We spent two days in Kicking Horse. The ski area was 14 km up from Golden, a town founded as an outpost for the Thompson expedition to find a pass across the Rockies to the Pacific Ocean. The geologist Sir James Hector was kicked by his horse and knocked out. Thought to be dead, he was nearly buried, but made it back to consciousness just in time. After his recovery he explored th surroundings and discovered the pass which was called after the incident that led to its discovery: Kicking Horse Pass.
On Day One a cloud hang in the valley, but on top the sun was shining and we had blue skies.
View from Top - an ocean of clouds
Mid-Mountain - entering the cloud
Two days later, we could see all the way down to the valley bottom.
Skipasses: $75 plus tax.
Hours of operation: 9:00-3:30.
Lifts: There were a gondola to the top with no midstation (which would have been good to avoid the bad visibility on the last vertical meters) and three chair lifts. Only two of them worked - one in the beginners and foggy zone, the other one brought you up to the Stairway to Heaven.
Trails: The trails were spread out from the top in four bowl, one of which were accessible for all.
Bowl Over is easy to reach for all who can battle their fears. The run down on Super Bowl and Feuz Bowl, we had to earn hard by walking around Terminator Peak or climbing up the Stairway to Heaven.
Bowl Over
way around Terminator Peak
Snow: We made it to all bowls but no "champagne powder" was left:-(. We found the groomed trails covered in a bit of powdered sugar snow that created some nice snow clouds when we wedeled down the hill.
Specials: Mountain host tours - got some info on the mountain but it was the slowest and dullest tour we joined so far. We had to admit that visibility was not good but still there would have been more possible. Food at the Day Lodge was okay, but nothing remarkable.
A little heavenly story:
We packed our skis and walked up the Stairway to Heaven:
When we knocked on heaven's door, nobody answered.
Instead of taking the easy way down to earth on Cloud 9,
we went vertical and plunged from this edge downward on the right and in the valley.
No comments:
Post a Comment