Words by Doc Pow

Just as most other mountains in Western Canada are doing right now, Kicking Horse had its own early opening November 28 for two “preview” weekends, November 28 and 29 and then December 5 and 6 before opening full time through the rest of the season on December 11.

Over 2,000 people took to the Horse to get in on the goods November 28, and as you can see from these photos I shot during the day on Saturday,  we wouldn’t think too many went home disappointed.  Six year Kicking Horse ski patroller Alex Giesbrecht hasn’t seen conditions this good, this early, ever, “this is the best start I’ve ever seen here in my six years that is for sure,” explained Giesbrecht.  “At current we have the same amount of snow we had this time last March.  Opening came fast after that storm system in mid-November delivered over 50 cms of snow within a 24 hour time period.  At one point our snow monitoring system was telling us we had 10 cms in one hour, and we thought it was wrong.”  Ullr wasn’t kidding, and the results are evident in shots like this.

Fernie Freestyle Coach Ben Ogilvie (@RexOgilvie on Instagram) basking in some serious powder glory, during the preview weekend at Kicking Horse.

“With the best snow pack in years, bombing and getting the mountain open was easier when you don’t have the snow pack to play with,” explained Giesbrecht.

Alex Giesbrecht points out some of the goods on the ridge line leading into Feuz Bowl, for a full map of the mountain, click here.

Read the full article on the snowseekers website.