How is skiing in Canada as the pandemic eases? 2 resorts in British Columbia put to the test
- Alf Alderson visits the Whitewater and Red Mountain resorts, whose slopes have fearsome reputations, to see how they’re dealing with the aftermath of Covid-19
- The resorts’ proximity makes for a great two-centre ski holiday, and both offer the chance to stay in remote log cabins off the grid
The interior of Canadian province British Columbia is renowned for its annual deposits of deep, feather-light powder snow and the homely feel of its ski resorts, attributes epitomised by Whitewater and Red Mountain.
It has been difficult, if not impossible, to access these ski resorts for anyone other than locals over the last two years, because of Covid-19 travel restrictions, so when, after much form-filling and tedious bureaucracy, I was able to visit this corner of BC last month, I wondered what I might find.
Well, not a lot has changed. Indeed, rolling into the car park at Whitewater you’d be hard-pressed to see any signs of the pandemic. Other than the requirement to show a vaccine passport and wear masks in queues and on lifts (hardly an imposition since most people will be wearing some form of face covering against the cold anyway), the skiing remains as good as ever.
Whitewater is small, with just three chairlifts and a modest vertical drop of 2,044ft (623 metres) from a high point of only 6,700ft. But the resort has an annual average snowfall of 1,200cm, or a very generous 40 feet. And it’s invariably dry, light and very, very skiable.
The hill has a reputation as the haunt of skiers who consider steep couloirs (narrow gullies), waist-deep powder, and trees as tight as two coats of paint all part of a good day in the mountain. But there’s plenty for less adventurous skiers, too – and best of all, there are no crowds.
I spend my first morning exploring the hidden nooks and crannies of Whitewater with my guide, Zach, an affable snowboarder who moved here from the flatlands of eastern Canada, like so many other “locals”.
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“Covid hasn’t been as bad for us in BC as in many other ski areas,” he says (most European resorts were closed for the whole of winter 2021). “The ski hills stayed open last season, so I was able to work, although most of the skiers were locals rather than visitors.”
We take a break at the base of the ski area in the Fresh Tracks Cafe, where, as at all other bars and restaurants in British Columbia, one must show a vaccine passport and ID to gain entry.
Then it’s back onto the hill for an afternoon between the trees in the soft, dry powder known hereabouts as “cold smoke”. Every time we wait for a chair lift, it seems, a local tells me how much they love their mountain. And after several runs in the cold, dry “pow” I begin to understand why.
By the time the lifts close, my legs have turned to jelly, and since there is no accommodation at Whitewater, I must still drive to my bed for the night.
Most visitors base themselves in the bohemian town of Nelson, a 22km (14-mile) drive north, on the shores of Kootenay Lake, and worth a visit for its eclectic bars, restaurants and shops and buzzing cultural scene, but I’m going for something more rustic.
Logden Lodge, around 20 minutes south of Whitewater, consists of four luxury mountain cabins tucked away in snowbound forest yet easily accessible from the road; ideal for skiers concerned with the health risks associated with crowded hotels. I relax with a glass of BC red beside a cosy wood burner, soothe aching muscles in a deep soaker tub and sleep in a bed the size of a barge.
In the morning, footprints in the snow are the only sign that wolves, elk and cougars passed the cabins during the night.
After a couple of days at Whitewater, I move on to Red Mountain, about an hour’s drive away, in the Monashee Mountains. The proximity of the two hills makes for a great two-centre ski holiday.
“We’ve found that the best ski trips usually come from experiencing destinations like a local,” says Nickie Mabey, founder of the Mabey Ski travel company. “Both Whitewater and Red Mountain give you that opportunity, along with the chance to stay in remote log cabins off the grid.”
“Red” comes with its own daunting reputation; skiers here take cliff drops in their stride and won’t get out of bed for less than a metre of fresh powder. It can be intimidating for lesser mortals but it doesn’t need to be.
The resort does have serious steeps, many threading their way between firs, pines and cedars, but it has expanded over the past 20 years to become more accommodating.
The ski area initially consisted of just two mountains, Red and Granite, which used to host World Cup ski races, but in recent years, chair lifts have been installed to open up Grey Mountain and Mount Kirkup, making Red Mountain one of the biggest ski areas in North America.
On the new slopes are plenty of fine, open blue runs usually accessible by an operation that sells single rides up the mountain in a Snowcat – an enclosed tracked vehicle – for C$10 (US$7.80) a time, enabling first-timers to have a go without breaking the bank (most cat ski operators charge several hundred dollars a day).
For now, though, the Snowcat operation is on hold due to Covid-19 protocols.
Under Red’s Snow Host programme, local skiers show newcomers around the mountain for free, passing on colourful stories from the resort’s past while you’re heading up the mountain on a chair lift.
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John Green – who I later discover is the brother of one of Canada’s most famous winter athletes: skiing world cup champion and Olympic gold medallist Nancy Green – takes me to rough-and-ready log cabins hidden in the forests on either side of the Granite Mountain pistes.
Built decades ago by local skiers, they’re still regularly used by their now elderly builders and friends, who warm up inside by a log fire, maybe even spend the night. Mementoes – mostly old ski gear – have been left in the snow beside one of the cabins, in tribute to a skier who is no longer with us.
After a day skiing the quiet, well-groomed pistes on dry, chalky snow, I head down the hill to Rossland, a former gold mining town that’s a five-minute drive away. Like Nelson, it’s quieter than I remember from previous visits, with a number of shops and restaurants closed due to the pandemic.
However, after a couple of local brews at the Rossland Beer Company, just off the main strip, all seems well with the world, even with all the donning and removing of my mask when a trip to the bathroom calls.
My first night here is spent back up at Red Mountain, at The Josie, where once again masks must be worn and vaccine passports shown. The boutique hotel’s slope-side location means I can literally ski from the door the following morning, to explore the more demanding black and double-black terrain for which Red is famed.
Red’s newest visitor offering are the Constella Cabins, a collection of basic but warm, snug wooden shacks on the slopes of the Paradise ski area on Granite Mountain. Guests have their own cabin but dine in a communal clubhouse, where social-distancing rules must be observed.
Even so, there’s something special about being one of just a handful of people on the mountain as the sun goes down; the hubbub of skiers is replaced by calm, the only sound the wind soughing through the trees, and there’s a distinct feeling of being out in the wilds, despite the fact a ski resort and all its paraphernalia are close by.
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The next morning, I enjoy fresh tracks after breakfast as other skiers are still making their way up the mountain on chair lifts. Schussing up to the Paradise Chairlift, first skier of the day, I conclude that Covid-19 protocols do little to detract from the Canadian ski experience offered at Red and Whitewater.
Alf Alderson was hosted at Whitewater and Red Mountain by Mabey Ski.
