Kicking horse is less of a “resort” than an avalanche controlled slackcountry area. But if you’re willing to hike, it’s absolutely legendary.

Terrain

Kicking horse consists of 5 alpine bowls at the top and a wide flat slope with trees at the bottom.

Beginner-Intermediate

In the alpine area, beginners/intermediates can ski the groomed run on the looker’s right off the main gondola. That’s it.

In the lower area, there is a couple more groomed runs. But if you’re a beginner/intermediate you’ll be bored after half a day. Tho I feel like that applies to most mountains beside maybe the mega resorts.

Advanced-Expert

Of the 5 alpine bowls with 10 ridge faces, 3 bowls and 4 ridge faces are directly lift accessible, while the other 2 bowls and 6 ridge faces can only be accessed after 20-30min of bootpacking.

So if you’re not willing to hike, then the terrain is fairly limited. But if you are, Kicking Horse is the absolute GOAT of steep resort skiing.

For the lower mountain, there are 1 or 2 steep groomers, many moguls runs, and many trees, but I found the trees to be a bit tight for my level. Overall I don’t find the lower mountain to be impressive, for me, it’s more of a chore to get to the main gondola to get back to the epic alpine ridges.

CPR North

This is the most accessible ridge face, directly off the main gondola. Doesn’t mean it’s for the normies, quite the opposite.

There are many spicy chutes along this ridge. But they’re all pretty short, a few turns and you’re at Crystal Bowl.

CPR South

On the other side of CPR North, it’s mostly just some mellow glades. Not worth the gondola ride imo.

Redemption Ridge North & South

You get to Redemption Ridge by taking the Stairway to Heaven chair.

I didn’t ski anything here. From what I saw, Redemption Ridge South is just some mellow glades. I don’t know anything about Redemption Ridge North tho. Should explore it next time.

Blue Heaven - Whitewall

This one requires only a very short hike. Take the Stairway to Heaven chair, climb a couple of stairs (like actual stairs), and you’ll get to the Whitewall ridge.

Whitewall is a moderately steep face to get down to Feuz Bowl. I don’t find it to be very impressive.

Ozone

After hiking up to Blue Heaven, ski down along the ridge, do another hike, and you’ll get to Ozone, the peak of this resort. The hike is very accessible, mellow slope the whole way.

The view from Ozone is amazing. You can see all the other 4 peaks (Blue Heaven, top of main gondola/Eagle’s Eye, Terminator 1, and Terminator 2) in the resort lining up from there.

The Ozone face is absolutely sensational, the steepest slope I’ve ever skied. Just thinking about it makes my blood race. That steep section is 44 degrees according to my measurement.

Sking Ozone down you get to Feuz Bowl

Middle Ridge

If you follow the ridge line from Ozone, you can get the Middle Ridge, where you get to access Rudi’s Bowl.

There are some nice lines off Middle Ridge. I think Rudi’s Bowl gets tracked out the latest because of how remote it is.

T1 North

Hiking to Terminator 1 Peak is not an easy feat. It’s much steeper than the hike to Ozone.

To get to the entrance of the hike, simply ski down along the ridge from the main gondola.

Best lines here might be Truth & Dare, which are pretty difficult to get to. After hiking up to the peak, traverse along the south face (because the ridge line is rocks), then at the end you can get around the ridge to get to the entrance of Truth & Dare.

Truth & Dare are chutes that are steep & narrow enough to be exciting, but also mellow and wide enough for you to easily make full turns. They’re pretty perfect for me. And you can ski from one to another in the lower part.

T1 South

It’s a big face with a lot of lines. But I didn’t explore much here.

T2

T2 is the longest and and most strenuous hike in this resort. After passing the entrance of the T1 hike, you have to go through a couple of uphill and downhill sections, in order to get to the entrance of the hike.

Then during the hike, there’s a very steep section with a rope to help you climb, but I couldn’t quite figure out how to use the rope while carrying my ski and poles.

At the top, there’s only 1 run, and it’s a pretty mellow bowl. From the map, it seems like after the top bowl connects to some steeper lines at the skier’s left, but I didn’t notice them when skiing there.

Overall

10/10, pinnacle of resort skiing in terms of expert terrains.

I spent 2 days here and was able to explore all regions, but not all the interesting lines. I’d definitely want to visit it again to fully explore it.

Lifts

There are essentially only 2 relevant lifts, the main gondola, Golden Eagle Express, and an alpine slow lift, Stairway to Heaven.

The alpine slow lift only makes 1 ridge face, the Redemption Ridge South, and 1 bowl, Crystal Bowl, lappable. If provides access to Feuz Bowl but you can’t go back to the lift from there. And it’s a slow fixed-grip, you can take a full gondola ride for the duration of this lift, so this lift really doesn’t provide much value.

The main gondola is the main point of access. To lap every ridge and bowl aside from the above mentioned ones, you have to ski all the way down (~4000ft of vert) to take this gondola. And it can really form a long queue on weekends.

Ideally, All the peaks should have lift access. But at the very least, they should add a mid-station for the main gondola at the bottom of the alpine bowls. It can really solve a lot of issues.

2/10

Navigation

Navigation is really easy here, because it’s a folding-fan like shape, all the alpine bowls funnel back to the same base. You can’t get lost here.

But navigation isn’t just about not getting lost, it’s also about the ease of getting to where you want, and since over half of the relevant terrains require like 30min of hiking, it gets an 1/10 in navigation.

Scenery

From the top you can see the breathtaking view of the Canadian rockies. 9/10

Village

The base area is pretty small and basic, kind of like Kirkwood. 2/10

Town

The nearest town is Golden, 15min of drive. The drive up can be sketchy, first you pass a narrow bridge, then you do the climb on an icy road.

There’s not much in Golden, but in addition to the proximity to the resort, there are 2 big supermarkets, a state liquor store, and some cheap lodging options, so it’s pretty solid.

6/10

Bottom Line

Kicking Horse is a must visit if you like to ski gnarly terrains and steep powder, and are willing to earn your turns by bootpacking. If you’re not a ski bum and just want to enjoy a chill ski vacation in a family friendly resort, go elsewhere.