PeakRankings singled out this Canadian ski resort as the only full mountain to earn a spot on their list of the most demanding ski destinations in the world, a distinction that anyone familiar with this British Columbia resort probably wouldn’t dispute.
The resort’s setup sets it apart from virtually every other mountain on the continent, with the main gondola departing from the base and ascending more than 3,700 vertical feet to the summit. The terrain is arranged so that most skiers and riders are committed to a full top-to-bottom descent, leaving little room to bail out. Across a lot of the mountain, that descent can include steep chutes, cliffs, and couloirs.
They describe the level of sustained technical terrain at Kicking Horse Mountain Resort as extremely difficult to find anywhere else in the world at this scale. Additionally, the resort’s network of hike-to terrain adds another layer of difficulty, further distinguishing it. Boot packs, including T1, T2, and Ozone, require 10 to 45 minutes of uphill travel and open runs that match the steepness of lift-served terrain while offering significantly less tracked snow.
The combination of long runs and accessible sidecountry makes hiking every other lap common practice among regulars. Kicking Horse is open and skiable from late January through March with reasonable consistency.
