Mountain Patrollers cut thru the snow to get things ready for the December 10th opening.

Early signs of winter combined with the La Nina weather system has blessed Kicking Horse with a 50 centimetre (20 inches)  snow dump in the high alpine this past week.

Continue reading ‘Kicking Horse receives first 50cm dump in the high alpine’

One of the many new views skiers will be able to enjoy while in Kicking Horse

Kicking Horse Mountain Resort has announced it will ring in it’s 10th season with the opening of a fourth Alpine bowl. Known by local mountain enthusiasts as ‘Super Bowl’, the terrain will introduce a further selection of advanced and expert skiable terrain to the resort’s already impressive inventory. Continue reading ‘Kicking Horse opens up new chutes’

The Horse is only gonna kick harder and harder...

After the lighting of the Olympic Torch in the town of Golden, British Columbia Premier Gordon Campbell he also had a surprise for local skiers.

He whisked off to a ceremony at Kicking Horse Mountain Resort, which lies above the town, where he announced the approval of the New Master Plan for the resort.

The newly approved Master Plan spans a 40-year period and calls for a world class, destination mountain resort. This includes an expanded controlled recreation area, 20,000 bed units, an 18-hole signature golf course, a multi-use trail system with 11 proposed lifts and 4,188 acres of skiable terrain. The plan is a major milestone for the resort and the final step in the process under the Commercial Alpine Ski Policy will be the signing of the master development agreement.

Continue reading ‘Kicking Horse gallops towards expansion’

Spain's Formigal ski resort plans to open this weekend.

With the exception of Eastern North America, which is suffering from unseasonally warm temperatures and a complete lack of snowfall, most other parts of the Northern Hemisphere have enjoyed exceptional early season conditions leading to early openings.

Europe:

Resorts across the Alps, Dolomites and Pyrenees have reported big and on-going snowfalls.

Switzerland: Engelberg was virtually closed down by snow at the start of the week as a massive storm hit central Switzerland with over three feet of fresh snow. St. Moritz and the Engadin Valley received 1.3m (4.4ft). Most other Swiss resorts have done well, too. Sedrun, for example, received about a metre (three feet) of new snow on November 30th.

Continue reading ‘Update: Ski Area Openings’

Lake Louise in Alberta is hosting World Cup races and benefiting from good snow conditions.

The record breaking snow conditions in the Canadian Rockies are not letting up as Lake Louise holds World Cup races and Whistler gears up for the winter games.

Whistler’s November snowfall total passed 5.5m (nearly 18 feet) by the morning of November 29th, with a 1.92m (6.5 feet) base, by far the biggest ever for this early in the season.

The good snow news isn’t just restricted to the 2010 Winter Olympic host. Most of Western Canada’s resorts have great snow cover, and several more resorts either opened early last weekend. Others announced they’d be opening earlier than planned in coming weeks, including Fernie and Kicking Horse.

Continue reading ‘Western Canada maintaining great start to season’