Opening day at Kicking Horse Mountain Resort (KHMR) is December 9th and this opening day is shaping up to be a banger. With nearly two meters of snow on the ground already, it looks like the first day of the 2022/23 season will also be the first powder day of the season. It doesn’t get any better than that!
All this preseason snow over the past few weeks can only mean one thing for the Golden, BC locals – The boot packing days are on! The KHMR ski patrol has been organizing teams of volunteers to undertake the annual KHMR tradition of bootpacking the chutes and start zones. The volunteers walk down numerous steep alpine lines in order to pack down the first snow of the season. But why bother with this labor intensive and difficult task?
“The purpose is to disrupt any early season layers so they do not become a problem layer later in the season. It also helps to pack down the snow in the rocky start zones so it does not scrape off once we open it to the public.” KHMR
The reason that the ski patrol and local volunteers go through this painstaking process is for safety. It is for the safety of all those lucky enough to taste that glorious Golden champagne powder. It takes no more than a momentary glance at the KHMR trail map to realize that this epic resort has a lot of steep and gnarly terrain. It’s no coincidence that the only North American stop on the Freeride World Tour is at Kicking Horse Mountain Resort (February 17 – 22).
It is comforting to know that Kicking Horse Mountain Resort is so committed to maintaining the highest level of avalanche prevention and safety possible. Look no further than this annual tradition to know that the KHMR ski patrol are proactively doing everything possible to keep the slopes safe for everyone out there.
Here is a link to a great video by Aaron McCartney on the @kickinghorsemtn Instagram page. It shows the teams of ski patrol, avalanche professionals and volunteers bootpacking the slopes back on November 10th. Well done and a huge thank you to all the Ski Patrol and volunteers who put in the time and effort to make KHMR as safe as possible for opening day.
A very snowy preseason is every skier’s dream. Whether you’re skiing at Kicking Horse Mountain Resort, enjoying the restaurants and hotels in the town of Golden or exploring the backcountry on your ski touring set up in the world famous Rogers Pass, Golden, BC is THE place to be this weekend.
We hope to see you on the slopes and at après in Golden,
SBC SKIER
By Chris Dane German
