Freeride World Tour Stop # 2 – Kicking Horse, BC

This year there’s a real treat coming to Golden, BC in the first week of February. From the 3rd to the 9th, the only North American stop on the Freeride World Tour is coming to one of the raddest mountains in BC – Kicking Horse Mountain Resort.

Golden sits on the Trans-Canada Highway, Highway 1, on the east side of Roger’s Pass, deep in the heart of the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia. Golden is smaller than a lot of other mountain towns. It’s got real character and has established itself as one of the more hard core big mountain ski destinations in BC. That’s both on and off the resort. Outside the resort, the terrain is absolutely limitless, and offers some of the best big mountain touring, sled skiing and all around shredding in the world.

On the hill, the resort is famous for three things: big terrain, boatloads of snow and no crowds. That’s right, Kicking Horse Resort is famous for having minimal crowds. And this is no small time resort. Kicking Horse boasts over 4100 feet of vertical and has some burly big mountain terrain. Add in the slack country and it’s world class. Now you know why it’s a stop on the Freeride World Tour. It’s got what it takes to challenge the best big mountain shredders in the world.

They also get lots of snow. Averaging over 24ft each year of dry champagne pow. It’s an awesome place to shred, but the no lineups on a pow day thing is number one. There are very few places in the world that offer up that much vertical and big mountain terrain but have minimal lineups when there’s two feet of fresh on the ground. That’s the beauty of Kicking Horse. It’s a friendly place, with friendly people who all have one thing in common: they love to ski and ride. That common passion makes for a cool, relaxed vibe with an understated hard core mountain enthusiasm that rivals any of the big resorts around the continent.

But the real prize is getting the chance to see some of the biggest names in big mountain skiing and snowboarding. The Freeride World Tour is something that doesn’t come around too often in North America and it’s an amazing opportunity to see one of the most exciting comps in the world. There’s a lot up for grabs this year and it’s sure to be a fantastic week.

So do yourself a favour and pack up your van, grab a couple of friends, and go spend a week in Kicking Horse. Catch the Freeride World Tour event, shred the local lines and spend a day or two in the backcountry. Cap that with some good food and drink options both at the resort and in one of the coolest little mountain towns in BC and you have all the ingredients for a sick road trip.

For more information visit www.kickinghorseresort.com or www.freerideworldtour.com