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Northern Rockies/Alberta The Kootenays for the New Year

Mike Rogers

Out on the slopes
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Joined
Apr 25, 2017
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753
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Calgary
For the third year running, Liz and I skipped Christmas gift giving and put our money towards a ski trip in early January. Early January is a good time for us because Liz, currently a grad student, is still on Christmas break, and things it's an easy time for me to escape work. Pus, lodging is less expensive than Christmastime, and crowds have mostly died down.

We went to Skoki Lodge, near Lake Louise two years ago, Whistler last year, and chose the Rossland/Nelson area this year.

We started out on New Year's eve. We had spent the last week with her Family in Ontario, and just got back to Calgary the night before. Our plan was to sleep in, and drive out to creston to ski Kootenay Pass on New Year's Day, but Castle was reporting 73 centimeters over the last 36, and fridid temps were keeping most skiers at home. We decided to stop at Castle on our way.

The morning was a cold one.

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It actually hit -38 further along on the drive.

Fortunately, the forecast was calling for an inversion..and sunny skies.

We pulled into an almost empty lot, with temps reading a "balmy" -25 at the base. We were assured that the morning temp at the top was -15 and it would be warming up throughout the day. We headed straight for the top.

The southside chutes were closed at the start of the day. I am not sure if they opened at all during since the big storm. We settled on Drifter, the run closest to the chute's rope line. Drifter's offers the longest continuous fall line skiing in Canada. It isn't a steep black diamond, but the pitch is consistent. Wind drifts make the skiing pretty interesting. We found the snow to be good, very deep in spots, but the wind had beat us there.

The drifts on drifter.
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We tried the trees on the far north side of the hill for some sheltered snow. The northern trees were amazing. Deep, dry, light powder. We made fresh tracks, days after the big storm. Coverage was good, top to bottom, and we were able to stay in the fall line and in the glades all the way to the north road collector. I hit a few stumps and downed logs, but nothing that caused damage to me or my skis.

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By our third lap, the chutes opened. We had first tracks on Lone Star. Great fall line skiing! I missed all the rocks too.

We spent the rest of the day alternating between chutes (finding rocks on High Rustler and Desperado) and the North Trees. All and all a great start to the vacation!

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After leaving Castle we drove on to Creston. We stayed at the Downtowner...a cheap motel on the main drag/highway.

We had a new year's eve beer in the hotel room, and prepared for a tour in Kootenay Pass for New Year's Day.


I will update this a bit later, but our plan was to ski Kootenay Pass, Red Mountain, Red Mountain Slack, Whitewater, and Whitewater Slack. With a bit of a tricky snowpack, and some close to home incidents, we bailed on our slack days and doubled up on the resorts.
 
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Mike Rogers

Mike Rogers

Out on the slopes
Skier
Joined
Apr 25, 2017
Posts
753
Location
Calgary
Day 2

After struggling to stay awake until midnight the night before, we slept in a bit on New Year’s Day. I half-rationalized that we would be gaining an hour after leaving Creston to ski in the pass….

…The Sun might not care about our time zone, but after an early morning the day before, hard skiing at Castle, and a bunch of driving, I was pretty accepting of this comforting lie.

The started off cool. -15 in Creston. Fortunately, the area was experiencing an inversion, so temps were much more comfortable at the pass. I have only skied this region once before, but it offers excellent tree skiing and the opportunity to ski multiple short laps. The pass itself, if the highest winter road in BC, so the skiing is pretty reasonable all the way to the highway.

We opted for the north east aspect of lightning ridge, on the south side of the highway. The skin track was nicely laid out an the snow on the run was sheltered from wind and sun. Trees were moderately spaced and skiing was excellent on a 500meter decent. I don’t have a lot of pictures from this one. Photo shoots are always tough in the backcountry especially if travelling in pairs!

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We called it a day after the one run, and finished the drive to Rossland, where we would spend the next 2 nights.

Rossland is one of my favorite ski towns….but it can be quiet at night. It was especially quiet on New Year’s Day, with most business closed for the holiday. We settled for dinner at the Flying Steamwhistle Pub…which was convenient as we were staying upstairs. Food was good, but not spectacular, but the beer list was pretty decent. The rooms were spacious and clean, and the noise from the pub below was barely noticeable. It’s a decent place if you are on a budget…but maybe avoid if they have a band booked.


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Mike Rogers

Mike Rogers

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Day 3 and 4

Our original plan was to ski Red one day, and ski the backcountry the next, but a challenging snowpack, highlighted by a slide in a popular side country location, encouraged inbounds play. That was fine by me, as Red is one of my favorite places to ski. Of the resorts I have experienced, Red has the best trees.

The morning of our first day was chilly by Kootenay standards but again there was a significant inversion. Temperatures at the top were forecast to be close to 0 celcius. We had breakfast at the Alpine Grind, a great coffee shop on the main drag, and drove the 3km to the resort.

As season pass holders to Lake Louise, we received a $20 discount on our lift tickets. I paid $72/day, which was a pretty good value. Liz is a student, so she was able to save an additional $18….great value!

Red has lifts serving 3 mountains: The original Red mountain, Granite, and Grey.

Red Mountain proper is the smallest of the three mountains. It receives somewhat less snow, has less of the really steep stuff, but like many other old school ski areas (home of Western Canada’s first chairlift!), most runs are steeper than the average intermediate might like.

I skipped Red Mountain on my last trip to Red Resort, so I decided to head there first. We skied the War Eagle run. It wasn’t anything to write home about, but the small bumps were enjoyable and the views of Rossland were quite nice. We were given a reminder of the area’s mining heritage on the way down.

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With Red checked off, we made our way to Granite Mountain. Granite Mountain was made for skiing. You can ski fall line runs 360 degrees around the mountain. Cut runs are few, but there are great tree runs, ranging from mellow well spaced glades to tight bushwhacking…Sometimes tight bushwhacking will lead to a beautiful glade. It is impossible to get lost. Just ski down the mountain until you hit the obvious collector. The collector will take you back to the lift.

The biggest downside to skiing Granite is access from the base. The Silverload lift is one of the slowest lifts I have ridden. AND it serves beginner terrain, so it stops and slows frequently. AND it goes across the hill instead of directly up the fall line. Tip: limit your trips to the base!

We skied all over, but concentrated mostly on the north side of granite. The northern aspects stayed in the shade and held cold, wintery snow. We were able to link powder turns in some of the less trafficked areas. The Southern Faces had a spring skiing feel to them, especially at the top. They were fun, but the snow was a bit crunchy in the morning, and heavy in the afternoon. We also noticed more stumps, bushes, and rocks on this aspect. We made a couple of runs on Grey, where the northside (again) held the best snow. The best run of the day was in “the chute show” where we skied on untouched snow with a moderate fall line before traversing hard to avoid and unsendable cliff (one of the few that was actually marked…red means business with their cliff signs).

Lunch was at the hot dog tent “weiner takes all”. The dogs were fine…not special, but quick and cheap. Ride the Grey chair to avoid going back to the base.

Had an après beer at Rafter’s- great ski pub. We did laundry at the local laundromat in the evening, which was conveniently located next the Rossland Brewing. I really liked the Pale. I also tried the milk stout, which was okay, but not my favorite style. Dinner was at Gabriella’s…good pasta at a good price. Recommended if you are in the mood.

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The next day was more of the same, but a bit warmer. Run of the day was either the second “cooler” or Doug’s Run. We did breakfast and après (coffee this time) at the Alpine Grind and visited the Rossland Museum before heading out of town. The museum was pretty interesting with a lot of information about the mining boom and a wing dedicated to skiing in the region. Memerobelia from Kerrin Lee Gartner and Nancy Green. Worth a look!


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We even came across the famous cabins tucked in the woods of Granite. These are privately owned, and on the backside with no road (or easy walking access).

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We drove to Nelson that night. We had dinner at the Cantina del Centro. If you are Canadian, I recommend this pace. They have really good Tacos. Half decent Mexican is difficult to find in the Great White North, and this place was good. Americans might even like it! It was also affordable and open late….the Koots shut down super early!
 
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Mike Rogers

Mike Rogers

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Calgary
Days 5 and 6 – Whitewater

Whitewater is probably the snowiest, non-coastal resort in Southern Canada. It gets 40 feet of relatively dry snow a season. The base elevation is higher than the top of Red Mountain proper, so full-on rain is not usually a problem. The resort doesn’t have much for scare-yourself steeps, but it has plenty of challenging tree skiing and many small cliffs, boulders and rocks to add spice to your run. Unfortunately it is also quite small. Most locals use Whitewater as a base for excellent touring, but this may not suit the average tourist. Whitewater does offer cheap lift tickets for backcountry access at $25 CAD for a single ride and $42 for two.

Like Red, we had initially planned to ski the first day inbounds and explore the backcountry on the second. Unfortunately the snow pack was still touchy…highlighted by a serious incident in a popular area nearby, and we were stuck in cloud on day 2. I tend to be very conservative in unfamiliar areas, so we stayed inbounds both days.

The first day was much like our previous two at Red. The morning was cold in town, but nice and warm on the mountain. Snow off the summit chair was excellent where we lapped the Terra Ratta trees (very fun) and explored the rest of the smallish area. We also played around in the newish (first time for me) Glory Ridge area. Some of this area gets a lot of sun, and the snow directly off the backside of the summit wasn’t great. Snow under the lift, and skiers right of the lift was very good. Backside Bowl to the lower glades was the highlight. We did 4 or 5 laps there over our two days. For the lower glades, we found the Backside run to be the best. The area to the far skiers left (brake line) needed a bit more snow to burry shrubbery.

We only went up Silver King twice. I think this lift is best suited for backcountry access.



Day two was cloudy, with wet snow. The snow was almost rain. It would melt as soon as it hit you. Fortunately, it is easy skiing in the cloud at an area known for its trees.


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For Food we repeated our visit at the Taco bar and tried The Outer Clove – a garlic themed restaurant. Liz is a bigger garlic fan than me. It was good, but I wouldn’t have gone if solo. Liz loved it. Breakfast was at the Oso Negro coffee house. Excellent coffee, good baked goods. Lunch was at the day lodge, and was very, very good. Don’t pack a lunch when skiing whitewater.

For après, I had a beer at Backroads Brewing. I would like to check out more of their stuff, but with 23 ounce “pints” (wft?) one was enough. On the other day I had a beer at the “pub” in the daylodge. They have 3 taps: all carrying Nelson Brewing Company products.
 
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Mike Rogers

Mike Rogers

Out on the slopes
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Joined
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Posts
753
Location
Calgary
Day 7 and 8

After six days of skiing we took a day off to visit Ainsworth hotsprings. The caves there were really nice, and the soak was great. It is not a fancy spa, but it was worth the drive. We drove from Ainsworth to revelstoke, passing the Retallack snowcat ops on the way. Pretty cool, but the highway out there is lonely..and there is no cell service.

We stayed at the Cube in Revelstoke. This is my go-to budget place in Revy. Shared showers, but free breakfast and a free pass to the aquatic center. Great!

We battled cloud and light snow the next day on the hill, but the snow was very good…best since day 2..and there were no crowds. We mostly skied the long laps in the North bowl, but explored a few other areas. Revelstoke is still not my favorite resort, but their glading efforts are improving the ski experience. The trees below the stoke were closed, but the rest of the runs, excluding “kill the banker” were open. We did 2 laps to the base. Good snow until you hit the day lodge, but Pitch Black had some rocks. Skiers left was better.

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Dose coffee in Revelstoke has great coffee. The craft bierhaus has a nice taplist, but I wouldn’t eat there again. Not bad, but there is better food in revy. Good for a pint or 2!
 

at_nyc

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That's some great photos you guys took!

Fabulous trip too, from the look and sound of it.
 

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