It was a slow start to the 07/08 season in Vancouver. Whistler got an early dump, but by the start of December pow was scarce and I knew that I wasn't the only one fiending for snow. I facebooked my buddy Sean a Kicking Horse snow report which claimed 76cm of fresh was on the ground, with opening day less than a week away. Next thing you know we were headed to the Rockies, with no plan but to ski as much pow and spend as little money as possible.

Sean's new SUV was running well and it looked like we could make it into Golden by midnight. Unfortunately we ran out of gas at Rogers Pass, with the only pump in town closed until the morning. That left us stranded an hour from anywhere else we could fuel up. Despite the frustrating situation we stuck to our low budget plan and camped out in the SUV. The Pass probably got down to -30 that night, and with no gas in the truck we had to keep the heat shut off. Sean didn't seem to mind, passing out and in full snore mode within minutes. That didn't help my attempts at sleeping. But morning finally did arrive, and after overpaying the folks at Gas Plus we were back on the road.

I though we had made it to the base of Kicking Horse just in time, and was shocked to see a massive line snaking out from the Gondola (which is the only lift you can take to get to any legitimate runs). It finally hit me that we were in the eastern tip of British Columbia which just crosses into the Mountain timezone, and it was an hour later than we thought it was. I was reminded of this in the line by and old buddy from Calgary, who had sucked up some of the first tracks of the year while we were still on the road.

By the time we got to the top of the mountain we were both desperate to shred some dry snow. We fought the crowds for a run or two but failed to find anything too appealing on CPR ridge. With most of the mountain still unopened we ducked a few ropes to see what we could find. Before we got far we were spotted by a ski patroller. He left us alone.... after clipping our passes and making a few legal threats about continuing to ski out of bounds. Avalanches have been a serious problem at Kicking Horse and they take boundaries lines very seriously. Lesson of the day: DON'T POACH!

The day long ban might have been a blessing in disguise. Kicking Horse has some of the best advanced terrain around, but they call it the Rockies for good reason. When the snow pack is low there are many sharp rocks sticking out that can catch you by surprise. I saw my old buddy from Calgary at the end of the day, staring helplessly at his brand new skis which had taken a fatal core shot. That made me feel a little bit better..

After finding a cheap motel with a hot tub I felt a lot better. We stayed there the night and were fully refreshed by the morning. That second day was a Sunday and it was much less busy than opening day. We met up with some friends who know the mountain well and were taken to some nice bowls and tree runs.

After a full day of shredding we began the exhausting 8 hour drive back to Vancouver, which turned out to be 11 hours due to a snowstorm. That gave us plenty of time to reminisce about what was a pretty solid road trip to kick off the year.

lasted edited: 01-02-09