Brushing on Red Mountain

Red Mountain Resort will never realize its’ potential until they can find a way to properly maintain their ski terrain. It seems obvious to me that all the lift serviced terrain should be thinned and limbed to a skiable standard, and then all the regrowth and windfall laid flat on a rotating schedule. Realistically this will probably never happen in my lifetime, so alder bashing (on an empty mountain) will remain an essential skill for Red Mountain skiers. From what I’m told the focus this year for the limited summer grooming program has been on brushing the obvious open terrain, and from what I’ve seen of Motherlode and Granite Towers and the Face of Red – they’ve never looked better. Unfortunately the most overgrown sections where I like to ski where not addressed, and so for our annual token effort my brother and I chose not to open up a new line, but instead brushed out (just) one of our favorites. I’m sure you’ll be pleased when you find it. As of yesterday there was perhaps 20cm of crusty snow half way up Granite.

So it begins.

From my house.
After a busy summer on the trails, and a couple of weeks of surfing in Mexico, it feels like the countdown to skiing has begun. It’s cold and wet in Rossland, with the snow-line visible just above town. The view from the highway cam at Kootenay Pass looks very snowy, and I’ve been told there’s over 30cm of good heavy base-forming snow in the alpine. For 2010/11 Red Mountain will be opening their extensively renovated base lodge, new cleared slack-country lines on Mt Grey, a yurt on Mt Kirkup, and I hope a reasonable amount of summer grooming. But with Whitewater debuting a new chairlift and doubling their terrain, a stagnating economy reducing the number of vacationing skiers generally, a high Canadian dollar discouraging the Americans, and the forecast of a cold and wet La Nina winter throughout the Pacific Northwest – this winter is shaping up as a powder skiing extravaganza for the locals at Red Mountain. Bring it on.