Kicking Horse Blog by Ken

It doesn't get much better than this.  We received about  20 cms of powder yesterday morning with close to 50 cms in two days.  I went for a couple of runs in the late morning and there was knee deep powder at the top.  Feuz bowl was the place to be, since it is North Facing and the snow is somewhat lighter.  Certainly as you make your way down, it got heavier but that is expected this time of the year.  Amazing snow considering it was April 1 and that is no joke. Resort is closing in on 1000 cms of snow this winter which will be on the of the highest snowfalls since we have been here. Then last night our Jazz Group got together for a public rehearsal here at Vagabond Lodge.  We are playing next door at Corks on April 7th for one of the final functions of the ski season.  We decided to play for our guests and a few friends.  Lots of fun. Here are a few photos from last night.

Temperature has warmed up considerably in the last few days. Even getting up to about 10C here at Vagabond Lodge. I went up for a couple runs today and was really surprised how nice it was. They had about 4cms of powder overnight and with nobody on the hill, there were plenty of nice places to ski.
It was one of those days for some adventure. Along with Son Kori and his fiancé Elaine, and a neighbour at the hill Larry, we decided to climb up to T2 last week.  T(Terminator) 2 is the peak at the southern edge of the resort.  It used to be out of bounds, but a couple years ago, they added it to the terrain that is controlled which is great.  It is certainly worth the extra effort, not only for the views but also for the nice slope.  Here is my video from last week.  

Beautiful day today.  Sun is shinning and not a cloud in the sky. I went out for a few runs yesterday, including Whitewall and still was able to find some boot-top powder.  I had some fun last weekend with my two sons, Shane and Kori along with daughter-in-law Tara(Shane's wife) and two of Shane's Friends Clayton and Jay.  I am calling them the Vagabond Lodge Free-ride Team.  I put a video together from our runs with them.  It was fun to watch them tear up the mountain. 

Snow has stopped and the sun came out today.  And with the weekend over, the ski hill is pretty deserted.  Perfect day for a climb up to T2, which is the most southern slope on the Resort.  Son Kori and his fiancé Elaine along with neighbour Larry joined me for the trip.  Some low cloud cover to start with but once we got about half way up the clouds began to lift and it was spectacular. Climb actually was a lot easier than I remembered.  I have only done it once before.  The slope  had  been tracked already but we managed to find some powder though.  The view is worth it for sure. 
Here are a few photos of our trip.

It was one of those great days on the slopes.  Woke up to a nice little snowstorm that kept pounding away all day long.  Probably about 15 or so cms that fell by the time the snow stopped.  I went up for a couple of runs in the late morning and found knee deep powder off cpr ridge and Feuz bowl.  Then I went back later in the afternoon for a couple more runs.  It was all good.  It could have been one of the top 3 or 4 days of the ski season.  Still plenty of good skiing to be had.  Kicking Horse is having a bonus weekend on April 13/14/15. They were supposed to close on April 8th. Maybe we can ski and golf the same day.  I did that a few years ago. 
 Here is a video from today. 

After 20 cms of snow yesterday morning, it somewhat cleared up today.  Our heli skiers actually got off the ground and came back with great reports about their experience with Purcell Heli skiing.  I went up for a couple of runs in the afternoon and made my way into Feuz bowl.  Still some boot top powder in places. Another storm is supposed to be on its way tonight.
Kicking Horse is going to announce a bonus weekend.  Originally they were supposed to close on April 8th for the season.  But they are now going to reopen for April 13/14/15.

It started snowing last night and kept going.  This morning woke up to over 20 cms of powder. Blowing and snowing like crazy.
Here is a photo of our parking lot this morning. 

Nice sunny day for the most part with warmer temperatures.  I went up later in the afternoon with a neighbour Larry.  We decided Whitewall may be the place to ski.  It involves a short climb after getting off stairway to heaven chair and then finding a good spot to jump off a cornice.  It actually wasn't as good as I had hoped, as it had been skied off, and then hardened up.  But it gets the adrenaline going as it is a double black diamond.  
Here is short video from today's run into whitewall. 

It was the day after the best day of the year here at Kicking Horse. And there was still some great skiing to be had.  I went up for a run in the afternoon, with a couple of friends.  Bob, who is from Golden, and Larry who is from Colorado but has  a house here on the mountain.  Snow was still really nice and light and fluffy.  
Here is video from today. 

It could have been the best ski day of the year today. Woke up to another 13 cms of powder overnight.  It had snowed steady for the past 4 or 5 days.  30 cms in the past 24 hours and 50 cms in the past 48 hours. I went up about noon.  Riding up stairway to heaven chair, they just opened Feuz bowl.  I was one in the first 40 or so people to go in and found over Knee deep powder with 1st tracks all the way from top to bottom.  I went down and came up and did the same thing.  Still fresh tracks. What a day.  Sorry no video today.  Trust me. 
But  here are a few photos from this morning.