Red Mountain Resort

Red Mountain Resort ski area in sourthern British Columbia.

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Part of Voyage to Revelstoke in 2023

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I arrived in the Red Mountain Resort just outside of Rossland, BC, at 4PM for the earliest possible check-in at the Nowhere Special Hostel located in the resort village. The procedure alluded me so I asked a mother and daughter from Australia what to do as there was no attendant. My check-in package was housed in a coded lock box in the entry way. After that it was straightforward to read the through instructions. The suite on the second floor was one of a couple that share a common bathroom behind the locking hallway door. The bedroom I'm in has two bunk beds for a total of four people. I have not yet met my roommates, but I suspect that they are young adolescent males - the room was sweltering with the thermostat set to 26+C and the window was open (A sign that there is no hope to contain global warming!). I dropped by boot bag and small suitcase heading down to the common kitchen.

The next few hours found me in the common area as I was avoiding the bunk room. I ate food I'd purchased in Rossland before I arrived for dinner. I worked on the blog editing pictures from the camera and iphone. It just takes time to do what looks like a simple task. There are the early diners who eat 5ish and the late diners eating toward 9PM. I watched the Bahrain Formula 1 car race qualifying burning through the 2GB high speed daily allowance of the cell phone plane. Fortunately it just throttles the speed after that and doesn't terminate data!

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I awoke at 5:30AM to the clopping of someone's shoes in the hall and a door slamming. I lay in bed until just before 6AM suppressing my urge to cough so I wouldn't disturb the other guy in the room sleeping. The premature start favored me as I ended up watching the Bahrain F1 car race before I hit the slopes.

The Red Mountain ancient chair started the adventure. There were races on this mountain leading me to question whether I should ride this chair. The IKON pass wasn't working, but the lift operated didn't know this and told me to go around the gate. All the chairs at Red Mtn Resort are old and slow. The locals like it that way to keep the crowds away. By the end of the day I didn't even notice and may have actually appreciated the rest period. The snow on Red Mountain was very heavy or crusty being at a lower elevation. I took a blue looping run down gawking at all the tracks coming through the double diamond trees upslope and intersecting the road I was on.

I tried riding the Silverload chair but the IKON pass was not being picked. So I turned about, located the lift ticket office, and found I needed a day pass magnetic card. Back to the Silverload chair the gate was now working. The Silverload chair seats four people and moves at geological speed - slowly. From the top of this chair one skis down a road to the Motherload chair for the official ride to the top of Granite Mtn.

I was befriended by a couple a little older than myself. The lady, Lynn, was 64 and hadn't started skiing until meeting her partner, Jeff, who is an expert skier. First asking my skill level, Lynn invited me to join them on their most favorite run - Paradise. A loosely spaced tree run I'd rate as double diamond dropped skier's right of the Motherload chair. It has a couple of rock bands to navigate and those awkward snowboard troughs. Jeff and Lynn wasted no time charging down this pitch. They are in very good shape! I was able to keep up, but prefer a more methodical attack. This run like so many on the mountain should not be done alone; it could be sometime before someone found you if injured. I decided not to do a second run with them despite their encouragement to do so.

I spent the remainder of the day working my way around Granite Mountain and eventually over the Grey Mountain. The diamond tree skiing with the 1-2 feet of fresh powder made the day. I found myself at the top of a 30 foot cliff band while skiing a double diamond tree pitch. I skirted this! Grey Mountain was more my speed being more open diamond runs with powder.

I ended up having a late lunch when I realized my blood sugar level neared empty. I went to the Josie Hotel restaurant in the Red Mountain Resort village rather than the Paradise lodge high and tucked on the mountain or the base lodge. How perfect! There were no crowds or smoking air. I was served directly at the bar with my first cup of java for the day. And the Veg Poke had most of my favorite things: seaweed, piles of ginger, and edamame.

Despite almost opening the ski area up, I went back to Grey Mountain and skied until the lifts closed. My longest day this season. I'd come back to this area no question. I suspect that view comes influenced by the best snow outside of Alta on this trip.