Kicking Horse Ski Terrain and Mountain Stats
Riding up the Golden Eagle Express Gondola takes you to the top of the mountain to 8,033 feet (2,450 m).
If you take a glance at the trial map while riding the gondola, you will see predominantly black and double black diamond options that lay ahead via four alpine bowls. So it’s no wonder Kicking Horse is one of the stops for the Freeride World Tour. There is one green trail that makes its way from top to bottom and some gentle blue terrain in Crystal Bowl but otherwise, you need to be a strong skier and boarder.
Lower down there are options for blues and greens, but right now from the top of the Eagle Eye Gondola and Restaurant, here are your options:
There is Super Bowl that’s the farthest inbounds area that’s skiers right and to access it requires a high traverse (through Bowl Over) and you are hiking and it requires lots of extreme skills to get there.
Or straight from the gondola, there is gladded skiing as you jump into Bowl Over that feeds into the blue run valley of Sluiceway.
Heading left from the top of the gondola, skiers can hit the double blacks of CPR ridge or take the green cat track into Crystal Bowl where you can do some laps on Stairway to Heaven taking advantage of the gladded trees. Or you can head out into the fourth bow, the farthest on skiers’ left, and into the double black playground of Feuz Bowl.
When skiing at Kicking Horse Mountain Resort if you go beyond the ski area boundary, you will find yourself immediately in extremely dangerous and life-threatening backcountry wilderness areas, where each year multiple involvements with avalanches occur, some resulting in loss of life. If you do leave the patrolled area, you need to be properly trained and equipped for self-rescue as mountain rescue is not available.
For those of you looking for less heart and adrenaline-pumping action and more moderate blue intermediate skiing, you’ll find yourself enjoying laps on the Pioneer double chair or the Catamount quad chair that also opens up the majority of the green cruising and learning terrain as well.
Mountain Statistics
Skiable Terrain | 2,750 acres (1,112 hectares) |
Vertical | 1,260 m (4,133 ft) |
Top Elevation | 2,450 m (8,033 ft) |
Base Elevation | 1,190 m (3,900 ft) |
Average Snowfall | 7 cm (275 inches/23 ft) |
Beginner Terrain | 20% |
Intermediate Terrain | 20% |
Advanced Terrain | 45% |
Parks | 1 |
Winter lifts Total | 5 |
Gondolas Trams | 1 |
Chair Lifts | 3 |
Surface Lifts | 1 |
Lift Capacity | 5,500 |
Longest Run | 9.9 km (6.2 mi) |
Mountain Restaurants | 5 |
Snowmaking | 516 ac (208 hectares) |
Season Opens | 6 December, 2018 |
Season Closes | 14 April, 2018 (Estimated) |