B.C.'s Kicking Horse Resort a wild beast with soul paradise, touch, mountain, without, fierce

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B.C.'s Kicking Horse Resort a wild beast with soul

Long a favourite destination for advanced skiers, B.C. mountain looks to entice young families

By Jane Marshall, edmontonjournal.com


KICKING HORSE, B.C. - With run names like Unnecessary Roughness, Consequence, Redemption, Epiphany, Shangri-La, and Nirvana, Kicking Horse Mountain Resort is a place where one can touch paradise — but not without some fierce, adrenalin-inducing trials. You have to work for your heavenly reward at this advanced resort in Golden, B.C.
“We embrace big-mountain culture,” says Jordan Petrovics, corporate alliances, media relations and events manager at Kicking Horse. “It’s a steep, deep, aggressive mountain, but the family market is growing. We are slowly being discovered as a family destination.”
It’s a place that appeals to families like mine — even their style lures me, I admit. A mid-mountain tent called Heaven’s Door Yurt Café, beside the base of the Stairway to Heaven Quad chair, epitomizes the mountain’s funky aura. Prayer flags hang at the café’s centre, and vegetarian options and premium coffee mark the menu. As a Himalayas traveller, vegetarian, and mountain-lover, I really was in heaven.
My husband and I are experienced skiers who like to be challenged (the term ‘no friends on a powder day’ would apply to us). But we also want to share our love of skiing with our kids — ages eight and five.
When Julie, five, heard we were going to Golden, she was excited.
“Is everything there going to be made of gold?” she asked.
In a way, her thinking was bang-on. With Kicking Horse’s gorgeous powder and haunting alpine vistas, Golden is indeed a precious place.
Asleep in the lap of luxury
Our home for the weekend was the LUSH Mountain Accommodations’ Summit Chalet. When we arrived, a symphony of gasps escaped our mouths. An open tread fir staircase, timber frame details, heated concrete floors and huge window banks looking onto piles of fresh snow greeted us. The chalet is one of approximately 30 properties operated by LUSH — and it made our family experience one that will long be remembered.
At first glance, the rental price of $785 (plus tax) per night (low season) and $1,085 per night (high season) for the house we stayed in might seem high, but it becomes much more affordable if used to its 10-person capacity. Now add to that the fact that the day lodge is a five-minute walk away, and that you can cook all your own meals and even squeeze in midday hot-tub soaks to ease screaming quad muscles, and it equals a pretty amazing experience.
Owners John and Melissa Lush work to make sure all visitors feel the same awe we did.
“John and I moved to Golden from Whistler back in 2002,” says Melissa Lush. “We were drawn to the area for it’s developing ski hill but also for the charm of Golden itself.
“The ski hill is a huge part of our business and guest experience. The resort is still of a size that guests can easily walk around the base from any accommodation, enjoy the small collection of restaurants and shops, and amaze at the vast experience of the hill itself. I believe that people who visit the resort still feel as if they are part of some great discovery.”
Each of the homes offered by LUSH is privately owned. Most feature private hot tubs or a sauna and some even offer such holiday delights as a custom pool table or media room.

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Jane Marshall's son Ben poses by a sign that shares his namesake at Kicking Horse Mountain Resort in Golden, B.C.

The Summit chalet, a private home rented out by LUSH accommodations to snow travellers - and within walking distance to the gondola at Kicking Horse Mountain Resort and complete with private hot tub.


Marshall’s husband Mike Soneff perches on Redemption Ridge, ready to drop a chute into Feuz Bowl.


This timber frame house, just steps from the Kicking Horse gondola, was warm, modern, and great for a family. It can accommodate up to ten guests.


Writer Jane Marshall’s kids enjoy some quiet time between runs at the Summit Chalet.

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Something for the whole family

Our kids were signed up for a half-day private lesson the afternoon of the first day. The timing couldn’t have been better; we were all getting on each other’s nerves. These things happen when you have a five-year-old daughter who is annoyed with her helmet and neck warmer and an eight-year-old son who doesn’t want to wear an extra layer underneath his jacket. By lunch we needed a break, and Steve, a super-cool instructor, managed to transform the family dynamic within minutes. Talk of snowballs, forts, and tree skiing had the kids’ imaginations charged, so while they enjoyed their lesson, my husband Mike and I got to burn out some frustration on the CPR chutes (double-black diamonds we’d skied together pre-kids in 2002).

Petrovics notes that Kicking Horse is no beginner mountain, but that the resort is working to soften the experience to widen the hill’s appeal to young families.

“We’ve been working to thin out the glades and do more grooming, and we put in a new learning centre and relocated the carpet lift. Before it was out in the middle of nowhere, so we put in a big effort to re-grade the slope by the main plaza so that it’s easier access for kids.

“Kicking Horse is a rowdy experience, but it’s one that families can enjoy, too.”

And enjoy it we did. By the end of the afternoon when we all met up again, everyone was satisfied. We took one last run as a family and the kids got to show us their new moves. All was well.


Know before you go:

— 2800-plus skiable acres

— 85-plus inbound chutes

— 1,260 vertical metres

— Four lifts and one main gondola

— Surrounded by six National Parks — Banff, Glacier, Kootenay, Yoho, Mt. Revelstoke and Jasper

— Boasts Canada’s highest elevation restaurant, Eagle’s Eye, at the top of the mountain at 2,350 metres.