Kicking Horse Mountain Resort

Kicking Horse Mountain Resort lies just 6.4 kilometres west of Golden, British Columbia; it commands 3,486 acres of skiable terrain and boasts a staggering 1,315-metre vertical drop, ranking among North America’s loftiest descents. This resort occupies the eastern flank of the Purcell Mountains, gazing across the vast Rocky Mountain Trench, and sits a mere seven kilometres from Glacier National Park and twenty-three kilometres from Yoho National Park. With over 120 named trails threading through five alpine bowls and more than 85 inbound chutes, Kicking Horse extends an invitation to skiers and snowboarders of every aptitude—though its reputation for steep pitches and prodigious powder appeals particularly to those seeking serious challenge.

The base village, perched at 1,190 metres above sea level, serves as both gateway and gathering place for a seasonal community that swells in winter and contracts through summer, then expands anew come December. In its synthesis of raw vertical relief, vast expanses of Champagne Powder, and proximity to two iconic national parks, Kicking Horse Mountain Resort stakes an immediate claim on both the adventurous traveller and the contemplative observer.

The resort’s setting feels elemental: ridge lines cleave the sky above, while beneath them lie sweeping bowls whose contours yield sublime variations of pitch and exposure. Crystal Bowl unfurls gently to intermediate skiers, its slopes broad enough to absorb both fresh snowfall and tracked-out bumps with equal grace. Bowl Over, by contrast, demands more precision—its steeper gradient often rippling with moguls that signal the day’s shifting light as surely as changing weather. Between these expanses runs CPR Ridge, a spine of untracked powder chutes that beckon the most intrepid experts, its glades offering shadowed corridors draped in snow-laden firs. One single trail, “It’s a 10,” winds ten kilometres from high alpine to lift base, a verdant green descent that threads together the resort’s disparate facets in a gentle, sustained arc.

The resort’s origins reach back to 1986, when a modest municipal ski hill—Whitetooth Ski Area—opened its slopes with a lone Pioneer double chair and three novice runs carving through 610 metres of vertical terrain. In those early years skiers from surrounding communities would descend upon the hill each Friday, lured by fresh powder laid down over four days of closure; the phenomenon became known simply as “Powder Fridays,” a custom testament to both local zeal and the mountain’s prodigious snowfall. As chutes and glades were gradually cut into the lower flanks, Whitetooth developed a loyal following, yet mounting questions about the aging lift infrastructure began to cloud its prospects once the century’s end approached.

By the late 1990s Golden’s citizens were united in concern that Whitetooth’s single chair would become a liability if replacement proved unaffordable; in 1996 the town’s mayor entrusted architect Oberto Oberti with a plan to secure private investment. Oberti introduced the opportunity to Ballast Nedam, the Dutch engineering firm obligated to reinvest in Canada following its work on the Confederation Bridge; on 20 September 1997, a community referendum approved the sale by 92.8 percent. Within two years Oberto Oberti’s office had drafted a master plan that gained provincial assent in 1999, and by summer 2000 construction crews were reshaping the mountainside.

On 8 December 2000 the expanded resort reopened under its new identity, complete with the Golden Eagle Express gondola and a Catamount fixed-grip quad lift. The initial phase established four major bowls—Crystal, Bowl Over, Feuz and Super—whose contours converge midway to form a continuous ski-out toward the village. In 2002 the Stairway to Heaven quad extended access to the quieter Feuz Bowl, while the addition of Super Bowl in 2010 pushed the western boundary 300 metres higher, intensifying the resort’s vertical claim. With the Freeride World Tour’s imprint still fresh, the Ozone area was annexed into bounds for the 2018 season, adding some 600 acres and raising the summit elevation above 2,500 metres.

Lift infrastructure reflects both ambition and heritage: the Poma-built Golden Eagle Express ferries eight passengers at 5.6 metres per second, covering 1,315 vertical metres from base to peak; the Catamount quad and the relic Pioneer double extend service to intermediate terrain, while the Leitner-Poma Stairway to Heaven quad secures the upper northerly bowls. A surface “Jelly Bean” lift handles beginners and novice terrain near the village, ensuring that all levels find their appropriate threshold. Although overall uphill capacity can bottleneck beneath heavy demand, most visitors willingly return to the summit via gondola—grateful for the uninterrupted alpine panorama that unfolds with each ascent.

Terrain classification underscores the resort’s commitment to thrilling expertise: roughly 20 percent of runs serve those taking their first turns, another 20 percent address intermediate cruisers, and the remainder tilts steeply toward seasoned skiers—45 percent advanced, 15 percent expert. Among the most storied features are the inbound chutes of CPR Ridge—over 75 in count—where cliff bands, wind lips and natural half-pipes challenge body and mind. At the edge of Bowl Over, Terminator Ridge rises as a beckon for those willing to hike fifteen to thirty minutes, its summit granting access to Super Bowl’s broad seracs on one side and narrow, twisting chutes on the other. Backcountry portals flank both north and south: Rudi’s Bowl and its ilk to the north, Super Bowl’s perimeter to the south, where the unwary can slip beyond patrolled boundaries into unmarked wild.

Winter’s allure extends past alpine skiing: snowshoe loops of two to four kilometres thread through subalpine glades, while a charming village rink hosts skating and casual hockey evenings under vaulted skies. Families gather at the tubing park perched beside Catamount, cheered on by onlooking spruce ridges, and later find refuge at Canada’s highest dining room—Eagle’s Eye—where gourmet cuisine accompanies sweeping views of the Continental Divide. Perched nearby, on a ridgeline visible from the gondola, is a twenty-acre grizzly refuge where “Boo,” the resident bear, ambles behind secure fencing; an interpretive centre at Catamount base invites summer guests to learn about his rehabilitation and habitat.

When snow retreats, the resort metamorphoses into a mountain biking haven: gravity-fed trails descend over 1,200 metres of vertical, ranking second in Canada only to Whistler’s famed drop. Routes range from flow-oriented singletrack through subalpine meadows to technical chutes studded with rock features and jumps, each calibrated to test skill and stamina. The Via Ferrata provides an alternate vertical challenge after gondola ascent, its steel cables and protected routes affording climbers exposure to dizzying cornices and panoramic summits without the need for ropes or pickaxes. Wildlife tours continue around the grizzly enclosure, while vantage points along Rocky Mountain ridges offer sweeping glimpses of the Columbia Wetlands and the gold-hued town of Golden far below.

Accommodations cluster around the base village, where ski-in/ski-out lodges deliver immediate slope access, and a shuttle service links Golden’s eclectic collection of hotels and bed-and-breakfasts to the mountain for a nominal fare. Calgary International Airport lies three and a half hours east by road, its terminals serving both domestic and international travellers bound for the Rockies. The Kicking Horse–Golden Connector runs at regular intervals throughout the season, knitting town and mountain into a seamless corridor of adventure and respite.

For those in search of unmitigated vertical relief, luminous dry powder and the interplay of wild freedom with considered comfort, Kicking Horse Mountain Resort stands unrivalled. Its evolution from a solitary community ski hill into a globally celebrated destination reflects both local tenacity and international vision, while its terrain—scarred yet serene—offers a stage upon which nature’s grandeur and human aspiration converge. At every turn, from the gondola’s suspended perch to the hidden chute’s quiet mystery, Kicking Horse affirms itself not merely as a resort but as a summation of everything the high mountains can offer to those who heed their enduring call.