Hearing the words Powder Highway makes many skiers or snowboarders weak in the knees. This stretch of highway in southeastern British Columbia connects the dots of eight ski resorts, 23 backcountry lodges, 14 cat and 18 heli-operators, as well as 14 nordic clubs/resorts. With the highest concentration of cat, heli and lift service resorts in the world, this powder-stashed tenure covers 3.1 million acres (1.3 million hectares). Yes, it’s one BIG playground.
Let’s start with Whitewater Ski Resort, near Nelson, and Kimberley Alpine Resort; two laid-back destinations that will load you up on great skiing, culture and history, culinary delights and a drop-your-shoulders authentic Kootenay experience.
Don’t let the heritage-style architecture in Nelson, which harkens back to its gold and silver rush day, fool you. This is no sleepy community. It is very much awake. The funky and artistic vibe is ever-present here. (If I ever get around to writing that book, this will be my place to hunker down).
A short drive from Nelson rests a “humble, but huge” ski resort, Whitewater. Seemingly shielded from the outside, almost like you’ve entered a time warp to the 80s, the breathtaking alpine bowls rarely, if ever, disappoint snow-seekers. It’s three lifts, two doubles and a triple, take skiers and riders into old-growth forest lined trails that are mostly not for the faint of heart. This is a skier-skiers hill. You don’t come to Whitewater for a manufactured postcard-experience, you come here to rip. The 40 feet (12 meters) of snow that it typically holds is one of the statistics worth considering. Let that number sink in. And while we’re at it, leave that work behind … there’s no cell service or WIFI, only a chance to reconnect to your surroundings, nature and passion for the sport.
A few hours down the road (258 km), Kimberley, the highest city in Canada and its namesake mountain resort, a mere three minutes from town, boast just under 2,500 vertical feet (Canada’s largest gladed terrain) with over 75 runs, many of them wide-open cruisers. This is your chance to lay those front-side skis over, way over.
Kimberley is a true ski town: the local folks here are without pretension, less aware of trends and hype. They’re the salt-of-the-earth types who are welcoming and real.
A short haul flight from Calgary or Vancouver will take you to the Canadian Rockies International Airport just outside of Cranbrook, and if you’re quick you can be on the Kimberley slopes within 30 minutes of landing. Oodles of on-mountain lodging from condos to cottages keep you seconds away from the base lift, the North Star Express, a rare (for the Kootenays) high-speed quad.
Yes this is a city with the largest cuckoo clock in North American, but there’s more to this mountain playground than schnitzel and sauerkraut.
NELSON / WHITEWATER
Gettin’ there – 40 km from West Kootenay Regional Airport (Castlegar) or 230 km from the Canadian Rockies International Airport (Cranbrook).
Great sleeps – The Hume Hotel; humehotel.com.
Great eats – Bistro fare with flair at BiBO; bibonelson.ca.
Caffeine – Oso Negro; osonegrocoffee.com, or Empire Coffee empire-coffee.ca
Different stuff – Try the epic “Kootenay Powder Sampler Package” at Whitewater, which combines two days of in-bounds skiing with one-day cat ski with Big Red Cats or Valhalla Powdercats. Then take a soak at the Ainsworth Hot Spring Resort. Starting at $703 Cdn pp/dbl occupancy.
KIMBERLEY
Gettin’ there – Canadian Rockies International Airport (15 minutes from Kimberley).
Great sleeps – Trickle Creek Lodge; tricklecreeklodge.com, Kimberley Lodging Co. kimberleycondos.com
Great eats – Try the Mucky Fries and craft beer at Pedal&Tap (in the Platzl village), pedalandtap.com
Caffeine – The Snowdrift Cafe, they serve locally roasted Steam Donkey coffee.
Different stuff – Try a 30-minute snowshoe jaunt at Kimberley Alpine Resort followed by a chocolate fondue at the top of the mountain in the Kootenay Haus.
Visit tourismkimberley.com
Visit skiwhitewater.com
Visit powderhighway.com
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