Kicking Horse only had 10 inches snow so far in February, 4 in the past week, so locals said it was pretty firm. The reality was that KH’s snow preservation was excellent and the only issue was bony sections of the traverses along the 2 main ridgelines. As usual temps were colder than at the Northwest influenced areas near the US border, about 16 degrees up top with an occasional breeze. Skies were overcast, and on a Wednesday with no new snow it was very quiet in terms of skier traffic.
We went up the gondola, skied via the north facing bowls to the Stairway to Heaven chair, a slow and somewhat cold ride so we adjusted gear accordingly. The broad bowl dropping SE from the chair.
Next time up we traversed below Redemption Ridge and skied the trees back to the chair.
These face south and are a good checkout for the longer and steeper lines under the gondola into Bowl Over.
Now we were ready to try Feuz Bowl, where access has been reconfigured since I was last here in 2010. There used to be a traverse into the top entry, but now you must climb this stairway and short bootpack to the very top.
View from the peak.
The new entry is a bit more intimidating than the old one, and with less than ideal light we took a pass. View north with White Wall dropping off the right.
The far peak is out of bounds with the boundary in saddle Liz is approaching here.
She made a good choice as White Wall bent around into better light over there. I wanted a steeper and longer line here.
But it was skiing into the void with the flat light, as admin has commented about his experience with Whitehorn at Lake Louise. So it was slow going for the steep upper part, one turn at a time. Halfway down the walls curved up into a chute and provided better reference. In 2008 I was here with Ben and Adam in fresh powder. White Wall is outstanding when it’s steep and deep.
From Feuz you have to ski to the bottom and fortunately even the lower groomers were in decent shape. Back up the gondola we traversed out CPR Ridge to the south facing trees dropping into Bowl Over.
This was one of the best runs of the day with good visibility and surprisingly soft snow.
Our last gondola we again traversed out CPR Ridge to fin d a good north side chute. Liz dropping in here.
This easy entry is actually a no fall zone with cliffs directly below. Once in, a short traverse either way leads to a steep 40 degree entry with an open bowl below.
We rode the Stairway chair and traversed Redemption Ridge to drop into the north side of Feuz Bowl.
These runs are generally easier than the drops off the north side of CPR Ridge.
We skied to the bottom and called it a day at 3PM with 17,200 vertical. Kicking Horse has an abundance of challenging skiing, but with declining light and a couple of potentially big days ahead we did not want to overdo it here. My first day here in 2002 I skied 26,000 and was really beat.
We went up the gondola, skied via the north facing bowls to the Stairway to Heaven chair, a slow and somewhat cold ride so we adjusted gear accordingly. The broad bowl dropping SE from the chair.
Next time up we traversed below Redemption Ridge and skied the trees back to the chair.
These face south and are a good checkout for the longer and steeper lines under the gondola into Bowl Over.
Now we were ready to try Feuz Bowl, where access has been reconfigured since I was last here in 2010. There used to be a traverse into the top entry, but now you must climb this stairway and short bootpack to the very top.
View from the peak.
The new entry is a bit more intimidating than the old one, and with less than ideal light we took a pass. View north with White Wall dropping off the right.
The far peak is out of bounds with the boundary in saddle Liz is approaching here.
She made a good choice as White Wall bent around into better light over there. I wanted a steeper and longer line here.
But it was skiing into the void with the flat light, as admin has commented about his experience with Whitehorn at Lake Louise. So it was slow going for the steep upper part, one turn at a time. Halfway down the walls curved up into a chute and provided better reference. In 2008 I was here with Ben and Adam in fresh powder. White Wall is outstanding when it’s steep and deep.
From Feuz you have to ski to the bottom and fortunately even the lower groomers were in decent shape. Back up the gondola we traversed out CPR Ridge to the south facing trees dropping into Bowl Over.
This was one of the best runs of the day with good visibility and surprisingly soft snow.
Our last gondola we again traversed out CPR Ridge to fin d a good north side chute. Liz dropping in here.
This easy entry is actually a no fall zone with cliffs directly below. Once in, a short traverse either way leads to a steep 40 degree entry with an open bowl below.
We rode the Stairway chair and traversed Redemption Ridge to drop into the north side of Feuz Bowl.
These runs are generally easier than the drops off the north side of CPR Ridge.
We skied to the bottom and called it a day at 3PM with 17,200 vertical. Kicking Horse has an abundance of challenging skiing, but with declining light and a couple of potentially big days ahead we did not want to overdo it here. My first day here in 2002 I skied 26,000 and was really beat.
