Canada is calling | A winter and summer in the Kootenays - Part II

A Loveletter to Whitewater

How to get there & location

How to get to Whitewater, brief description of the area.

The resort is 40 years old. It is located in the heart of the Kootenays, 20 minutes from Nelson. The road to get there winds along an unpaved road.

Lifts & slopes

The three lifts, character of the slopes, sidecountry, tree skiing.

The three chairlifts are each located on their own side of the slope and therefore cover an enormous area for skiing. Tree skiing is a top priority here.

Raven is the newest lift. It is best suited for jumplaps, but also offers a huge sidecountry area for deep snow thanks to its connection to Whitequeen. Summit is on the opposite side of the slope. This is where the classic lift line is located, where people cheer from above. The lodge is located between the two lifts, with a self-catering room on the first floor and a restaurant on the upper floor. There is a water dispenser with cups to quench your thirst.

Once at the top, you can see the Trash Shoots, a rocky ridge about a kilometer long, which you have to tour or bootpack up for 20 minutes to find endless lines. So many ski and snowboard films have been shot here - the potential for lines and jumps is endless. To the right after the exit is the lowest of the three chairlifts, the Glory. This lift simply has charm and offers the best sidehits as well as endless tree deep snow runs. It's only quite cold in winter because you sit in it for quite a long time.

Whitewater Bowl / Ymir Peak

Heart of the resort, couloirs, best season, tips.

After a brief introduction to the lifts and sidecountry areas, we now come to the heart of the Whitewater Bowl: Ymir Peak. A stand-alone peak above the treeline with couloirs. The best season is April, as the northern slope still has powder snow and you can sit in the sun at the bottom. From the exit of the Summit lift, a ridge leads up to the summit. In between is the "Prospectors" area with many couloirs below the tree line.

Community & atmosphere

People, lifties, local scene, comparison to other areas.

Whitewater is a community. Everyone from the town skis or snowboards here, and after a few weeks you know most of them. The lifties are also young people from the city or travelers, so the atmosphere is just good.

If you pick just one area for the season, it's different to Innsbruck, for example, where you go somewhere different every time. You get to know every rock and every jump and at the end of the season you realize that you've only skied half of what you actually wanted to.

Example day: 17.01.2025 - At the foot of Mt. Brennan

7 a.m. - the alarm clock rings in the motorhome. Simba confirms this with a bark. We both wake up. Flo gets up first, switches the gas heating back on, puts on his down jacket and takes Simba for a morning walk around the dog park.

In the meantime, I put on some music and make breakfast - my favorite: naan bread with fried egg and tomato.

At 9am, Matt picks us up with his two roommates Paddy and Paul. We squeeze ourselves - including Simba - into his car. We unload the skis and snowboards via the tailgate, which is very practical to prevent too much moisture getting into the camper van. The stuff goes into Matt's roof box.

Mt. Brennan is on the agenda today. The evening before, we looked at various tour options and made a plan. We checked the avalanche report - and again in the morning - and then set off with full equipment.

When we arrived at minus 15 degrees, I first had to thaw out my bindings. This has never happened to me before Canada! So it's best to take them into the warmth if you have pivot bindings. The others are all on splitboards.

Mt. Brennan is on the program today. The evening before, we looked at various tour options and made a plan. We checked the avalanche report - and again in the morning - and then set off with full equipment.

When we arrived at minus 15 degrees, I first had to thaw out my bindings. This has never happened to me before Canada! So it's best to take them into the warmth if you have pivot bindings. The others are all on splitboards.

Then the touring begins: about four kilometers with a gentle incline on a forest road. After two hours, we finally see our destination and the lines we have chosen. There are pillow fields to the left and right, then another climb up to the lake plateau. Wow! The sun shines on the mountains in the beautiful afternoon light.

We find a small side peak in the shape of a mushroom. We can quickly climb it several times. We position the camera and each of us enjoys up to three lines in deep, untracked powder snow - even though there hasn't been any fresh snow for three weeks!

Dusk slowly sets in and the light turns orange. We reach the part we had already admired on the ascent. Pillows are everywhere and we start shouting with joy until we all need a breather.

What a beautiful January day! Then it's down the drag trail into the valley, where there are plenty of sidehits. Off to the car and quickly into the sauna to relax our muscles! Then we quickly cook something, watch the videos from the day and finally get into our winter sleeping bags. Good night.

Road Trips

Rogers Pass

The FWT tour in Kicking Horse is coming up, so we make our way north. Four hours to Revelstoke, with a small ferry through the beautiful Slocan Valley, passing lakes left and right. Then it's another two hours - by now it's night - over the Rogers Pass to Golden in British Columbia.

During the crossing, we see that there is definitely more snow there and look forward to the return journey, on which we plan a stop. You can read about our experiences in Golden in the article on the FWT Kicking Horse.

After five days in freezing cold Golden at minus 20 degrees and above, we were both glad to be heading back to Nelson, where the weather is a bit milder. Unfortunately, I've caught a little flu, but Flo is fine. We stop at Rogers Pass anyway and Flo sets off on a short tour of the flat terrain, which I can observe with my camera from the main parking lot. The terrain looks really exciting: alpine, but with pillow fields the deeper you get. A real dream playground. Only overnight stays are not welcome here, so you should either start from Golden or Revelstoke in the morning and return in the evening.

Golden, BC

I'm including Golden here again because I visited a friend from Innsbruck there in April. He and his girlfriend know a mutual acquaintance who bought a trailer truck and two sleds. The trailer has two bunk beds, benches, a table and a wood-burning stove. The bed and table can be folded away so that the trailer also serves as storage space for the sleds when she leaves Canada. She spends three months here every year - from mid-January to mid-April. It's a dream and doable with savings. The trailer cost her about $10,000 CAD, but the truck and the sleds are another story.

I'm just saying: the scene is special. After many years of only having access to the terrain via lifts or under my own power, I was curious to see what the sled scene had to offer that had previously remained hidden from me. Yes, the sleds are loud and seem a little out of place in nature, but in Canada they make sense. Suddenly you can drive ten kilometers into a valley.

There is a lot of so-called "Crown Land" in Canada, where you can camp for free, as the land theoretically belongs to the British Crown. Many campsites are located in these areas and are only chargeable in summer, making them perfect for staying for several months in winter.

A sled day is as follows: get up early, load the sleds onto the truck, check the radios, read the weather forecast and avalanche warning and take the satellite phone with you, as there is no reception in the valleys. Then we drive until the snow starts, unload the sleds - and the learning begins. Skis and luggage are attached to the sled, two people per sled. You don't sit behind each other, but stand next to each other, each on one side, and hold on to the handlebars in the middle. You steer by shifting your weight - and don't fall off!

After ten minutes, I think my hands are going to fall off, because it's very tiring to ride over all the bumps in the snow. On the odd bend, someone jumps off until we've got into the groove and are cruising along at up to 80 km/h. We master some tricky sections, such as steep slopes or riverbed crossings, after one or two failed attempts. Sledding is really difficult - hats off!

Mt. Baker, Washington

It's March 8 and the forecast promises a lot of fresh snow on Mt. Baker. As Flo is flying back to Austria from Seattle on March 18, we take a road trip together before I take him to the airport.

After an eight-hour drive from Nelson, we finally make it across the American border! The checks here are very strict: no vegetables, no eggs, everything has to be clearly declared. Then we drive another two hours through small villages to Mt. Baker. So plan your food shopping in advance when you cross the border.

It starts to snow around 8 pm. While it was still warm and almost spring-like down below, we now find ourselves in the middle of a snowstorm. But the bus, affectionately known as the "Bagel", bravely fights its way up to the campsite right next to the lift. There are over 30 other set-ups of all kinds there. Sure, weekend and fresh new snow, we could have guessed that.

A friend has given us a few tips that we want to try out the next morning. The lifts don't have names here, but numbers, and lift 5 is supposed to be particularly fun. After the first few laps, we meet a group of snowboarders with whom we hit it off straight away. We follow them for the rest of the day. We discover lines, jumps and runs that we would never have found ourselves.

On the second day, the snow was already quite heavy on the first, but today it is even more extreme. The locals call it "Washington Cement". We decide on an area that is known for its good kicker spots and spend the day shoveling and filming. We also meet some well-known riders, including Dylan Siggers from Line Skis, who also shoot there.

The atmosphere up there is so cool - and the sidecountry looks spectacular. I really want to come back to check out the Hollows when the visibility is better.

Alpine Valley and Crystal, Washington

After taking Flo to the airport, it's just Simba and I in the bagel. Since I used to work for Line Skis as a sports engineer, I asked K2 for a tour of the development lab. I meet Kyle there in Seattle and we hit it off immediately.

It's impressive to see that everything happens under one roof: a room for BCA avalanche research, ski presses, ski boot tests and much more. Afterwards, I sit down with Kyle at his workbench and we take a look at the new Line and K2 models.

Small spoiler: Sam Kuch's Pro model is going to be really cool, as is a new swallowtail from Line with a 110 mm center width and more "optical" features.

Kyle invites me to stay with him in his shared flat for a few days and go riding with him. Perfect! I park the bagel outside the door and off we go. Thanks to my contacts and my status as a "condition reporter", we get free ski tickets for Crystal Mountain and Alpental, which are only about an hour or two away from Seattle.

Crystal Mountain

Crystal has really good sidecountry. We toured along a ridge twice and had untracked deep snow slopes in the forest despite very foggy visibility. We particularly recommend the descent with Chair 6 and then the traverse to the summit "The Throne".

Our first descent took us back to the ski area via the ridge next to "Hamburger". Then we did the same again, but this time on the other side towards "A-Basin". From there, we unpacked our touring skis and headed for the "S.E. Trees". There we skied a beautiful couloir through the trees. Afterwards, you get straight back onto the Queens slope, which is perfect for another loop through the park.

It's always nice to get to know areas with locals who have been riding there for years.

Alpental

Alpental surprised me: the area actually reminds me a little of the Alps and many of the slopes have German names. I took the Armstrong Express up to the top, where there was 30 cm of fresh snow but it was already pretty wet at the bottom. Unfortunately, I've forgotten my ski jacket, but luckily half the K2 work team is there and one of them has a spare jacket for me.

Kyle and his roommate are sponsored by the resort and so a photographer from the ski area accompanies us for the day. Once at the top, we cross to the Edelweiss chairlift, the heart of the area. We spend almost the whole day there. Kyle knows every cliff by name and there is constant cheering from the lift.

There were a lot of good riders from the region there that day, which made for a great atmosphere. I also met Hank Stower, a professional skier from Portland, Oregon, who exudes so much joy while skiing that it rubs off on everyone. After two hours in the heavy deep snow, my legs were pretty tired. Afterwards, there were a few quick laps on the Armstrong Express on the new ski models. It was really fun and interesting to talk to Kyle about the different skiing characteristics.

A sweet area with a really good atmosphere!

Snowsafety

Avalanche check, partner system and caution in the sidecountry.

The Avalanche Canada website provides a daily avalanche forecast from November 26 each year. The resorts themselves also offer their own forecast and monitor the surrounding area - so Whitewater's sidecountry is also monitored. Nevertheless, remember your own equipment and be careful.

Especially in the valleys, which you enter quickly, you do so at your own risk. Go as a well-coordinated group and trust each other. Especially in the narrow forest, it is important to use the partner system and ride in groups of two, looking out for each other. Tree holes and fallen trees can otherwise quickly become dangerous.