By Ken

It's that time of the year.  Every spring the bears make their appearance around Vagabond Lodge and this year is no different.  There is a mom and 2 young cubs just down the road towards Golden hanging around the roadside where the grass is nice and green.  And we have about a 2 year old black bear who has been wandering around our yard.  I try and get out and make some noise and get it to wander away before they get too used to hanging around.  Yesterday he was just behind us and I did convince it to move along.  But later in the evening on a walk I noticed it not too far away again.  Once it greens up a bit more they will usually take to the trees and higher elevations.  
We are open for business starting this week.  There are all sorts of things to do in the area, including the Whitewater Rafting on the Kicking Horse River, Golf, tandem paragliding, parachuting, mountain biking and hiking and more. This is obviously a great time of the year for bear spotting.  Give us a call toll free in North America 1 866 944 2622 and make a reservation or email me at ken@vagabondlodge.ca
Here is a photo of the young bear in our back yard last night.

We have had scary nice weather here for the past week.  Temperatures in the mid 20's and not a cloud in the sky.  Fabulous.  River is starting to rise quickly and that means whitewater rafting on the Kicking Horse River starts next weekend.  One of the best things I have done since we moved here over 9 years ago, was to go on a back country horseback trip. BJ owns a company calledBear Corner Trail Rides and we went with him last summer and it was spectacular.  He does a variety of different types of trips including a 3 day trip to the top of Howse Pass.  Our trip was 2 hours which was perfect for my butt. Here is a video I put together last year to give you an idea of what to expect.  Kicking Horse Resort doesn't open until June 28th but there are all sorts of good things to do in the area and Horseback Riding is just one of many adventures

We had our first bear sighting of the season today.  We were just on our way up the hill from Golden and were talking about the fact we  hadn't seen any bears yet.  Spring is when you see a lot of bears around Vagabond Lodge.  Well no sooner we talked about not seeing any bears, there was a probably a 2 year old black bear at the side of the road feeding on the green grass.  The bear showed no signs of being afraid of our car.  He wandered away at first and then after a couple of minutes near the edge of the trees, came back up towards us. I have seen up to 8 or 9 bears on one trip between Golden and Vagabond Lodge which is only 13 km. 

It was 9 years ago May 1 2004,  Vagabond Lodge opened its doors to the public. Hard to believe it has gone by so quickly.  We are starting to think about a year long birthday party starting May 1 2014 for our 10th anniversary.  If you have any ideas, send them along.  Certainly for our loyal guests we are going to have something special lined up. Here is a photo of Vagabond Lodge taken about a month before we opened.  Vagabond Lodge was the only thing up at Kicking Horse at the time. 

Kicking Horse finally announced their summer schedule.  They won't be opening the Gondola on a regular basis until June 28th and then closing it on September 1 which makes for a very short summer operation again.  They may be open the weekend prior on June 22 weekend.  And like last year they will not have the dining room open for the public for dinner as they have booked the Eagle's Eye for weddings all summer.  You can still go up for lunch though. 
_________________________________________________________________ But there are plenty of things to do without going up to the top of the mountain.  Whitewater Rafting on the Kicking Horse River will start in a few weeks, the Golf Course is open already, mountain biking trails in the area are exceptional and one of my favourite things to do is canoeing on the Columbia River.  And of course once we get rid of the snow in the upper elevations we can start hiking. 
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 Although it will be awhile before I can start doing any hikes of any significance, I finally got around to finishing a video I did last fall.  I went with a friend Bob to Takakkaw Falls which is about a 45 minute drive east of Golden.  Then we did a nice hike to Yoho Lake.  It was a fabulous day as you can see. 

Yesterday may have been my final ski run of the season at Kicking Horse. Or not!!  With some new snow reported higher up, I decided to head up about noon and check it out.  And as has been my ritual I elected to go up to T2 as I felt the snow would be the best.  I was basically making fresh tracks all the way to the top and it was not very pleasant with light snow, blowing wind and poor visibility.  But after a few minutes at the top it cleared a bit and I was probably the first person except for the ski patrol to go to the top and I had the entire slope to myself with about 8 cms of fresh snow.  I savoured the moments and had a great run.  

Another ski season is coming to a close here at Vagabond Lodge.  Sad!!
I have been doing daily trips up to T2, which has become my favorite run on the hill this year.  It is the most southerly peak on the resort and involves about a 20 minute climb.  Yesterday I did it about noon and found some fresh snow and absolutely nobody there.  I couldn't believe how nice the run was.   I took a break and then ended up doing it again later in the afternoon and it was still good but a few people had discovered how good it was.  Maybe 5.  
Obviously not very busy on the hill.  
There was more snow overnight on the upper slopes and they are reporting about 5 cms.  It was raining at the base. 
We are starting to get reservations for next season, so if you are interested in booking some dates, you may want to do it soon.  If you book before May 1st you will receive this year's rates.  They have gone up for next years. You can phone 250 344 2622 or email me at ken@vagabondlodge.ca 
Talk about a small world.  I was buying a sandwich in the deli at the resort and next to me was former NHL player Frank Musil. He played almost 800 games in the NHL including a stint with the Calgary Flames and Edmonton Oilers when I was with TSN and remembered him well.  Good guy.  We had a nice chat and he was on his way from Vancouver to Calgary to see his son play hockey.  He is still working for the Edmonton Oilers and loved KIcking Horse. 
Here is a  photo of Frank when he played with the Oilers.

I have been making it a daily ritual of a trek to top of T2.  At this time of the year, the trip up..is better than the trip down.  Yesterday a group of us got together for the hike including a couple guests, Greg and Mick.  Mick is  the first skier I have seen to stand on the top of T2 wearing a kilt.  He had a lot of incentive not to fall down.  And I made sure I was climbing ahead of him as I really didn't want to find out what they wear under a kilt. 
Mick and I also did the hike to top of Terminator too.  Snow on T2 at the top was still nice and cold as it is east facing but the ski down Terminator was definitely spring time conditions.  The days  are numbered as the resort shuts down on Sunday.  A great way to finish off  the season. 

It has been an amazing Easter Weekend at Kicking Horse.  Sunny skies, and great spring skiing.  My ritual over the past week has been hiking to the top of T2 or Terminator or both for a run.  I enjoy the hike more than the run.  The views are absolutely stunning.  Great way to finish off the year as the resort closes this coming weekend.  April 7th is the final day this year.  I usually go up about 1pm and T2(East facing)  has still some soft cold snow at the top and Terminator which is south facing has spring skiing conditions.  Two runs from top to the bottom is enough for me.
Yesterday I went up with friend Bob and we did both peaks.  Then it was beer time. 
Here are a couple photos of us yesterday.