 Poster: A snowHead
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Just spent 2 days at Kicking Horse pre heliski. A bit of a mixed bag. We took the Air Canada flight from London because it lands earlier than the BA flight and he drive can be tricky. After collecting the hire car we left the airport at around 1630. THe drive took around 3.5 hours up to the resort. Temps dropped to minus 20 and road conditions were very poor, even in the 4 wheel drive. A bad accident outside Field stopped traffic for several hours in both directions (luckily we missed the worst of it). Bearing in mind the 7 hour time difference this drive could be an issue for some - a lot of caffeine required.
We stayed at Vagabond Lodge, a good bet in Kicking Horse resort itself, as opposed to the motels in Golden down the hill.
Good quality kit is available at Selkirk Sports. I rented Salomon Lab BC with G3 Ion bindings as we were booked to do a day touring.
There were no queues whatsoever and helpful lifties (mainly Aussies) lifting skis etc).
We ate lunch at the Eagles Eye restaurant - no booking required. Not as good food as my last visit but that was some 8 years ago. It is still a great spot with a good bar and the best views in the resort.
We called it a day at 1500 as it was seriously cold. This turned out to be fortunate as the main gondola broke down at around 1510 with people on it. This involved individual helicopter evacuation over a long period (several hours).
As a result, day 2 began with us being advised that the lift would not be opening. The guide (Scott Belton from Adrenalin Descents) arranged ski doos and we journeyed up a nearby valley. This was seriously cold, even with additional layers provided. We then toured for around 2 hours and had some very decent skiing, particularly as no material snow had fallen for around a week.
The resort is really very small in terms of restaurants and bars but there are plenty for a week or less. We ate at Corks and Kicking Horse Saloon.
Conclusion:
- essential to have a 4 wheel drive and a confident driver (or overnight at airport and then drive the next day)
- good resort but quite limited if snow not good/recent. I would think 3 or 4 days would be enough for most.
- all providers mentioned above worth using
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Did you do top to bottom laps chrisJersey, or stay on the top half?
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Been a crap load of evacs this past couple of weeks in N America. Buttermilk, Heavenly & Scumshine IIRC. At least at KH you'd have had a heli winch.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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@chrisJersey,
I did the same thing about 10 years ago (pre heli warm up in KH).
Agree with most of what you say - I really liked the skiing but 3 days without fresh was enough.
I don't agree that 4wd is essential though. We had 2wd and found it fine, including during a snow storm. We did have two drivers to share the miles.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Went there back in the day by Greyhound and the school bus from Golden. I think you'd be fine with 2wd, especially now they rent them with M&S tyres. Golden's not really in the right place for the snow though.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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| Quote: |
| Golden's not really in the right place for the snow though. |
Apart from when we visited:
- Snowed in on our first day - heli unable to fly us into our catskiing lodge. So we missed a day and night - no refund, no recompense, an extra night in Golden at our own expense...Er, all a bit of a blow to say the least.
- Transcanada highway closed around Golden - severe avalanche danger.
- Had to flee Golden after our catskiing (and forego a day's lift ticket and night's accommodation) - a huge dump was forecast; the road was looking like being closed again; and we needed to get out for a flight home from Calgary a couple of days later.
Oh and:
- The gondola was shut at Kicking Horse for our 2 days there due to wind. Loved 2 days messing about on only the lower slopes....
- Our skis were lost by the airline and turned up once we got home.
Believe it or not, we DID still have a great holiday - the catskiing was fantastic once we got there and we had brilliant snow/powder at Lake Louise, Sunshine and Norquay. Even treated ourselves to a night at Chateau Lake Louise.
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Hi Kicking Horse fans!
bad accident outside Field stopped traffic for several hours in both direction
I bet that was about a mile East out of Field as you start going up the hill.
There is a bridge and it suffers from black ice really bad.
I've only been through there a few times and on two occasions there have been bad crashes.
I hope to go to Golden again Feb 2017 ... but will do more Skidooing & Ice fishing to while away the hours.
Will definitely stop in Banff on the way to break the journey.
I'd like to go to Revelstoke again ...but this time in daylight its supposed to be a great drive.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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| rdk wrote: |
| Did you do top to bottom laps chrisJersey, or stay on the top half? |
sorry for late replies. was heliskiiing for 4 days after KH. Staying on the top half means using the chair to lap (Stairway) and does not allow access to a number of the bowls. The chair was a recipe for getting cold and the chair lift operator was also IMO (I am aware of the reasons for this) over zealous in terms of having people remove rucksacks so we mainly did top to bottom laps.
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FAQ
That drive can be fun cant it 
