Yes, it’s here: our first promo videos to tantalize and tease you towards a winter season at Kicking Horse with Powdertrip. Enjoy!

Promo 1:

Promo 2:

Soundtracks provided courtesy of Chris Outlaw and Mischa Weston-Green of the group “Gunslinga”.

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The seasonnaires entered their level one exam week on the back of a Sunday spent in and around Panorama Mountain Resort. Ben, Jake, Nick and Pete decided to hit the kilometre long terrain park while another eight Powdertrippers spent the day dog sledding and snowmobiling in the backcountry.  

Panorama Terrain Park and Pipe

The week has been a successful one for the snowboarders with most of them bagging their first rail, and opening the door towards becoming Park Instructors on top of their CASI certificates. Panorama provided an enormous terrain park to practice the skills they’d been working on this week. Nick joined the others as the token skier to prove that two planks fly just as well as one! 

Dog sledding

The less park-orientated Powdertrippers were sliding on sleds rather than rails as they experienced driving packs of dogs on a more traditional snowy transport. About thirty dogs pulled three sleds through the spectacular alpine environment for the morning, showing that they were not only cute but also extremely strong and fast.

 Snowmobiling

A BBQ lunch was welcome relief before the group upgraded their dogpower to horsepower in the form of snowmobiles. A safety brief and driving lesson taught them snowmobiling and backcountry skills. Then Inkeri, Jack, Chris, Karen, Andrew, Frankie, Lynne, Tigger and David were let loose and told to ‘go for it’ in a huge alpine bowl! Speeds of 50mph were reached as the group clung to their ‘sleds’ and became motor-heads for the afternoon. Andrew discovered that getting air on a snowmobile is just as scary as getting air on a snowboard, while a few people found out that falling off is pretty tough too! 

Radium Hot Springs

All the group met at the end of the day to share stories and relax in the three pools at Radium Hot Springs. With temperatures plummeting as evening kicked in, the outdoor hot mineral water pools steamed as tired muscles recovered ready for another six days of intense skiing and boarding at Kicking Horse.

The snow started falling yesterday to end this week’s ‘drought’ and this made the Revelstoke day trip a powdery one! With Canada’s newest and most ambitious resort only a month old, it was an interesting time to check out one of tomorrow’s giant resorts in it’s infancy. So our trip 2 hours west along the ‘Powder Highway’ had freshly fallen snow and bluebird skies to let us appreciate Revelstoke in it’s full glory.

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The gondola and chairlifts that have been installed to the former cat-ski operation are incredibly quick and well thought out and despite being a powder day and a Sunday, the whole mountain was quiet except for whoops of delight from powder-riders shredding hidden lines somewhere in the trees! With minimal queue time, everyone’s legs were burning by lunch as the group recovered from their powder day high.

The resort has been designed by snow riders for snow riders and the potential for future years was not lost on Paul, Andy, Caroline and James as they tested their legs on North America’s longest vertical descent. Revelstoke revels in similar ‘Champagne Powder’ to Kicking Horse; wonderfully dry and smooth to ride through, and their annual snowfall is just staggering! The day ended far too quickly, leaving everyone truly ‘stoked’ – watch out Whistler, you’ve got competition!

The preceding weekend started with a visit to the Northern Lights Wolf Centre, just outside of Golden. Wiley, Aspen, Tuk and Maya howled away to their hearts content and put on a great show for the group.

Sunday night proved to be hotter than some could handle, with the Moberly Pub suicide chicken wing challenge taking another victim. Andy gave it his very best setting an early 2008 record of 5 wings (10 short of the overall record) while everyone else enjoyed a tasty dinner.

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Chuck and Ryan showed the boarders that snowboards aren’t just for riding, with a selection of extraordinary warm-ups. Shane and Josh turned up the heat in a different way, pushing the ski group to the limit in this week’s fresh powder snow. Levels of bravery and balance were also put to the test with nerve-wracking tube runs (especially for Jake) and snow-skating on the Jelly Bean nursery slope.

Thursday night’s ski tuning demonstration provided an hour of information and a chance to fix and wax/edge some skis in Selkirk Sports Shop. Inkeri, Mike and Tigger got stuck into making those shabby looking skis ready to shred while everyone else looked on.

There was no weekend break for those tired legs with the Recreational Avalanche course beginning with an in-depth Friday night theory session and then continuing in -20 degree conditions on the resort. Kyle and Sean provided the group with an eye-opening and sobering experience with their first hand Ski Patrol knowledge into the dangers of winter activity in the mountains. The skiers and boarders were given a tour of the terrain with avalanches in mind and lots of hands-on sessions digging snow-pits, using transceivers and participating in a rescue scenario with the aid of an avalanche rescue dog. The seasonnaires can now take their newly learned skills into the backcountry on the upcoming heli-ski, sledding and backcountry days.

With a 100% pass rate for our skiers and a near perfect score for our snowboarders there was lots of celebrating to be had.

The afternoon ended with drinks at Extreme Peaks on the hill and the evening started at the Eagle’s Eye Restaurant at the top of the resort with some awesome food and plenty of wine and cocktails.

Here is just a small selection from the great night had by all….

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Its the end of the season and that can only mean one thing – level 2 examinations…

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Whew, what a great morning – 19cms of new snow in the last 2 days!!

We skied in Lizard and Cedar Bowls, and found some fantastic untracked powder to play in. There are so few people in Fernie at the moment that the skihill feels like our own personal playground. It looks as though the snow is set to keep falling so we are looking forward to more days in the powder and if you are coming to see us soon, then be prepared for some fun…….

The long awaited day arrived and it seemed like the sun had been waiting for an excuse to shine and make the sky a fantastic blue.

The new LostBoys Cafe at the top of the Timber Chair opened its doors to the public for the first time and everybody was hugely impressed. The deck will be a great place to sit and relax with friends.

The snow both on the groomers and off-piste is superb for this early in the season, and has created a good base for the rest of the season. We took the White Pass Chair to the highest point of the ski area, and then skied down through Curry Bowl enjoying the views as we went.

Boomerang Ridge was in about as good condition as it gets, and Fernie town is bustling and it’s only the beginning…….

If you haven’t signed up for one of courses yet, especially the January off-piste weeks, then now is the time!

A good fitness level is essential if you want to ski all day and not ache the following morning. In Fernie one of the best ways to keep fit is to clear the drive manually – many people invest in a snowblower to do the work, but to clear 6 inches of snow with a snowshovel can turn into a great workout. The problems start when the snow falls so fast that you get the same workout 5 times in one day………………the owner of this car left the snow for just one afternoon!!

We have had 41 inches of snow in the last week in Fernie and opening day next Saturday, 9th December, is set to be pretty special.
Stephen and I have had many workouts clearing the drive so far, and are hoping for many more during the season.