A golden experience at Kicking Horse

SnowSeeker scribe, Trevor Suer rips through some powder on opening day at Kicking Horse Mountain Resort, located just outside Golden, British Columbia. DAVE BENFIELD/Special to SnowSeekers

TREVOR SUER 

– Dec. 10/09

GOLDEN, BC — Last weekend, Kicking Horse Mountain Resort 7:15 a.m. – the gondola line felt electric; everyone knew that they are about to experience at least one run of light, fluffy untouched flakes – a heli-skiing experience for a little waiting and a lift ticket.

Reaching the top of Kicking Horse, we headed straight for CPR ridge and hit the glades to the right of the gondola, where untracked knee deep was waiting for us to tear it apart. From just that quick little run big smiles appeared on the faces of Dave Benfield and Liz McBroom – both from Edmonton, Alberta, they knew this day was going to be incredible. 

From there it was over to the Terminator where we made fast, wide open turns, blasting through the powder down a perfect fall line. What an awesome first run.

Lincoln loop got a little loopy

Our next run took us back up to CPR ridge and this time it was a beeline for the chutes, or particularly, “All Aboard.” The snow and coverage in here was hard to believe for opening day, so we took full advantage ripping down the run. Then it was laps on the Stairway to Heaven Chair. 

My friend, Todd Bown and I decided that the snow was so good, we were going to take the cornice just below the lift tower. Bown hit it with speed first, landed and rode off down the face. I took the same line as Bown, trying a Lincoln loop but my one ski ejected on landing and a tumbling I went. 

From there the comic relief just kept happening as I fought my way uphill through crotch-deep snow to retrieve my lost ski.

Early days with mid-season conditions

Benfield and McBroom were further down the Redemption Ridge and both said they found some excellent untouched turns. We all agreed that it didn’t feel like we were skiing at the beginning of December but more like the middle of January. The snow was just that great.

“This year has started out awesome, with 202cms falling in November,” said Kicking Horse's Jordan Petrovics. “That pretty much set up our base for the rest of the season. We also did some summer grooming on runs at the bottom, allowing us to open the bottom runs earlier.” 

New chair in the future

Kicking Horse strategically placed more natural jibs in different locations throughout the mountain so look around for the hidden jibs. As well, they’ve added new avalanche cannons, which should enable them to open terrain faster as the cannons are more efficient. Also during the summer, they started surveying and planning for a new future lift replacing the Pioneer Chair with a mid-mountain station and ending up beside the Stairway to Heaven Chair. 

Although the lift has no scheduled installation date, with the surveying done they will be able to implement their plans as soon as they need to.

Some events to look forward to this year are:

• Demo Days, Jan. 9-10, featuring five different manufacturers on hand for your testing pleasure.

• The Scotch Festival, which Doc Pow took in last year and loved, takes place Jan. 15, 16, 17, with scotch tasting from Eagles Eye, to the Day Lodge to Corks.

• Winter Dinner Concert Series, Dec. 19, Jan. 22 and Feb. 26, which is held in The Eagle’s Eye Restaurant and includes live music, wine pairing, dinner and education on each course of dinner.

• Wrangle the Chute, Feb. 6-7. This is a freeride competition with a twist. Athletes choose the line they want to ski and the tricks they want to attempt. At the bottom of the course lurks a monster terrain-park jump, but it doesn’t end there. After quickly ditching their boards, racers finish off by mounting a bucking bronco suspended from giant bungee cords. A wild ride is guaranteed because other competitors yank on the bungees to control the bronco's bucking style.

• Sunsplash Funk Fest, closing weekend (TBD), this event host a number of funk bands and the slush cup contest.

A few more laps finished off a fine opening day with some leftover fresh turns down the CPR chutes. I couldn’t believe there were still some fresh turns hidden out there. Finally, it was time to head to the bottom for some après ski at The Peaks which offered up live music, micro beers and a great atmosphere. You could definitely tell by vibe in the air and the smiles on everyone’s face – opening day at Kicking Horse was golden. 

For more information on all of what Kicking Horse has to offer, check out some accommodation and off-hill options.