Conditions Report
Sunday, January 18th was a classic day at Kicking Horse Mountain Resort. Only a few centimeters is predicted. You wake up and check the snow report; 1cm. Disappointed, you look outside and see nearly 20cm on your car. Surprise! Pow Day! This is what happen when a storm rolls in at 6am and drops a load after all the snow reports have gone out. To top it all off, no fair weather skiers show up and the lifts are empty.
Despite being caught off guard and showing up an hour after the lifts crack, first tracks could be had line after line. North facing chutes were skiing a touch deeper than the south because of wind deposits. This also made the reported snowfall dramatically underwhelming when compared to the actual skiing quality. Having not been on resort for a week, I was pleased to see that the sprinkle of snow before the main dump made the hill ski as plush as a Cadillac El Dorado.
The lower mountain is skiing well but has not reached mid season conditions. Roads are prominent and some faces are still unable to be groomed. Although you can get freshies top to bottom, be mindful of the trenches down low and keep the rad-o-meter down a touch.
As always, deep pillows can be found on the north end trees off CPR ridge at the end of the day. Terminator Ridge had plenty of runs left, North and South, as the 10 minute boot pack does wonders keeping the gorbs away.
Warm temperatures are making the Horse get snow and ski great. A forecast of -5, mixed sun and soft ground makes for some of the best skiing at Kicking Horse; good vis and fast laps.
