Our 10th Season winter season came to a close yesterday.  And what a closing day it was. Wow!!! The skiing was fabulous as a group of us did the hike to T2 one last time where we found 10 cms of nice powder skiing. A friend Terry who is pictured here did it for the first time and loved it. It is an adventure and a great accomplishment as it is not an easy climb at the best of times. 
 And even the bottom part where it was considerably warmer was still nice.  I have never seen such great conditions to end the season and this was our latest closing date ever.  

A tradition here at Vagabond Lodge is a pot-luck dinner with a group of friends here on the hill and in Golden.  We must have had about 40 people show up with some great food and great conversation.  A fun way to end the year. 
Now we have a few weeks break and get ready for the summer season.  Vagabond Lodge will reopen on May  16 for our Long weekend in Canada which is called Victoria Day.  Golden is hosting it's first ever Golden Mountain Festival and will be showcasing the "Swiss Guides" who were a big part of the history of this area.  
Click Here for a  link to the events going on.  

"Crazy Good" skiing at Kicking Horse. Boot top powder at the top and making fresh tracks. And it didn't get sticky until almost at the bottom. April 19th!! One more day...to end Vagabond Lodge's 10th Season. Great atmosphere and a lot of new people realizing what a great mountain we have.  

Hard to believe our 10th season at Kicking Horse is coming to a close.  When the resort announced they would be open until April 20th I was sceptical whether the snow would still be around.  That certainly is not an issue. We could be open for a few more weeks from the looks of it.  We received in some places another 10 cms a couple days ago.  I went up with Patrick from Selkirk Sports to T2 and found nice untracked powder yesterday.  We didn't go up until about 1pm and it looked like there had only  maybe been a couple of other people up there ahead of us.  It wasn't until we got about 2/3 thirds of the way down before it started to get mucky and that was a challenge on the knees slugging our way to the bottom.  It was back to the top of the mountain to the Eagle's Eye for a beer after that which is a great way  to end the day.  If you are thinking of coming skiing next winter, love to have you stay with us.  Give us a call 250 344 2622 or email info@vagabondlodge.ca. 
Our 10% Early Bird booking is in effect.  

Today it felt like Spring Skiing..finally.  The weather warmed up a few degrees, the sun was shinning brightly, the resort was deserted(good for skiers, bad for business) and the snow was softening up nicely. 
I had a big day for exercise.  I did 3 hikes.  The first were up to the top of Terminator 1, which is the peak to the south of the gondola.  I knew as soon as it got a little warmer it was going to be sweet and it was.  There were a couple of inches of soft snow on top and it was like skiing powder.  I came back down and ran (not physically) into a friend Patrick who owns Selkirk Sports and he suggested we go back up again to the top.  It was good the second time too.  

We have our final guests of the ski season.  They are 3 guys from Chicago area and stayed with us for 5 nights and were loving our area.  One of them, Vincent wanted to finish off his stay with a run from the top of T2 which is the furthest peak to the south and involves another hike/climb.  We did it as the sun was going down over the ridge and were the last skiers to go up for the day(ski patrol were prodding us from behind) . Vinny had a great time and no doubt will remember his stay with his final run. 
Photos of his hike and run below.  Kicking Horse closes on Sunday April 20th so I have a few days to spend all day skiing.  I think I will. 

Its hard to believe the count down is on for the end of the ski season here at Kicking Horse.  It has been an amazing year and especially the last month or so.  It is warming up in the last few days so lots of spring skiing but the top is still winter conditions.  Today there was some light snow and wind but once you got off the top it was great and as you got closer to the bottom it got pretty mushy but still nice. The Resort closes on April 20th so there is still time to get in a few last turns. 
Yesterday I had another first.  I went with a friend Ken Schroeder who is a former Parks Canada Warden and Patrick who owns Selkirk Sports which is next to the gondola for a  trip into the Ozone.  It is out of bounds and accessible from the top of the Stairway to Heaven Chair.  From there you hike and climb for about 30 minutes.  From the top of the ridge you have a pretty crazy narrow opening to side-slip down and then a short traverse and after that it opens up into a great slope with all sorts of powder skiing.  You can make your way through the trees at the bottom back into the Resort.  It took us about an hour and a half all together for the trip and well worth it.  I do not recommend anyone to do this without having the proper avalanche gear and a guide who knows not only the snow conditions but the terrain and we had both.  
Check out the video. 

I know this may sound repetitious but the conditions are so good!!  I didn't get out yesterday but anyone who did raved about how good the skiing was.  We got about 5 cms of new snow the day before and it still wasn't warming up to the point of ice or slush.  I had to go up to my usual haunt to the top of T2 this afternoon and it was winter conditions with blowing snow and cool temperatures.  And it looked like I was the first one up in awhile since my tracks were fresh on my way up.  And the snow coming down was so nice.  It really didn't begin to toughen up until almost at the bottom with a little slush.  Still some flurries blowing through off and on.  We still have a couple of weeks left of skiing with the resort open until April 20th.  I heard rumours today they may even stay open longer because of all the snow.  I am not sure they will get too many skiers but with all the other resorts in the area closing down this weekend it may be a good idea.  Revelstoke, Panorama, Fernie are all closing after this weekend and I am sure there are a few more.  The only resorts that stay open longer is Lake Louise and Sunshine. So there may be a market still.  Whatever is the case...the conditions great. I am enjoying it while I can. 

Another fabulous day for skiing at Kicking Horse.  I know I have been saying this all season but it is the truth.  Best snow conditions for this time of the year since we have been here which is 10 years.  There is some sort of temperature inversion where it is warmer at the top then at the bottom which is keeping the snow great from top to bottom.  I made a couple runs late this afternoon and was still skiing boot top powder off T2 which is the run in the photo.  And we had about 6cms yesterday and was finding nice fresh snow all the way down.