Kicking Horse ROCKED!

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Ohnmar: Gosh, it was an early start to the day especially when I worked until 11pm the night before. The bus left at 6:45am this morning and I was really excited about snowboarding another mountain. I had been checking the website for the last week anticipating snowfall, and last night it snowed 5cm, just enough champagne powder to make it a fun day.

The drive took a couple of hours and the road conditions were pretty good so there were no delays. I slept most of the way on the bus. When we arrived at Kicking Horse Mountain Resort it was a cloudy day with not much sunlight from the base of the resort. I had booked into a group lesson for $89 for two hours, went to the snow school at 9:45am and to my delight I was the only one in my group, so technically I had a private lesson which was fantastic!! That is the beauty of going to a smaller resort on a weekday! My instructor was great he was really helpful in giving me tips on how to improve, I've got a season under my belt and a had been snowboarding at least once a week this season which started in early November 2009. At midday I met up with my husband Damien and some of his mates and had lunch in the day lodge. We noticed that the prices at Kicking Horse wasn't as expensive at Sunshine Village which was a nice change.

After lunch I went a did a few runs on my own as I was no where near advanced as the boys to go into the powder bowls and areas "unknown". Comparing Kicking Horse with Sunshine Village and Lake Louise, I would have to say that it is more similar to Lake Louise. The runs at Kicking Horse are pretty long and quite steep even on the blue runs. This is a good thing for me as it allows me to keep up some speed.

From the base of the resort you can catch a chairlift up to the half way point, or you can catch the gondola to the top. The first time I caught the gondola up, it was amazing, it was like you were on top of the world. As you ascend up the gondola you actually go above the clouds in the valley and it was 'bluebird' at the top of the mountain. See the pictures I have included of the views from the top of the mountain and also the valley filled with fog/clouds. In these conditions it was nice to stay on the top half of the mountain, because the lower you go visability just got worse because of the cloud & fog.

Before I knew it was 3:45pm and we were heading back to the bus to drive back to Banff. It was a great day out but when you are wanting to explore such big areas it just wasn't enough time. I would love to go back. But, before heading back to the same place, I think we will try day trips to Revelstoke and Big White first.

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Photos

Above the clouds
View from the top of one of the powder bowls

Damien
On top of the world!

Gondola
View from the Gondola

Up Top
Top of the Goldola