I finally got to Kicking Horse Mountain yesterday. I've been there before and remember it being pretty extreme. Back then, they'd just acquired Fuez Bowl, so I expected that by now there'd be lifts all over it - nope! Fuez bowl is still just incredible steeps, and oodles of fluffy powder.
I arrived the day after a big dump. The day before had been really windy, so a lot of the mountain was shut (apparently skis and boards had been falling off the gondola, so things were pretty bad!). That left all that powder mostly untracked... Word had got out, so the bus from Banff was completely full (most of the time, they struggle to even get 10 people which is the minimum required to run the bus!). Kicking Horse mountain was "busy", in so much as there was a few minutes wait at the gondola, and a few more minutes at the Stairway to Heaven lift (which normally never sees queues - also, it's home to a little food place, where they do things that aren't burgers and fries - well worth a visit).
Fuez bowl was incredible. There was quite a bit of powder around, although you had to track around to get completely fresh. I did, and got this picture. I just stuck my pole in the snow next to me, and here's how far down it went! Great stuff.
I also got a picture of CPR Ridge from across the bowl. Remember, this is a busy day! (although to be fair in the morning it had had people all over the place, but by the time I took this, it was, well, empty!).
As is the way at Kicking Horse, I covered a lot of ground and skied some of the steepest terrain I've ever been on. Delerium Dive hasn't got a patch on some of this! I went home physically exhausted - the sign of a good day out ;-)
PS. It's the same sort of deal as it used to be to get to Kicking Horse from Banff, but nowadays, Discover Banff Tours do the tickets instead of Rude Girls.