Red Mountain Resort Family Ski Trip

For the last few years we have been taking a short family ski holiday between Christmas and New Years.  It's a great way to spend time with Taylor and Dylan, since neither currently live in Idaho.

This year we went a little big and went north to Red Mountain Resort, in British Columbia. The criteria for this year was small town and large vertical drop.  Red delivered these aspects and more!

The first morning out we hooked up with a Snow Host, Doug, to show us around the mountains.  Yes, plural - there are three mountains.  This was a great way to get a feel for the place.

Dylan and Tamara with Doug

Chairlift selfie sans Mom (triple chair)

Heading up

Coming down

Taylor cutting it up

The first day was spent in the cold, but the views were phenomenal, above the "Kootenay Sea!"

We spent the rest of the afternoon skiing in and out of the clouds.  That afternoon we found a base - Rossland Beer Company!  These guys are a small operation and they put out some great beer.

Bicycle art in front of Rossland Beer Company

The second day was spent further exploring the ski area, specifically looking for the few remaining powder stashes.  Our first foray didn't turn out too well.  The trees were too tight and we ran into large rocky drop offs.  So, after lunch, Dylan and I took off looking for tree skiing while the girls stayed on the cruisers.

We spent a half hour hiking from the top of one of the lifts (Grey Mountain) to another peak (Mt. Kirkup) that is serviced by the resorts snowcats (unfortunately it wasn't opened).  From here we enjoyed a great powder run that brought us back to the lift.  At this point we met a local, Jamie, who had been skiing the area for 58 years.  He took us under his wing for a couple of runs, showing us his personal powder stashes!

The ladies enjoyed themselves as well.

The third day was more of the same.  We took the gals to show them Jamie's powder stashes (sorry Jamie) and polished off what remained of the untracked.

After getting beat up for three days straight, the ladies decided to rest on our final day.  We all had a leisurely breakfast before Dylan and I headed back into the sidecountry.  Our destination this time was Record Mountain, a little over 1.5 miles from the resort backcountry gate.  We had a great skin in the sunshine and reached the summit in a little over an hour.

Record Mountain

The powder here was smooth and silky.  After two laps, we realized we screwed up by not starting earlier in the day!

Something strange happened here!

And here is a short video of Dylan on Record Mountain:

That evening we had another great meal together that included our third helping of poutine for the trip!  Just can't get enough of that stuff.