What’s skiing Kicking Horse all about? Well…skiing.
At the hike-to gate below the summit of Kicking Horse’s Terminator Peak, I do some quick skier math.
My ride back to town, the Golden Kicking Horse Connector Shuttle, leaves the base in 25 minutes. I could easily ski that closer chute, which looks like a short bootpack, and make it. But I want to ski a better chute over there and the top is up there, and that bootpack can’t take that long, and if things go sideways there’s a later bus anyway, and the thing is—I want to. So I hoof it.
Up top, I spare a moment for a scenic pee, absorbing the Purcell Mountains over an inverted cloud layer that seems to blanket the valley daily. Around me, a fully stocked buffet of steep in-bounds chutes. I’ve never used “infrastructure” or “amenities” as data points at my favorite ski areas, and this place gets me. More math: The number of chairlifts that bring you anywhere near the “top” of the mountain (two) only exceeds the number of grizzly bears who live at the resort by one. More on that later.
I click into my bindings and heed a warning from the only other person up here. “The traverse is the sketchiest part,” he says. I tip-toe, point it, and sluff my way to the entrance of Dare, the chute I picked out from below a few runs earlier. It’s a committing drop-in between some scraggy pines and chunky rocks. The adrenaline pop, another “point-it” moment, then one more helping of delightful steep skiing.
Nearly 4,000 vertical feet later, I make the bus.
Since its days as a lonely rail, rodeo, and forestry outpost, Golden, British Columbia, seemed destined for skiing notoriety. The 8,218-foot summit of Whitetooth Mountain, along with its multiple sub peaks and chiseled ridges, tower over town. Locals had recognized the mountain’s potential by the 1930s, when they reportedly planted the seeds of its freeride legacy with occasional ski jump competitions. A community hobby grew into THE Whitetooth Ski Area in the ’80s. In 1997, the area sold to a Vancouver architect named Oberto Oberti and Ballast Nedam, a Dutch development company. Ninety-seven percent of voters in the community approved the sale.
Kicking Horse’s current owners, Resorts of the Canadian Rockies (RCR), purchased the resort from its initial developers in 2011. Now, it’s a renowned stop on the Freeride World Tour, an Epic partner, and a tantalizingly easy trip from Denver.
Kicking Horse Mountain Resort Profile
Come hungry—ready to hike, that is—and leave happy. Kicking Horse’s lower mountain drains five bowls that separate a handful of sub peaks. Each promontory heads a ridge, where chutes drop from both sides. Families and frontside-oriented skiers stick to the terrain in the valleys and the lower mountain. Folks looking for big-mountain adventures explore the ridges and peaks, available via traverse or bootpack.
Here’s the skinny:
Closest Town: Golden, 10 minutes
Major Airport: Calgary, ~3.5 hours
Transportation: From Calgary: rental car or bus // To the ski area: Golden Kicking Horse Connector
Vertical Drop: 4,314 feet
Runs: 120+ (60% advanced or expert)
Skiable Acres: 3,486
Inbound Chutes: 85+
Lifts: 5
Backcountry Access: Yes
Resident Grizzly Bears: 1
Say what? You read that last one right. Rescued as a young orphaned cub, Boo the Grizzly Bear has lived on the mountain for 20+ years on a 30-acre swath of rugged mountainside between gondola towers 8 and 9. He hibernates in a cabin (except for the winter he built his own den and caused mountain staff some headaches). The rest of the year, he hunts small game, scratches his back on trees, and watches onlookers gawk their way through interpretive tours. From salmon to containers loaded with berries, staffers say Boo eats better than they do.
Eats and Drinks
Needless to say: I loved the skiing at Kicking Horse. It’s a dreamy destination for people who like to explore and ski chutes. Because of weather and timing, I didn’t explore the backcountry out the resort’s gates, but I’ve heard enough rave reviews to pique my interest. The place feels dramatically more like a ski “area” than a ski “resort.”
That said, Kicking Horse does boast Canada’s highest restaurant. Eagle’s Eye, located at the top of the gondola, quickly became a guilty pleasure. Between Rocky Mountain Poutine (generous with the curds!), and staple cocktails like Caesars and bourbon espresso martinis, it elevated the lunch experience. Note: the restaurant operates with a mixture of reservations and walk-in service, and getting in can be a crapshoot. I recommend making a reservation to keep things easy.
Staying in Golden, British Columbia
The base area is simple and unpretentious, but Kicking Horse does offer several accommodations at its base.
Staying in town, though, often proves less expensive and adds value. If Banff feels like Breckenridge, Golden is the blue collar stepchild. It’s small and industrial, but there are enough worthy haunts tucked away to make evenings or down days fun. For one: We visited Whitetooth Brewing Company daily—the kind of place where your bartenders absolutely ski harder than you do. Ask them for local recommendations, and order the white stout if it’s available.
The Bar and Grill, locally known as just “The Bar” is the vibe that represents the town, and they have an entire portion of the menu dedicated to mix-and-match fried finger food. Reposados fills the taco and margarita urge, while Whitetooth Bistro (notice a trend?) was our favorite of the similarly menu-ed dinner spots. Lots of comfort and pub food here. And, yes, poutine.
Coffee shops, yoga and massages, a new distillery, a movie theater, a civic center, and a bowling alley round out the array. Everything is walkable if you stay near downtown.
Oh, and maybe most important: There is, indeed, Tim Horton’s.
