to have a massive variety of terrain, thigh burning vertical and incredible snowfall and a strong mountain community of which Golden, British Columbia is well suited as the historic home of the Swiss Guides who led climbing expeditions in the early 1900’s.
Kicking Horse Mountain Resort, known for it’s plethora of in-bound chutes, variety of epic terrain and trademarked as the Champagne Powder Capital of Canada and with the 4th biggest vertical in North America, it certainly has more than enough cred to qualify!
After a long summer season of anticipation, the Freeride World Tour (FWT) launched the official competition calendar featuring a completely revamped competition schedule for the upcoming 2018 season. This year, the FWT unveils two brand new locations for the opening events in Hakuba, Japan and Kicking Horse Mountain Resort, Golden, BC, Canada – two legendary freeride destinations. Forty-five riders in four categories – ski men, ski women, snowboard men, and snowboard women – will make the five-stop international journey. All riders will face a round of qualification cuts after the fourth stop in Fieberbrunn, Austria before arriving at the grand finale in Verbier, Switzerland in March/April 2018.
- NEW FOR 2018 – Hakuba, Japan – January 20-27, 2018 – The Winter Begins
- NEW FOR 2018 – Kicking Horse, Golden, BC, Canada – February 3-9, 2018 – Time To Get Rowdy
- Vallnord-Arcalís, Andorra – March 1-7, 2018 – Hold The Line
- Fieberbrunn, Austria – March 9-15, 2018 – Crunch Time
- Verbier, Switzerland – March 31 – April 8, 2018 – The Grand Finale
More about the Freeride World Tour
The Freeride World Tour is an annually toured series of events in which the best freeskiers and snowboard freeriders compete for individual event wins, as well as the overall title of World Champion in their respective genders and disciplines. The events take place on what’s commonly referred to as “backcountry”, “big mountain” or “extreme” terrain – essentially ungroomed powder snow on super steep, mountainous slopes. The first event series under the Freeride World Tour moniker took place in 2008. Prior to that it was known as the Verbier Extreme, originally a snowboard only contest launched in 1996 – with skiers also invited to compete in 2004. For the 2013 season, the Freeride World Tour merged with the Freeskiing World Tour and The North Face Masters of Snowboarding, combining all three tours under one unified global 5-star championship series.
Be sure to follow the latest competition and rider news on www.freerideworldtour.com and follow the FWT on Facebook and Instagram.
- Published in Winter
Premiere Mountain Homes at Kicking Horse Mountain Resort
Kicking Horse Mountain Resort, widely known as the ‘Champagne Powder Capital of Canada’, is now gaining recognition for being a leader in real estate and mountain architecture as well. The Cedars is Kicking Horse’s premiere ongoing real estate development, with construction of the first home starting in the fall of 2014, lots are still available to purchase. The purchase of a mountain lot, managed through RCR Realty, offers ownership of a high energy efficient state of the art mountain modern, semi detached home (breathtaking views and easy access to the slopes included).
Recently featured in several highly regarded design publications, The Cedars as well as other private homes in Kicking Horse are receiving worldwide acknowledgment as a high end, luxurious mountain development.
Articles featuring the home designed by Bohlin Cywinski Jackson who designs all the Apple stores as well as residences for many well known clients such as Bill Gates;
- Architectureinteriordesigns.com
- dwell.com
- thearchitectureinsight.com
- homesthetics.net
- inhabitat.com
- archdaily.com
- homeadore.com
- architectmagazine.com
- arch5.com
- archatlas.net
- residentialarchitect.com
- bifold.com
- customhomesonline.com
- architizer.com
- ilikearchitecture.net
Other features this property and Kicking Horse have been included in;
- 10 of the best cabin in the Canadian woods on dezeen.com
- The Most Fabulous Houses of 2014 on fastcodesign.com
- The 10 Best Houses of 2014 on metropolis.com
Publications featuring other properties at Kicking Horse Mountain Resort;
- dwell.com – Mountain Home
- mountainliving.com – A British Columbia Home They Call the Wolves’ Den
- westernliving.ca – Inside a luxe, Hygge-Inspired Alpine Getaway
Read more about The Cedars and other resort developments in the works at Fernie Alpine Resort & Kimberley Alpine Resort on the RCR Realty website.
HELLY HANSEN Wrangle the Chute 2017 LOCAL PICKS
HELLY HANSEN Wrangle the Chute is coming up March 8-11, and we hand picked a few Golden & KHMR locals eager to compete and represent their home turf! Be sure to watch them throw down this week: March 8th for the 2* FWQ, March 10th for the 4*FWQ Qualifiers and March 11th for the 4*FWQ Finals.
JESSICA PYPER
Local Yoga Instructor and avid Snowboarder & Mountain biker, this girl is getting after it on a daily basis! Keepin’ up with the Oatway Productions boys is not easy, but it sure trained Jessica to wrangle herself in & out of the steepest and sketchiest lines without a hitch!
CHRIS MCVEY
This local shredder only has interest for big mountain lines! Chris will always ride where you thought it was impossible to ride, while capturing some major air time. Don’t miss this guy’s run!
LANE CLARK
Lane Clark aka Flame McNeil. Ex rodeo clown now Coach for the Rocky Mountain Freeriders. His motto: “If the women don’t find you handsome they should at least find you handy”.
RYAN FORD
Head coach of the GKHAT (local ski racing team) & level 3 coach certified, Ryan’s style is simple: technical, non-stop and loose, he’s definitely happiest with one foot up in the air, doing big turns, and traveling at a high speed. Be on the watch for his run, because it’s going to be a fast one!
DEVON RANDALL
Devon Randall aka Bad Randy, grew up thirty minutes south of town in Parson home of the world’s largest paddle. Words to live by “take your loose airs with your loose women” fast one!
MASON GOODCHILD
A long-time Kicking Horse Warrior, Mason is taming the Horse at every opportunity he gets and is not scared to go big. His motto: “When in doubt, point it out!”
- Published in Press Release, Winter
Suns Out Guns Out! Spring Skiing in the Rockies!
Spring, it’s the time of year when the flowers bloom and everything turns green, unless you’re in the Canadian Rockies. If you find yourself in the Rockies come spring, you’ll quickly notice that the winter blanket of white snow is far from disappearing. In fact, spring in the Rockies offers some of the best skiing conditions. Not to mention the added bonus of starting après before sun down, not that you have to stop when the sun disappears, no judgments here!
Ever heard the expression “suns out guns out’ or “skies out, thighs out”? We are pretty sure they were first said by a hardy Canadian spring skier wearing a sleeveless shirt and shorts while laying down a killer line in the Rockies. Warmer temps bring out some of the best and most amusing spring skiing fashion trends, again, no judgments. The warmth of the sunshine isn’t just great for tan lines, but also works its magic for ultimate snow conditions. One thing that’s reliable in the Rockies is epic corn snow. Corn snow, or “hot pow” if you will, is a descriptive term for the glorious snow that coats our backyard all spring long, it’s fast, warm, and punch-able for ultimate control.
Spring is the ideal time to celebrate in the mountains. Everything from live music, pond skims, themed races and festivals make their way onto the calendar come spring. Fernie Alpine Resort welcomes April with live outdoor music and an unforgettable Festival that goes by the name of Fernival. A film festival kicks of Fernival followed by the famous Raging Elk Powder, Pedal, Paddle Relay, what better way to fully embrace spring that in a multisport multi-season relay. Fernie wraps up their season with the Coca Cola Slope Soaker and live music. If spring skiing is half about skiing and half about socializing, Fernival is exactly where you want to be. Strictly skiing more your style? Kimberley Alpine Resort has some of the longest days available for lap crushing by offering night skiing. Hop on the first lift at 9am and ski right until 4pm. A mandatory break of operations will remind you to eat, relax and enjoy some live music before getting back on the slopes at 5:30pm when night skiing kicks off. Nakiska is the place to see it all, and ski it too, Calgary’s closest mountain shouldn’t be missed! Nakiska is home to fun event weekends in April referred to as Spring Fiesta’s with family friendly activities and of course, the tube park will be open! The biggest crowd drawing event at Kicking Horse Mountain Resort is non other than the famous Wrangle the Chute Freeride World Tour 4 Star qualifier. Watch some of the most talented athletes tastefully choose lines to tackle with style in front of the stoke filled crowd. The after party is quickly becoming equally as famous, another reason to put Kicking Horse Mountain Resort on your spring hit list.
Combining long, warm, and snow filled days with awesome events sounds like the perfect reason to get to the Rockies this spring if you ask me. If you haven’t experienced spring the Rockies you don’t know what you’re missing and hopefully I’ve given you enough reasons to change that!
- Published in Winter
Why watch a Super Bowl when you could ski in one?
The past few years, I’ve found myself trading in watching the National Football League (NFL)’s championship game on a television screen for snow, summits and sunshine at Kicking Horse Mountain Resort, nestled along Canada’s famous Powder Highway in Golden, BC.
Sundays – especially Super Bowl Sunday – are typically when people sleep in, prepare for a day full of snacks, football and wrestle with your buddy over the best spot on the couch. Instead, a friend and I were turning off our alarms at 4:15 a.m. to hit the road and wind our way through the Rockies.
By sunrise all of our worries were buried in the snowbanks behind us, we began embracing what I call the “semi-ski bum” lifestyle. Let’s be real, this wasn’t the first (and won’t be the last) time I went powder hunting in the Canadian Rockies. On this Sunday, what better place to go than terrain affectionately named Super Bowl? With fresh snow on our minds, coffee in our hands and ski gear piled high in the vehicle, we slowly powered our way through a blizzard to arrive at Kicking Horse for 9 a.m.
As thousands of North Americans prepared pre-game meals and furiously cleaned their houses for Super Bowl parties, we were already enjoying our own Super Bowl with its steep and deep terrain located between Kicking Horse’s Terminator peaks, referred to as T1 and T2. This champagne-powder filled bowl is hidden out of sight from the gondola and had gained nearly a foot of new snow in most areas, giving skiers and snowboarders their pick of fresh lines and first tracks.
I wrapped up my last laps on the mountain and began the drive home, I also missed the first-ever overtime and most epic comeback in NFL Super Bowl history. But my day had turned out just the way I hoped it would when we set out that morning. Best of all, instead of waiting a full calendar year, I can re-live my favourite Super Bowl moments again next snowfall. I guess what they say is true… #ThisHorseRules.
Want to take a ride in our Super Bowl? Check out the video to see what it’s like!
Words & Photos by Dave Belyea
- Published in Winter
Always Kicking Horse, Kicking Horse All Ways
Bucket list checker? Kicking Horse Mountain Resort has more than a few noteworthy check marks that you’ll want to add to your list. Kicking Horse is home to Canada’s highest restaurant, has the most in bounds chutes in North America and hosts the 4th biggest skiable vertical in Canada. Need I say more? This mountain resort stays pretty humble about all its braggable features, but these aren’t the only reasons Kicking Horse Mountain Resort should be in your ski vacation cards.
The vast terrain at Kicking Horse Mountain Resort is jaw dropping. The choices for skiable terrain are endless. Kicking Horse is family friendly with many groomed leg burners to boot, but if you’re here to get rowdy you won’t be disappointed. Out of the 120+ runs, 45% of them are for advanced skiers and riders and 15% are rated for experts. This means that more than half of the mountain is ready to push your limits and fulfill all your adrenaline junkie dreams. Four distinct ridgelines separate the resort into bowls and various sub ridges and faces. The unique collection of terrain means there is always a powder stash somewhere, although this shouldn’t be much of a worry since the average snowfall is 750cm! Whether it’s technical spines, gladed trees, sneaky chutes, big bowls or groomers you’re after you can guarantee you’ll find it here. With terrain choices bursting at the seems it seems silly to leave the resort, but if you’re craving a backcountry tour grab your avalanche gear and an equipped friend and check out some of the equally impressive slackcountry.
Vistas in all directions encompass you as you step off the Golden Eagle Express Gondola. It will make you feel although you’ve stepped onto another planet, a planet filled with peaks galore. Looking down the valley you’ll see the town of Golden nestled in the Rockies Trench as you peer across from the Purcell Mountain tops. Do a 360 spin and try to find a boring view, we dare you. To take the view to the next level, yes it’s possible, head up the Stairway to Heaven Chair and climb the black Stairway to Heaven Whitewall staircase (only if it’s open) for the view! Even if you head back down the stairs, it’s worth the small work out to see some incredible peaks. Sounds a bit too good to be true? Kicking Horse is the ultimate skier playground, and it’s very real.
Best way to enjoy that view? Dinning at 7,705 feet (2,350 meters) sounds pretty ideal. Eagle Eye Restaurant is the highest restaurant in Canada, most definitely making it a checklist item! From the delicious list of entrées to the custom cocktails, this place is a haven for hungry skiers and sightseers a like. Don’t leave with out trying the truffle fries and a tasty specialty coffee or one of the signature Great Canadian Caesars.
Needless to say, if Kicking Horse Mountain Resort isn’t on your current “must ski” list, it probably should be. The massive amounts of inspiring terrain will keep your ski cravings curbed, although the more you ski, the more see that can be skied! This place might be a little addicting, but in the best way possible. Tired legs are happy legs and with 1,260 meters (4,133 feet) to conquer lap after lap we can guarantee you some pretty tired legs.
Photos by Abbydell Photography, Jeff Bartlett & Emile Lavoie
- Published in Winter
How often should you wax?
Your skis that is.
It’s recommended you wax your skis every 5 or 6 times out. The reason being the base of your ski is very porous (similar to your skin) with lotion (wax) you’ll have a better running surface. This will allow for increased glide over all snow conditions, less leg fatigue and increased speed. The layer of water that is created by the friction between your skis and the snow will wick away from the base of your skis and not get absorbed into the base thus allowing for better glide (even when you’re skiing powder).
Remember the base of your skis is just like your skin, when it’s dry you take care of this by putting on lotion. Hot waxing is the lotion for your skis!
Our Professional tech’s at the ski resorts will be able to take care of this for all of our guests, find them in the Repair shop located in the village at Kicking Horse Mountain Resort. Just print off a coupon from the Member Benefits website and redeem it at the resort.
Don’t forget – if you’re a season passholder use this member benefit to get a free tune up – ‘Buy 2 Get 1 Free – buy 3 full tune ups for the price of 2, includes edge base and side, stone grind, Ptex and hot wax’. Just show your season pass to take advantage of this benefit!
Find out more about why to wax your skis and what a tune up entails on Fernie Alpine Resort’s YouTube channel (plus find out what the fancy machine behind Harry is used for too).
- Published in Winter
The Descent (with a four year old)
Thirteen hundred vertical meters is a pretty daunting mountain of vertical for four year old legs. I’m sitting in the Black Diamond Cafe at the base of Kicking Horse Mountain Resort with my wife Lisa and two daughters Sabine and Zola, one soon to turn four, the other a few months shy of her seventh birthday. I point to the trail map unfolded on the table in front of us and pinned down with a few steaming mugs of espresso coffee.
“You see that green line that snakes down from the top of the mountain? That’s what we’re going to ski,” I tell them.
My kids are used to Mount Washington vertical, our home mountain – 505 metres. They look at me with those profoundly trusting expressions that can melt a parent’s heart. Moments later we’re sitting in the Eagle Express Gondola scraping frost off the windows so we can see the spectacular view of the Columbia Valley below. I point out the snowed under enclosure that’s home to a hibernating Boo, the resident grizzly whom we visited the previous summer. Then higher up the aforementioned green snake, otherwise known as It’s A Ten, crosses beneath the gondola lift line.
“There it is again,” I say.
“What?” Zola asks.
“The green snake,” I reply.
“Oh,” Zola says, shrugging her shoulders.
Before long we’re shuffling out of the gondola at the top station beneath high clouds and patchy blue sky. My goal was modest; to take my kids on an adventure from the top of the Eagle Express to the bottom. Like all adventures with kids, it had to include a small package of incentives. First stop would be the Heaven’s Door Yurt Cafe for a hot chocolate.
Clicked in to our bindings, I give our youngest a ski pole tow across the flats to where ‘It’s A Ten’, begins rolling down the ridge into Crystal Bowl. I assume the blocker position skiing close behind Sabine while she locks into that sustained power snow plow that only young malleable knees can sustain for any amount of time. Zola, three years older and three times faster, zips ahead already impatient with the pace being dictated by her assertive younger sibling. I was the youngest in a family of four and therefore like Sabine started things early whether I wanted to or not. So far, so good. No tears. The run opens up in Crystal Bowl into a wide strip of corduroy with room for the girls to roam. Zola and her mom are waiting outside the yurt awaiting incentive number-one. Sabine and I slide to a stop next to them a few minutes later and we shuffle inside for a hot chocolate, preceded of course by the unwrapping of kids ski clothing that we will soon be re-wrapping again. After a lazy pit stop in the yurt, it’s time to resume the adventure. Back on the green snake, Zola and Lisa charge ahead. Sabine and I fall in with another father and daughter duo descending at a similar pace.
There is plenty of mountain to share, but it’s as if the two youngsters are magnetized, turning toward rather than away from one another. After a few near misses I urge Sabine to ditch pizza for French Fries and zoom past her rival to give herself some space. Speaking of French Fries, that’s our next incentive – chicken strips and fries.
“I love skiing,” Sabine says, looking up at me as we glide past the steep drop of ‘Bubbly’ and onto the wide open ‘Blaster’.
Music to my ears. By the time she power plows her way cross slope to where ‘Downshift’ rejoins ‘It’s A Ten’, the mood suddenly shifts the way it can unexpectedly with children. Sabine suddenly sprawls on the snow and refuses to get up. Lisa produces an emergency granola bar ration.
“We have to keep going Sabine. See the lodge way down there? That’s where we have to go,” I say, unconvincingly, realizing that is must sound like work to her.
It’s hard to imagine how far that must appear to Sabine at this point, bushed from a week of family Christmas late night celebrations. Lisa and I take shifts skiing ahead with Zola and coaxing Sabine down the last few pitches. By the time we reach the ski rack in front of Whitetooth Grill, she is flailing on the snow in a spectacle that would kill any aspiring parent’s desire for a family.
All is forgotten minutes later when we’re seated in the warmth of the Whitetooth Grill around plate of nachos and a basket of chicken strips and fries. Therefore, I’ll chalk it up as a successful family adventure.
Words & Photos by Andrew Findlay
Follow Andrew’s adventures on Instagram – @afindlayjournalist
- Published in Winter
Why take a Ski Vacation to the Canadian Rockies this Winter
If you’ve always wanted to ski the European Alps, without the costly transatlantic flight, consider taking your winter vacation among the gems of the Canadian Rockies.
As the only mountain resort providing travel from base to peak on a single gondola ride, Kicking Horse in Golden, B.C., takes you directly to its pristine slopes 2,350 metres above ground. “This is a truly unique feature – usually you would need to take three or four lifts to get to that elevation,” says spokesperson Emile Lavoie.
“From there you have access to four alpine bowls and 100 inbound chutes. With our amazing vista views, we’re the only resort that offers terrain that looks exactly like the Alps in Europe.”
A drier regional climate allows for the lightest snow in the country – also referred to as champagne powder. “Since our mountain is so high up, we’re not as touched by warm weather. Just in case, we’re installing more lines of snow-making at the base to make sure our lower mountain is covered.”
Foodies can get even closer to heaven at the Eagle’s Eye, the most elevated restaurant in Canada at 7700 feet and offering 360 degree views of the Purcell, Rocky and Selkirk Mountains and award-winning cuisine. The resort is also an ideal family-friendly destination, offering multiple accommodation options including ski-in/ski-out hotels and a children’s activity centre along with a tube park, skating rink, and warming hut with hot chocolate and marshmallows.
It’s also central headquarters for all sorts of mountain exploration adventures, located an hour and a half from Banff, Lake Louise, and Rogers Pass, and two hours from Revelstoke.
The resort itself is easily accessible from the Calgary airport through a direct, seven-days-per-week shuttle that can be booked in advance online through the Resorts of the Canadian Rockies.
Another family-friendly option, particularly for those desiring a slower pace, is Fernie Alpine Resort. “Our slopes are uncrowded even during peak times. The mountain handles the number of people we get here very well,” says operations manager Robin Siggers.
“Our snowfall is another feature that attracts people – our snow pack hovers around the four metre mark by the spring and we get an annual snowfall of over 1,000 centimeters.”
Almost all of the resort’s 2500 acres is comprised of skiable terrain, from gentler slopes and groomed runs to steeper, gladed terrain.
A daycare centre on the resort allows kids to be dropped off for the whole day, for indoor activities or to arrange a lesson with an instructor.
The town of Fernie, located only five minutes away, also offers plentiful options. “It’s got a great eclectic mix of little restaurants and coffee shops, a full- service aquatic centre which is great for warming up afterwards, and you can always go to one of the local hockey games, which is always good entertainment,” says Siggers.
“There’s so much to see and do here. We really do have something for everyone.”
Photos by Dave Best and Henry Georgi
- Published in Winter
Gear up for Winter (check your gear first)
Checking your Ski Equipment now is very important for many reasons, here are the 3 top reasons;
FAQ: I get asked all the time ‘Why should I check my Ski Equipment, as I’m not a great skier and spend lots of time on the beginner slopes with kids…”
My Answer: I always say try these- once you try new skis you are on cloud nine. Technology advancements, ski shape, size are some of the many reasons the new skis really do make a difference. You owe it to yourself as it will enhance your skiing skills, make skiing easier and give you more control on the slopes.
FAQ: I have a pair of skis in the garage- is it okay to use them?
My Answer: The key here is check the bindings- visit your local ski shop or most ski resorts have tune up shops in the rental areas as well. If you live in Calgary visit your local ski shop like the new Sporting Life store located in Southcentre mall to have a pro look at the bindings to make sure they still are in good shape and meet current binding standards.
FAQ: Do I really need to check the condition of the bases and edges of my skis?
My Answer: Now I don’t get my skis tuned all that regularly as I ski mostly in soft, powder snow. But if you are visiting ski resorts that have hard snow or icy conditions regularly then you should definitely get your skis tuned more often.
Have anymore questions? Feel free to ask me through my Twitter, Instagram or Facebook page!
Twitter, Instagram & Facebook – @PowderMatt
- Published in Winter