Temperature changed a lot over the past day.  Snow has stopped and we managed to get about another 15 cm over the past 48 hours.  Temperature went from about 2-4 above C, to about -10C.  Perfect temperatures and the skiing is sweet.  Snow so soft you don't even know it is there. 

I can't remember exactly what year it was, but it was in the early days of Wayne's World with the Edmonton Oilers.  I was working for TSN and I had organized a sit-down interview with Wayne at his apartment in Edmonton.  And that was the thing about Gretzky in that era.  He was super accommodating.  It is almost unheard of in this day and age, to actually go to an athlete's home and have that type of access.  I could walk up to Gretzky at practice and talk to him directly about an interview at his home.  Now, you would have to go through Team PR guys, agents, and a variety of other people in between.  It would be worse than a root canel.  I just walked up to him, asked him for an interview and he said when and where.
It just so happened it was a Sunday Morning that he was available and I had organized my cameraman to be at his apartment in Edmonton overlooking the river valley.  For whatever reason my wife was working or out of town and we had no one available to take care of our son Kori, who was probably about 4 or 5 years old. 
So I took him with me to that interview.  There was no problem with doing that with Gretzky or with Kori.   When we got there, Kori just sat in the corner on a chair and watched the proceedings.  The interview process took about an hour or so. Overall myself, my cameraman and son Kori were there for about an hour and  a half.  As we were walking out the door, Wayne asked me to wait for a second.  He went into his kitchen and opened a cupboard and pulled out a box of "Prostars" cereal and handed the box to Kori.  Now Prostars cereal was only around for a few years and featured a number of big time atheletes on the box, including Michael Jordan and Wayne Gretzky.  There was even a cartoon show featuring "Prostars"  If you google "Prostars" there is actually a petition to bring back the cereal. An unopened box I noticed is worth about $70 on ebay.  Scary.  Anyways I digress.  So Gretzky gives my son Kori a box of his cereal with his photo on the box.  It was Sunday morning and maybe he looked hungry.  We thanked him and left.  Next on my agenda that day was Sunday Brunch with my family.  I was telling them about our interview  and remembered the box of cereal was in my car.  I went out and brought it into the house.  And realized it was a half-a-box of cereal.  Gretzky had already opened it and had some, which I guess shows he actually ate Prostars cereal.  I am sure most people will reflect back on his career and remember the great goals he scored and other achievements.   Having covered the Oilers for 20 years with TSN, most of those are a blur.  Non really stand out from the rest.  He was an amazing Hockey Player.   A Half  eaten  box of "Prostars" cereal illustrates  his human side.   That's what I remember.   Happy Birthday Wayne. 

Beautiful Sunny day at Kicking Horse. Actually the day started off cloudy and a few snow flakes coming down.  But about 10am, turned into a gorgeous day.  One of my neighbours here at Kicking Horse, Larry wanted to go  for a few runs.  We decided to head over to Superbowl which is the newest terrain here at Kicking Horse and is about a 10 minute hike. I had only done it once before earlier in the season when the snow wasn't that great. But now the conditions are fabulous.   At the end of the bowl we both looked up on the Ridge and saw some great ski runs we had never done before  coming from the top.  Actually Larry had been there once before a few years ago and with the sun shinning and lots of snow over the past week, we decided to head up to the top of Terminator Ridge and then ski back down into Superbowl.  It is about a 30 minute hike up to the top.  A few places it is a little scary but we managed to get  to the top.  After a bit of a rest we found a great line with still some nice soft snow about up to your knees in places.  It is not something I would do on a regular basis but certainly on a day like today with great visibility and great snow, it was well worth the effort.  

The resort got about 5cm last night and it has been snowing most of the day.  Not a big accumulation but probably another 10 by the time it will end.  And then they are calling for sunny skies for a few days and temperatures around 0C.  That will be pretty sweet skiing. We have a big group checking in for the weekend from Calgary but have some availability starting Sunday.  Things are filling up nicely for February.  Still some spaces in March which is always a great snow month. 
Kicking Horse got a nice article in Ski Canada Magazine.  Check it out. 

Sun came out at Kicking Horse after about a week of steady snow.  Over 100 cms of powder.  And now with the sunshine..it doesn't get much better.  Road to Calgary via radium(1 hour longer) is finally open although the Transcanada isn't yet.  Maybe tomorrow.  We have a group coming in from Calgary for the weekend.  Still some rooms for midweek.  February hasn't got much left though.  March is always great skiing here  though.  Give us a call toll free 1 866 944 2622

Nobody is able to get into Golden or out right now.  And that has been the case for the past few days with 100 cms of snow that has fallen in the past 6 days.  Crazy out there.  It has warmed up a lot.  This morning it is about 0C and foggy. Transcanada highway in both directions is shut because of avalanches.  It may reopen towards Calgary by Wednesday.  The one option that a lot of people took over the weekend was via Radium.  It is an hour longer.  But it is also closed due to avalanches.  It may reopen later this afternoon. I will keep you posted.

With all the new snow here at Kicking Horse, not surprising our Guests are enjoying all the snow.  3 of our guests are from Swedan and came here from Revelstoke.  They love Kicking Horse. And today they got some sunshine and deep snow.  here are 3 photos they shared with me today. 

Finally got all the snow shovelled.  Need to hire someone to do the roof though.  Not me. Can't believe the people who made it to the mountain this morning despite all the roads closed.  Jammed.  I think I will give it a pass.  Great two days.  I don't need to stand in line. We had some guests who rolled in last night from Calgary.  They actually did pretty well.  They left at about 5 and were here by 11pm via Radium.  That is the only road still open.  Highway from Revelstoke is closed and so is the transcanada to Calgary until at least tomorrow tuesday.  Avalanche danger. Here are some photos from the past few days. 

Over 60 cms of New Snow fell in the past couple days.  Crazy.  I can't remember having it snow this much.  Not here for sure in a short period of time.  Yesterday was certainly the best skiing with a lot lighter snow and colder temperatures. Today was more snow and a bit heavier.  Not that I am complaining.  Never. Conditions are once in a decade.   But having said that...we lost an entire weekend of bookings when our guests couldn't make it here from Calgary.  That is a tough hit.  Hopefully we can rebook them for another date. We did have 3 Swedish guests come from Revelstoke.  They must of made it just before the highway was closed..again.  Guests who left here in the afternoon took close to 6 hours to get to Banff and that is usually less than a 2 hour drive.  Transcanada highway is still closed in both directions.  

Best Day of Skiing so Far this Season at Kicking Horse. About 20cms of fresh powder and fresh Tracks all over the place. Amazingly light snow even where people had tracked. Point your skies downhill and away you go. Still Snowing heavily with Heavy Snowfall Advisory still issued for Kicking Horse.A few more days of this forecast.