Skiing the Powder Highway

To celebrate another new year of skiing, I ventured down British Columbia’s Powder Highway for the first time to see if it truly was the skier’s ultimate pilgrimage. The numbers make a strong case:  the circular route links 8 ski resorts in interior British Columbia that average 50 feet of annual snowfall apiece. As a devout skier, I had to experience it for myself before I could decree its status as a powder mecca.

Over eight days, I drove nearly 1200 miles and skied a full six days at three resorts. It snowed continuously throughout my trip.

The Powder Highway delivered; it just might be the ultimate powder skier’s dream road trip.

Kicking Horse Mountain Resort

My trip began just outside Golden, British Columbia, at Kicking Horse Mountain Resort. Its immense size – the 4^th tallest vertical drop in North America – was immediately obvious. I loaded the Golden Eagle Express Gondola and climbed from the base area, up through the clouds, to the summit.

The view spread across the entire resort, revealing four steep bowls and few easy ways down. This place was built for extreme skiers; runs like CPR Ridge and Fuez bowl offered ski-movie quality descents, especially on day one with the 10 inches of fresh snow. It’s a 10 is the only beginner run from the top of the mountain and there are few intermediate options until about halfway down.

Kicking Horse is a relatively new resort. It opened in 2000, which means its infrastructure, including the bottom-to-top gondola, chairlifts, day lodges, and hotels are all modern.

Whitewater Ski Resort

My second stop on the Powder Highway was at Whitewater Ski Resort, located near Nelson, British Columbia. It’s practically the antithesis of Kicking Horse Mountain Resort, as the resort is forty years old and its chairlifts look it.  Even the recently installed Glory Chair, which tripled the size of the ski area, is a castoff from Vail, Colorado.

But I didn’t consider its age a downfall, as Whitewater’s charm is in its pace. The chairs are slow, the terrain is gentle, the snow is deep, and everyone sounds like they’re having their best day ever.  While the terrain is definitely weighted towards intermediate (40%) and advanced (40%) skiers, the snow is so forgiving that it’s an ideal place to learn to ski powder.

Red Mountain Resort

After four straight powder days at two outstanding resorts, I expected Red Mountain Resort to disappoint. I couldn’t have been more wrong.

Red is steep in history. Debatably, it’s the oldest ski area in Canada, dating back to the early 1900’s, and it had western Canada’s first chairlift installed in 1947. Today, its name is deceptive, as the ski area actually spans three mountains – Red, Granite, and Grey, the smallest of which is Red Mountain. The terrain, for the first time on the Powder Highway, seemed evenly mapped out for all level skiers; however, there is enough big mountain terrain that the resort hosts the annual North Face Canadian Open Freeskiing Championship.

Thick valley clouds, a regular phenomenon known locally as the Kootenay Sea, shrouded Red Mountain, but I found solace in the sunshine at higher elevations on both Granite and Grey Mountains.

Other Resort Options

Revelstoke Mountain Resort is both the newest and largest ski resort on the Powder Highway. Opened in 2007, Revelstoke has gained a worldwide reputation for its combination of deep snow and ridiculously steep terrain. Beginners need not apply.

Tucked away in the very southeast corner of British Columbia, Fernie Alpine Resort has 140 ski runs spread across 5 alpine bowls. While there is ski-in, ski-out accommodation at the resort, the nearby town of Fernie was christened the Coolest Town in North America by Rolling Stone Magazine.

Panorama Mountain Village, Fairmont Hot Springs Ski Resort, and Kimberly Alpine Resort complete the Powder Highway, but while each of these resorts has individual highlights, they pale in comparison to the all-inclusive Powder Highway experience at the five major resorts mentioned previously.