Conditions Report
With much anticipation and excitement we hit the road from Silverstar headed to Rossland and Red Mountain Resort. We happened to have timed our visit to coincide with the Rossland winter carnival, the towns biggest event of the year. So on the cards was not only skiing but some ski town shenanigans. We had heard the conditions were great at the moment with a base of 170cm and 18cm a few days earlier.
Deciding to get warmed up we headed to the Paradise area as low cloud was hanging around making visibility very tricky at times. Luckily Red Mountain has a lot of tree runs to give you some contrast and depth when the weather is foggy. We found some beautiful snow in Jumbo trees and off the back into a bowl called Beer Belly. Mostly chopped powder and soft bumps but so dry and cold it was hard to make a wrong turn.
Feeling like we had explored Paradise chair enough we headed over to the fairly new area of Grey Mountain. Opened in 2013/14 it offers super fun intermediate off piste terrain. Think blue to black pitches of open rolling sections and open tree skiing. And luckily enough the clouds cleared from halfway up giving us full visibility! Jenny’s favourite run of the day was Shultzs Trees with small features to jump off and nicely spaced trees to ski between. Again the snow was incredibly soft and dry as clouds and cold temps has kept it in good condition. Given the winter carnival is the busiest weekend of the year it was not noticeable on the mountain. We didn’t wait for one chairlift and had runs completely to ourselves. That is what we love about skiing in interior British Columbia.
So despite poor visibility for most of the two days at Red we agreed that this would have to be one the best mountains to come and spend a season skiing. You would never get tired of the freeskiing terrain and the challenging steeps and natural hazards would keep you on your toes enticing you to push yourself everyday a little harder. I think we skied two groomed runs in the 8 hours ski time we had!
Lastly we had a great time watching the Bobsled race down one of the streets of Rossland. They close off eight blocks and allow teams of four to race their home constructed bobsleds at scary speeds down this icy street. Crazy! We witnessed one Sled have a huge collision into a snow bank taking out a few spectators. It was nuts. Google Rossland Bob sled race to get an idea of how brave you have to be to take on an event like this.
Looking back on the second stop of the tour here are our top picks:
-Best coffee was at Alpine Grind in Rossland or at the main lodge if it was made by an Aussie barista 😉
-Best food was at the Garage restaurant. Big portions of hearty home style cooking. Stuffed pork Chop was my favourite.
-Best trees we skied were War Eagle trees as there was still fresh snow to be found. The old trees you ski through are amazing too.
-Best steeps were Captain Jacks
-Most memorable moment was watching one of the homemade Bobsleds smash into the crowd of onlookers.
-Funniest quote was overhearing two grandparents chat “don’t worry dear its not a fat ski day today”.
Photo Tour
Next stop the funky town of Nelson and Whitewater Mountain Resort. Only an hours drive away.
