Trekking to Kicking Horse Mountain

The idea of waking up at dawn after a night out in Banff for a two hour bus ride sounded like shit to me. Considering a night out in Banff usually consists of a lot of drinking, dancing and singing with the local ski crowd, getting up that early didn’t seem in the cards. On one of my last nights in Banff, however, this was the reality that I faced, and I ended up being pretty stoked about it.About a week before I headed out west to visit Banff, I ran into my friend, Kevin, at the gym. I told him about my trip. As soon as I said Banff, his eyes grew, he grinned, and he said, “if there’s one place you have to go while you’re out there, it’s Kicking Horse.” What the hell is Kicking Horse? “Kicking Horse,” he said, “is a ski resort out in Golden, BC, which is about two hours away from Banff. The place gets dumped with a few feet of powder almost every day, the bowls are out of this world, and no one really goes there so you get the mountain to yourself.” This sounded like an incredible place, but I assured him that I wanted to check out the local and famous “big three” mountains in Banff (Mount Norquay, Sunshine Village, and Lake Louise), and that I also wasn’t planning on renting a car, so it’d be hard for me to get out there. He finished the conversation by saying that, if there was any way for me to get there, I should do it. I looked up the mountain online when I got home, agreed that it looked pretty amazing, but also concluded that it would be very, very difficult for me to get there from Banff without a car. I left it at that.A few weeks later when I was in Banff, I went to one of the locals ski shops to buy a 3 days pass for the big three mountains in the area. As I paid for the pass, I saw a pamphlet with a familiar name on it: Kicking Horse. I picked it up, stared at the powdery landscape depicted on the front and read it. A tour company in Banff was offering a bus ride and lift ticket to and from Kicking Horse every day for $80 CAD. $80? That wasn’t bad at all, considering there was a 2 hour drive (both ways) involved. The only downside was that the bus left around six in the morning. I usually wake up for work around six, but, as I mentioned earlier, getting up at six in Banff after a night out (which usually ends up being every night) is tough. I though back to what Kevin had said and bought a ticket.The morning that we departed, pink clouds hovered above Banff’s mountains, a group of skiers and snowboarders waited in a parking lot downtown, and a coach bus rolled in. We threw our boards and skis in the stowaway compartments, boarded the bus and sat back, as the bus drove onto the highway.The drive from Banff to Lake Louise, which takes around forty-five minutes, is filled with turquoise rivers, elk sightings and endless, snow-covered mountain peaks. This ride alone is incredible and I don’t think I would ever tire of it. The drive beyond Lake Louise towards Golden, BC where Kicking Horse is, however, is something else. After about an hour of driving, the bus crossed into British Columbia. At this point, Banff National Park turns into Yoho National Park. The mountains grew. The roads now wound around the sides of mountains, overlooked deep mountain valleys and peered out towards giant mountain peaks. Everything seemed much more remote and untouched. The trees were denser. The bus, at times, rumbled, as it wound down the mountain sides. Kevin’s words started to become apparent; we were going to snowboard on a remote, powder-covered mountain hidden in the valleys of Yoho National Park.A little while later, the bus turned around a corner halfway up a mountain. Kicking Horse Mountain appeared on the horizon, the sun covered its peak, and the small town of Golden rested at its base. We passed through Golden, travelled down what seemed like a back alley, and then crossed over a bridge that was wide enough for a Mini or Smart Car. The bus, at a speed of than less than 10 km/h, passed over the bridge.The bus drove up the mountain for ten minutes until we reached the base. There was one gondola carrying people to the top of the mountain, a large line extending from it, and one ski chalet that was lined with outdoor bars and cafes. The bus driver handed us our lift tickets, we grabbed our equipment and stood in line. I was worried at this point that the gondola line would be ridiculous all day (I found out later that a mountain this size with so many different bowls and backcountry routes meant that the gondola line-up, after the initial lifts up, would never really be busy because everyone came down sporadically throughout the day). The Gondola carried a group of us to the top. I stepped out. This felt like the top of a mountain. There was a narrow and small surface to stand on, and you could either go down a thin strip of snow to the left, or down a thin strip of snow to the right. On one side of each of those strips were back bowls filled with power; the other side of both strips was a straight drop off the backside of the mountain. My heart raced. This was the mountain experience I had been looking for.I speed-checked my way down the left strip of flat snow. A skier zoomed past me, traversed across the strip and hopped into the bowl. Powder flew up behind him. I strapped my bindings, placed my hands on my knees and peered over the edge of the bowl. After a few moments, I jumped in. Powder soared past my knees up towards my chest. My board weaved across the white snow. My legs tensed. By the time I reached the bottom of the bowl, my heart thumped against my chest. Boarding through powder that deep was a lot harder than I imagined. I stopped, rested for a moment and peered back up the mountain. The sun rose above a large, rocky peak. TNT exploded in the distance to knock down potential avalanches. After a moment, I turned, cruised forward and carved powder straight to the bottom of the mountain.For the rest of the day I rode powder runs, drank a few beers on the outdoor patios and gazed out at the mountain valleys of Yoho National Park. I also found out that Kicking Horse is home to a Grizzly Bear named Boo, who you can see in his pen from the chairlift. That was the first time I had seen a Grizzly Bear and, though it was not exactly how I imagined seeing one for the first time, it was an epic experience. By the end of the day, my legs ached. The powder was still endless, but it had been well torn up from the day. We all gathered at the bus, loaded our equipment and headed back to Banff as the sun set.I’m not sure if Kicking Horse still offers that $80 bus ride and lift ticket deal from Banff, but it’s definitely worth looking into if you’re in the area. Even if you’re hungover from the night before, trust me, the ride into Golden will be enough to cure that headache and get you ready for a day of powder riding.For more content like this, follow me here.