I was surprised on how good of conditions it was today.  We had about 6 cms of new snow but also the weather got pretty warm.  I was expecting some pretty heavy snow.  I didn't got up until about 2pm and it was great from top to bottom. It was slightly heavier near the bottom but not much.  
And at T2 I was skiing from boot-top powder to at one point I found a stash of knee deep powder.  With some clouds and fog coming and going, I guess it scared a lot of people from heading up to the top.  But I just waited a few minutes and it cleared up.  At one point there was a squall that blew through and it was snowing hard.  And then a few minutes later the sun came out.  
A great day. 

It doesn't get much better than today. Well..yesterday was pretty good too.  We got 18 cms over the past couple days and although yesterday was pretty amazing today we got some sunshine too at the top.  And both Terminator and T2 were open for the first time in a couple days.  And that's where I went.  First I did the climb to the top of Terminator and was shocked that I could pick any line down and have first track of boot-top soft powder.  That was pretty spectacular.  And I looked over to T2 which is the next peak to the south and it had just opened so after making my way to the bottom I headed back up top to T2.  Doing two hikes takes a lot out of me but ....it's all for a great cause.  
And I was one of the first to ski down T2 and again it was pretty sweet.  After those two runs it was time to put the body to rest.  A great couple of runs and a couple of hikes.  The resort is pretty quiet which is great for skiing but not great for business.  Not sure why it is so quiet??  Maybe people have had enough winter. 

Another great day yesterday.   Woke up to about 10 cms of powder and went out to check it out about 10am.  I did three runs from top to bottom(12 thousand vertical feet) of mostly boot-top untracked powder.  It was the type of snow, where you can just aim your skis downhill and let them go.  Really enjoyed Terminator which is the furthest run to the south of the resort.  There are bumps all the way down but when you have boot top powder in the bumps, it makes it a lot of fun.  
And this morning we have another 11 cms of snow.  I just may have to do it all again.  Photo is from Kicking Horse Webcam this morning.  Not much else to say.  

It's been mid winter temperatures here at Kicking Horse the last week.  Usually this time of the year the weather starts to warm up with the light snow at the top and as you get closer to the bottom the snow gets heavier. But that is not the case.  It has been staying below 0C or hovering around that temperature during the day and at night about -8C.  Yesterday it was a light snow coming down off and on for most of the day and with the cooler weather the snow was fabulous.  I went for a run in the afternoon with Patrick from Selkirk Sports and we ended up at my favourite spot T2.  We hooked up with a snowboarder on our way who had never skied T2 and wasn't even aware of it.  Well...he had a great time to say the least.  Forecast is calling for about 20 cms of snow over the next couple days.  The conditions right now are certainly the best of the season.   Fabulous coverage from top to bottom. 
Vagabond Lodge has rooms available if you want to ski the one of the best Resorts in the World.   Give us a call 250 344 2622 or email me at [email protected] 

It was a great day to be skiing at Kicking Horse.  It turned a bit colder for one thing which meant the snow was lighter.  The day started out nice and sunny and I headed up to check out Terminator and wasn't disappointed.  I was still able to find some knee-deep powder.  While at the top I realized the T2 which is the next peak to the south wasn't open yet after our nice snowfalls in the past few days.  It looked pretty inviting.  I talked to a ski patrol on my way down and he said it was going to be opened up as we spoke.  I stopped at Selkirk Sports and the owner Patrick said he was going to go with me to T2.  With all the new snow the climb(20 minutes) was a bit of a challenge finding some good steps to climb on the steeper sections.  Skiing down was also a challenge as the wind had created some hard crust in a spots including some big drifts.  But it was still a great day.  Better than a good day of work. 

It keeps coming!!  Another 6  cms this morning. 
The snow report yesterday morning said we got over 25 cms of fresh snow overnight.  Well...we got a lot more than that at the higher elevations. 
I went for a couple runs in the morning and then later in the day went for another one.  There were spots where the snow was well over knee-deep.   I would estimate up to 35-40 cms. 
The top part was especially great but this time of the year, it certainly got heavier as you get closer to the bottom.  
But that is expected. We have a lot of new snow in the past few weeks which will certainly keep things in good shape for the later part of the season. 
Feuz bowl and also Super bowl, which are both areas on the edge of the resort were not open yesterday because of avalanche control but they will probably be open today.  I love Mondays' with new snow.  

I had a great trip off-piste last week with former Park's Canada Warden Ken Schroeder.  He took me to what's called T2&1/2.  It involves about a 30 minute climb to one of my favourite in-bound areas called T2.  From there we went out of bounds along a ridge for about another 20 minutes or so.  It gave us access to an amazing run to almost the bottom where we were able to cut through the trees and ended up at the Gondola.  

We had all the avalanche gear and Ken is an experienced back-country skier.  I would not recommend this unless you were going with someone who know a lot about back-country and snow conditions. 

Fantastic experience. 

Kicking Horse is known for it's steep chutes.  There are a lot of them.  Even after being here for 10 years, there are a number of them, I have never skied.  The main reason is, you can get in trouble if you don't know where you are going.  There are 2 that come off the top of Terminator(20 minute climb) called "Truth" and "Dare."  You look at them every time you go up the gondola.  I had mentioned the fact I had never skied them to a friend Ken Schroeder a few days ago.  Ken is a former Park's Canada Warden and a great skier and knows all the chutes intimately.  He gave me a call in the morning and asked me if I wanted to tackle "Truth."  Before I could back-out, my "out loud voice" said yes. 

Here is my video of my run down "Truth"  Pretty amazing. 

Amazing day for me.  I friend took me to where I had never gone before...and wow!! Ken Schroeder who was with the Parks Canada for years as a warden and is also an incredible skier gave me a call this morning and asked me if I wanted to ski "Truth"  It is a chute that comes off the top of Terminator into Bowl Over.  I had looked at it for 10 years riding the gondola and wanted to give it a try but only with someone who had done it before.  It looked a little tricky at the top.  Well we did that and it was fabulous.  It involves about a 20 minute climb and a great run down.  Narrow opening where you need to slide-slip a bit then it opens up to a great fan of nice snow. 
  Then he asked me if I wanted to ski T2 and 1/2.  It is out of bounds and is not something I regularly do.  It involves climbing to the top of T2 which I have done a number of times before but have always stayed in-bounds.  From the top we skied to the next peak and then ski-climbed for awhile to the next one and then skied down.  It was amazing.  Knee-deep powder in some places.  There were some tricky parts with the snow.  I had a couple of crashes and managed to lose a ski for awhile.  I sunk up to my armpits in the snow trying to climb up to find my other ski.  It all worked out at the end and was a memorable day.  Photo above is after we came down from T2 and were headed to T2 &1/2.  In case you are wondering, we both had all the Avalanche safety equipment including Transceivers, probes and shovels.  

After some steady snow for the past week, the sun came out today.  And surprisingly I thought the snow was better today then yesterday.  Certainly at the bottom part of the hill.  Yesterday with all the moisture, the snow at the bottom was a challenge for the old knees.  I went for a hike to the top of Terminator for a run and I was actually a little cold with a breeze cooling things off.  I was still able to find knee deep powder into Superbowl and the lower slopes were a lot nicer on the knees.  And of course the views are always stunning. 

It has been some amazing last few days here at Kicking Horse for snow.  We woke up yesterday morning to about 24 cms of powder with the bulk of that coming overnight. with over 70 cms in the past week.  Even this morning we had another 12 cms which was a bit surprising. 
It had also warmed up considerably with even a few rain showers around the base.  I managed to force myself to go for a few runs.  I admit I missed first tracks but there were a lot of first tracks to be made.  The best was off the Stairway to Heaven Chair at the top with beautiful soft fluffy snow. I then went into Feuz bowl and there I found knee deep soft powder.  It was pretty spectacular.  The lower part of the hill, it was best to stay on the cat-track and groomed runs as it was softening up considerably with the warm weather at the bottom.  Pretty sweet.  The photo is of Feuz Bowl and in the back ground is Whitewall.