SNOW SCENE: Spring’s full of surprises at Kicking Horse | Maqvi News

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One weekend, I was skiing at Kicking Horse Mountain Resort and it was a genuine winter wonderland.

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Six days later, there were people dancing on tables and tanning in their T-shirts on the patio in the base area.

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By the time this weekend rolls around, temperatures are forecast to drop again and a new storm system is expected to bring in a tonne of fresh powder.

Welcome to spring in the Canadian Rockies, where the unpredictability is a feature, not a bug.

“That’s the magic of March,” said Matt Mosteller, the senior vice-president of marketing and resort experience at Resorts of the Canadian Rockies, the company that owns Kicking Horse.

“March is typically the snowiest month of the year and you can have sunshine and snow in the same week and really the same day.”

That’s certainly been the experience at Kicking Horse recently.

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The massive storm that hit Western Canada at the end of February and the beginning of March brought a tonne of powder to the Golden, B.C. resort’s slopes. We’re talking nearly two metres in less than two weeks, which transformed the resort.

I was able to get to Kicking Horse on March 9 and can confirm that there was still a tonne of untouched powder, including in both the Crystal and Feuz Bowls. I was with a friend from Switzerland who had never skied in Western Canada before, and he was suitably blown away.

A week later, it was a very different vibe.

While I was mostly only sleeping at the Palliser Lodge while heli-skiing in the backcountry with CMH, temperatures in the area were in the high teens. It was spring and very much felt like the end of ski season when you looked around the base and saw all the goggle tans, short sleeves and big smiles.

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But Kicking Horse’s season isn’t set to end until mid-April, and one weekend of warmth doesn’t spell the end of winter. Every Western Canadian knows that.

Temperatures are set to plummet this week and more snow is in the forecast.

“This storm could be delivering quite a pack,” Mosteller said. “That’s the beauty of March. It’s a surprise every day that you ski.

“It’s really special and it’s why so many people love spring skiing. There’s the opportunity to ski fresh powder and then also the chance to ski long, groomed corn all in the same week.”

That also means skiers and riders need to be prepared to adapt to the conditions. A little prep work can go a long way, especially when it comes to layering and sunscreen.

But with longer days and mostly warmer temperatures, it’s a magical time to be in the mountains.

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And at Kicking Horse, they’ve packed their spring calendar so that potential visitors have an extra reason to head out for a day or two before they put their gear away from the summer.

This weekend, for example, there’s the Steep Dreams Ski Mountaineering Festival, which is also the North American championships and will feature some of the continent’s top athletes.

If, like me, you maybe aren’t quiet as athletic as some of those people, Kicking Horse is also offering the opportunity to meet the Avalanche Rescue Dogs and their handlers, which sounds both adorable and slightly less physically demanding than the mountaineering festival.

There’s a tonne more before the season’s over, too, with the resort’s Pride Ride going down March 30, an Easter Egg Hunt on the 31^st and then the 2024 Sunsplash Funkfest on April 13-14, which features both a dummy downhill and slush cup.

So yeah, it felt like summer this weekend.

But the ski season’s not over just yet. Not at Kicking Horse.

daustin@postmedia.com

www.twitter.com/DannyAustin_9

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