Canadian Rockies and Kootenays photos

[Klazu]

Back in February me and my wife took a week off to head over to the Canadian Rockies for six fabulous days in the slopes.

It was a great winter in British Columbia, but our trip began in a pouring rain brought to us by a mid-winter Pineapple Express. In the town of Hope the snow banks were high, yet it was pouring.



Previous night all mountain highways out of Lower Mainland had been closed, but Coquihalla Highway had been opened shortly before our arrival. Little did we know that choosing to cross it would result in thousands of people being stuck in their cars for the night...





Despite hundreds of other people in the same situation, it is still a lonely feeling to be stuck on a mountain highway in a snow blizzard with dying daylight.



Fortunately we got past the problem spot and driving conditions east of Coast Mountains were not too bad the next day. These are from Trans-Canada Highway enroute to Revelstoke.







This place always looks so interesting. I wonder how popular holiday destination it is, so far from everything?



Arriving in Revelstoke the weather had improved. Revelstoke had a fresh dump of snow from the previous night, which made for a great day in the slopes.











I really liked Revelstoke and we will surely return there again for more skiing! Our next stop was Golden, where we would spend two days exploring the these steep mountains.









Up on the summit is Eagle's Eye, which claims to be the highest restaurant in Canada at 2,450 meters (8,033 feet) above sea level.





On a nice day the views are absolutely incredible and what a day we had!













To go to the very summit, take the chair lift up to Stairway to Heaven and you are... in heaven.





These vistas were the first leg of our long trip and more photos from the Kootenays region soon in part 2.

[excel]

Amazing pictures.

[Klazu]

From Golden our great ski trip continued south towards Cranbrook and the Kootenays. It's a good 250-kilometer drive between the two, offering some splendid views of Pursell Mountains and the Rockies along the way.





Big horn crossing.



Just open road.





Cranbrook had just got dumped by almost a meter of snow, which was very evident in downtown. Too bad we didn't have much time to explore the small city buried in snow.



Our accommodation in the area was the very nice St. Eugene which is an old 20th century First Nations schoolhouse turned a golf and casino resort. The historic main building has been restored fantastically and acts as a fine hotel.











I can tell you that there was nothing better than relaxing in the outdoor pool after a long day of skiing.



Just like the exterior, also the historic interior was very well preserved, honoring the old style in all places.







Our first night there happened to be on Valentine's Day which naturally called for a nice steak dinner. The smokehouse at St. Eugene was fantastic.











Next day was a cloudy and we decided to head to Fernie for our fourth ski day. Fernie was nice, but thanks to the passing Pineapple Express, the weather was wet and windy with many icy runs, which deterred some of our excitement. With more fresh snow our experience might have been very different, as the runs seemed fun.









Last two days were spent in Kimberly which is a smaller family-friendly resort. On our first day the weather was appalling with heavy rain (and snow at the top), but the second day was much, much better.







What a fantastic last day!





Finally it was time to head back home. It is 840 kilometers from Cranbrook to Vancouver and we split the drive in two, spending a night in Osoyoos. Along the way driving conditions varied from one extreme to the other, but we didn't have any problems getting back home. Our 2500-kilometer road trip had come to an end.















All in all we had a great trip with lots of sunshine and four very different ski resorts. We liked them all for different reasons and the main reason for choosing these particular resorts was the RCR Card they share, which offers very inexpensive multi-day skiing. I highly recommend getting it if in the area.

While winter feels far away, the next is never too far and we are already making plans for it. More on that later on.