Be one of the privileged few in on
British Columbia's newest winter secret: Kicking Horse
Mountain Resort, deep in the heart of the Canadian
Rockies.
It's been 25 years since a new ski resort opened in the Canadian
Rockies, but the skiers and snowboarders who took to Kicking Horse
Mountain Resort's trails in its inaugural season say it's been
worth the wait. Sky-kissing mountains, abundant and consistent
snowfall, the languid Canadian dollar, and recent lodging
expansions and trail openings make it this winter's destination du
jour for skiers from around the globe. In fact, annual visits to
British Columbia's resorts were up more than 70 percent from only a
decade ago, to nearly 6 million last year.
These numbers go a long way toward explaining the zeal with which
investors are eager to participate in Kicking Horse, a new resort
that opened modestly last season in the blue-collar mill town of
Golden, about 160 miles west of
Calgary. The project, which is
expected to cost nearly $250 million when fully completed, means
that Whistler-Blackcomb, long the crown jewel of western Canadian
skiing (the lauded resort racked up more than 2 million skier
visits last season), might just have to learn how to share all that
shines.
That's all well and good, but all the money in the world can't make
a great ski mountain. For that, you need, well, snow. Kicking Horse
is blessed with 275 inches annually, nothing to brag about in and
of itself (Whistler-Blackcomb, for instance, averages 360 inches,
and
Utah's Alta Ski Area regularly racks up 500-inch winters), but
as any powder junkie will tell you, quality is just as, if not
more, important than quantity. While coastal peaks like Whistler
must often contend with the high tempera-tures and moisture content
that turn powder into cement, Kicking Horse's location near the
Continental Divide makes for consistent dumps of dry, fluffy
flakes. "They're not lying when they advertise champagne powder,"
says
Shane Lehmann, a local ski instructor who logged more than 60
days on the mountain last year. "Even in April, we'll get that
light, powdery snow that just blows over your head as you ski."