Test report Rossland/Red Mountain Resort

Only a few minutes from the American border is the nice city of Rossland. Some minutes upside Rossland is the Red Mountain Village with the ski area Red Mountain Resort. From the base area you can take the historical Red Chair, a double chair up to Red Mountain (1590m). From here you can ski or ride in the upper part mostly advanced runs and in the lower part intermediate runs. An easy trail leads also back to the base lodge which is the edge of the ski resort. A magic carpet and a t-bar next to the base area open up easy runs for children and beginners and a snowboard park. If you take the quad Silverlode and the triple chair Motherlode you can reach the Granite Mountain, with 2075m the highest lifted point in the ski resort. Now you are spoilt for choice which of the advanced double diamont runs you should ski or ride down. You have a lot of choices as the hole mountain offers many different runs. You will find also intermediate and beginner runs, e.g. the Reno´s Run which leads around the mountain and a lot of advanced runs end on the Reno´s Run. Not to forget the triple chair Paradise Chair which open up the runs in the Paradise area. Here the runs are mostly intermediate and easy and you have the cozy Paradise Lodge for lunch or a break. At the base area is also a restaurant but we recommend to go to the Paradise Lodge. Back to the base area you can only ski or ride from the top of the Paradise Chair so you should watch the time because the chair lift closes at 3 p.m. Certainly you will find also a lot of very well groomed intermediate runs between the advanced runs. To make a long story short everybody will find his runs, a mountain where the advanced skiers and riders will have very much fun in the powder. Only the slow and old lifts should be upgraded in the next years.

In Rossland the Big Red Cats offers catskiing, too.

In the morning the vans start in front of the Red Shutter Inn and drive about 15 minutes along the highway 3B to the base station where you transfer in the cats. After a short security instruction and the check of the avalanche equipment you drive about 45 minutes with the cat up to the mountain. On top the guides unload the ski and give some rules. A group consists of about 8 people and 2 guides. After a short warm-up it is time to "Rock´n´Roll" in the powder… The runs are mostly between 1700m and 2200m and leads through the forest, gladed forest and wide slopes. The last run you can ski down along the cat road down to about 1000m. The guide know the terrain and leads the group safe down to the waiting cat. "SFD" (Straight Fucking Down) is a familiar word for skiing or riding straight down the fresh powder. Depends on the length of the runs you can make about 6 to 8 runs a day. During the way up you have time to have a fresh sandwich or a cookie to get the energy back for another nice powder run. At the end of a wondeful powder day in the Canadian Rockies you can enjoy a beer in an outdoor hot tub.