Kicking Horse Mountain Resort

Best ski resort in North America. If you love big steep terrain and big mountain this is the place to be. The view is amazing and snow is unbelievable even though it hasn’t snowed for a while. The only thing that can be improved is the lift infrastructure but I guess that’s less an issue if you truly prefer good skiing. Would definitely come again.

Stunning mountain to ski/snowboard! We got to the top of the gondola and my jaw hit the floor - photos don’t even do it justice! We went on the weekend and the crowd level was very manageable compared to other ski resorts in Banff/Lake Louise If you are a beginner, novice or even an intermediate skier/snowboarder, this mountain will be intimidating for you. If you’re an advanced or expert skier/snowboarder, this mountain will be a haven for you. There are more black and double black runs compared to green and blue runs but it’s nice they have 4 different lifts. I’ve never skied here before and I will admit, on the low visibility days, I found it hard to know where I was going. Way finding/signage could be a bit better but if you’re going with someone who knows the runs, you won’t have any issues. Either way, I can’t wait to come back and ski here again! It was epic

Great first experience! Trails were amazing. Our lesson teacher was very patient and kind. Trails were almost entirely empty due to the broke. Gondola and it nearing end of season. In addition to this? The scenery was stunning!

Challenging mountain for skier who enjoy steep, various terrains and bumps & mogules. Stunning view at the peak. Lower sections of mountain are more suitable to the beginner.

The resort is great for biking and hiking . Winter sports should be excellent. However the chairlift only opens 0945 to 3.30 so if you are hiking high you would have a time restriction if you used the lift . This may mean you miss seeing the bear enclosure. The chairlift does need more time especially in summer when the Gondola is not operational. However the views are stunning

A++ to Korban and the guest services team at KHMR. My daughter left her ski poles on the Gondola right before last chair yesterday. Called in the morning and had her ski poles in hand before the afternoon. Amazing communication and customer service.

Great place to visit as we were staying just down the road in an Airbnb. Be aware that in summer (we visited in September), the shops and lift do not operate on Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday. The area however is very beautiful, even if you don't go in the ski season.

Smaller resort so a lot less to do. If I was there for mountain biking or snowboarding I would probably give it a higher rating. I was there for an event and there was not much to do besides the event I went for. The gondola was closed, so that didn't help either. I could not find a pool and for the hot tub you had to book a time to go in, this was very strange, I could understand this maybe during COVID but on the regular. Hot tubs are for relaxing not a scheduled time in my opinion. The views are amazing, the food was decent. I was lucky enough to see Boo the Grizzly bear half way up the mountain. That was easily the best part of the resort. The mosquitoes are next level bad, if you go there in the summer just take a shower in bug spray before going outside, I went through almost a whole can over the weekend and walked out with about a dozen or so bites, way better then my friends who had forgot big spray for an afternoon and got dozens of bites each in a few hours. Again big spray, lots of it is a must. Overall worth a visit if you are in Golden or passing through for a night just don't expect it to have the amenities of a bigger resort. Last off the website does say this as well but there is no A/C, I didn't find this a problem but if A/C is a must for you, then keep looking for a different place. Don't think you will just keep the patio door open to cool off the room either, again the mosquitoes are next level and they will get past the screens.

if I could give higher than 5 I would. from check in (adjusting rooms because of unforeseen health issues) to giving the utmost assistance with every need we had. We were there for a wedding, it was beautiful. The scenery, the atmosphere was all around fantastic.The employees couldn't do enough to help us, Would definitely love to go back.

Room 408B - Shower curtain was dirty - There were multiple stains on the carpet - Room is small with not much room to move around - Although it has a small kitchen, there is no chair to sit on - Signs were up advertising things to do at the resort however everything was closed, but they still charge the resort fee - The only positive was the view. It was spectacular so I guess that's what we paid for.

Although not a skier and did not visit in the winter, which is what this resort is known for, I stayed there recently on a summer trip and was disappointed at the limited availability of shops and how early places close in the village, including the general store, how you have to pay $58 per person to go up on the gondola to patronize the Eagle Eye restaurant (Which I understand from the reviews is mediocre) and the resort is a 15-minute drive from the main town of Golden. The common areas of the Paliser Lodge look like they're from the 1980s and they don't service the towels in the fitness room. There's just a dirty hamper of towels sitting there for the whole week. I don't recommend this place unless maybe staying there for skiing, and if I were an owner, I would be disappointed with owning inside there.

I see other reviewers agree that Kicking Horse rivals Revelstoke among favorites. As is the case with Revy, KHMR is (for me) a 4.5 that I'm rounding up. Here are the things I liked about our three days here: Vertical Pitch Scenery Lodging Better for skier's than boarders Mountain orientation tour The lift configuration is a blend of old and new. The original resort had a few chairs at the base that still operate. The modern part consists of a massive gondola ride from the base to top. From the top, skiers can go down into one of two bowls (Bowl Over and Crystal Bowl) or traverse to Super Bowl or ride the Stairway to Heaven chair to access Fuez Bowl. The vertical and gondola features are the source of comparison with Revelstoke. The steep, granite ridge across the top and the spines that descend to create the separate bowls really remind me of Fernie. Expect to climb a bit especially to access Super Bowl. Our favorite was Fuez Bowl where the easiest access is from Tower 10 off of Stairway. The resort is massive with very steep terrain at the top. If you've never been here, I'd recommend spending an hour to take the guided tour in the morning. I think it's a better resort for skiers than boarders. From the top, there is plenty of steep as you enter the bowls. The bowls flatten out after 1000-1500 vertical feet and then the pitch resumes although it is less steep from the middle to the bottom. We had a mix of sun and incredible powder. On each of the three days, the visibilty at the top was near white-out for at least part of the day. I suspect this is pretty typical. For people who are afraid of heights, this can be intimidating: when leaving the gondola both traverses take you along the crest of the ridge on a cat track with precipitous slopes on either side. Going directly under the gondola and veering into Bowl Over there is excellent tree skiing that gets steeper toward the bottom. Generally, the spines that define the bowls have trees on the south exposure and granite chutes on the north. One of our favorite runs was hitting the face of Stairway to Heaven (#38 My Blue Heaven) with 20cm of fresh dry powder. Lodging at the resort is good and far more convenient than staying down in Golden.

We, on our most recent trip to the Canadian Rockies before heading back to Florida where we lived we stayed up at Kicking Horse Mountain Resort and the views were breathtaking. We had read the reviews about the rooms being small, and the staff un-attentive. But our experience was anything but those things. We enjoyed a one bedroom suite with a balcony, a fully stocked kitchen (supplies: pots, pans, silverware, etc. not food). On the cool nights, the fireplace was a nice extra. Then there were the staff. Poppi the housekeeping leader, Brandy, Simon, Agatha, and the whole group were exceptional in meeting our needs and exceptions. The views are outstanding. We were on the backside in Glacier-Mountaineer Lodge facing away from the ski hill. This gave us an outstanding view of the Rockies to our east. One word of caution, in reading the reviews, we knew that some people didn't enjoy the hotel/condo in the summer due to heat. It was probably cooler on the east vs the west side of the property as there is NO A/C in the building up on the mountain. While we found it very comfortable, we were not there in the dead of summer. In the question about noise: As for noise it was very quiet...but that could be time of year. I am sure snowboarders and skiers can be loud in winter. It is supposed to be a very tough hill to ski...which good skiers/snowboarders like the challenge. But in late summer/early fall, it was very peaceful! We will gladly go back...already planning our trip for next May when the bears come out of hibernation. Usually we stay over in the Canmore area, which is beautiful. But we really enjoyed the authentic mountain town of Golden and the NOT TO MANY people as we faced last May in Lake Louise, Banff and Canmore. So for now on, most our time in the Canadian Rockies will be in B.C. at Kicking Horse Mountain Resort.

Had a very enjoyable stay here. We had a 3 bed room 3 bathroom suite ( not facing the hill). The staff were friendly and the whitetooth grill served delicious breakfast. The suite had everything we needed to cook dinners. With our room was an equipment locker right at the base of the gondola. This fit two snowboards and five sets of skis. The hot tub is a max of 10 which is quite small for the size of the resort. As well the Friday morning the Plows ( for not much snow) started at 5:30am. Saturday morning at 3am they were moving snow which was very loud and disruptive to our sleep. I would stay here again because you can't beat being right at the gondola.

We stayed at the Kicking Horse Resort (Glacier lodge) for one night in early July during our short visit to Yoho National Park on our longer Canadian Rockies trip. Check-in was easy, and the room was clean and nicely decorated. The back door of our bedroom on the 2nd opened up to a larger outdoor patio that was shared with a few other rooms and had a great view of the mountains/slopes. Parking was conveniently located underground directly below the lodge. We really loved the setting of this place, but I should note that the rooms do NOT have A/C. Since this is mostly a ski resort I know this wouldn't be a problem 9-10 months out of the year, but we stayed here after a slightly above average warm day and our room was uncomfortably warm when we arrived. We only kept the back door open while we were still awake since it was not a private patio and the magnetic mosquito net/screen (there was no screen door) wasn't 100% sealed and we didn't want to let mosquitos into the room (the mosquitos were a huge problem in the mountains here in general. Fortunately there was a large portable fan in the closet that we plugged in to keep us cool, but the room was still a few degrees warmer overnight than we would have preferred. I could not imagine staying here during a heat wave. We had breakfast at the Double Black Cafe in the morning, which was conveniently located directly below our room on the 2nd floor. It was slightly overpriced but service was friendly and fast, and the food was generally pretty good. I would stay here again but most likely not in July-August due to the lack of A/C in the rooms.

Very disappointed with Kicking Horse's lack of support and failure to take any ownership. We bought a 6 day Epic pass which despite both the KH and RCR websites promoting that 6 day passes are valid and even receiving a confirmation from Epic prior to purchasing the pass, are NOT valid. Apparently we bought the wrong 6 day pass. No where does it mention or were we informed that only certain 6 day passes are eligible. And because Epic is not selling 2021/22 passes anymore, no way of upgrading the passes. So we are out over $4000 and the best Epic could do was say sorry and suggest we use them at another resort! Oh and they were also very "helpful" in suggesting that we buy day tickets at KH which funnily enough means KH benefits even more from this deal and we are out even more money. Smells like a scam to me. And KH response was even more dismal - not even any apology. Not their problem apparently and nothing they would or could do. Despite them being partners and promoting the Epic pass on their own websites. And in fact, when I said how disappointed I was and that the experience reflected poorly on them to the point I no longer wanted to ski there, I was told by their guest services manager "fine you can go now!" Unfortunately here for the week but unless KH and RCR provide an acceptable solution, I and the party of 7 I am with, will never come back. And we will be sure to share our experience.

The best ski resort ever!! We loved our time skiing and riding at Kicking Horse Mountain Resort. Incredible views of the Canadian Rockies coupled with perfect snow conditions, lots of terrain and no lift lines at all! This is the place to ski, and we will be back for sure!!

So I spent a good portion of the holidays at Kicking Horse Mountain. Lucky me. It is fabulous. We stay right near the mountain, so I take my time in the morning, get ready and head out. There was an inversion while I was at kicking horse, which means it was colder on the bottom and nearly zero at the top. That meant we stuck with the top. You take the Gondola up to the top of the hill, and you can ski down to the lifts along the hill, particularly to my favourite, the Stairway to Heaven. Although on this visit there wasn't a lot of new snow, usually there is tons of powder so it is just beautiful. There is a yurt to warm up at the bottom of the lift, and some great challenging runs along the mountain face, all blues and blacks. Totally perfect. All told, it takes about half an hour to forty five minutes to get to the very bottom of the hill depending on your speed, runs and expertise. On this visit, a lot of the runs near the bottom had been groomed, which I'm not a huge fan of. My only beef with Kicking Horse is the lack of lifts - either you're going up and down the very top of the hill, or you're doing the giant traverse up and down which can feel a little frustrating. The runs are great and challenging, and when there is powder not even bailing is a big deal, because you feel like you're falling into clouds.

Skiing is a passion of mine. I have skied many of the mountains in Western Canada and I can say with confidence KHMR remains in my top two ski resorts (the other being Revelstoke). The terrain is what separates this hill from the others. It is always changing depending on the snow that week which keeps the runs fresh and fun. With so many runs to discover off of CPR Ridge and Redemption Ridge plus Feuz Bowl, Crystal Bowl, and Bowl Over there is a challenge for everyone. The highlight of the whole mountain is the Terminator peaks and the drop into Super Bowl. This is a challenge as it requires skiers to spend an extra 20-40min hiking after the main gondola but nothing compares with the feeling when you get fresh tracks into Super Bowl! The main gondola is as efficient as possible with staff that make groups of eight then you pass your equipment to staff who load the gondola before you get in. One tip is if you are with a smaller group then take the singles line as you can get to the top way faster than waiting in line as a whole group. One downside is that the gondola can get backed up if the hill is super busy and does have to shut down if there is too much wind. Unfortunately this is the only way to get to the top of the mountain so that is something to consider. Lift tickets are competitively priced and deals can be found at costco, AMA, and if you have a Louise Plus card. All the employees are really friendly, on hill accommodations are great, and Golden is a charming mountain town. Kicking Horse Mountain Resort celebrated their 10 year anniversary this season and with the hustle and bustle of the Rocky Mountains this resort will grow and flourish over the next 10 years.

I can never decide: is Kicking Horse my favorite resort, or is it Revelstoke? Either way, KHMR is a hell of a mountain, and if you have the opportunity to come here for any reason you absolutely need to do it. Kicking Horse has some of the craziest terrain I've ever ridden. Whitewall is always breathtaking from the top, and it's a joy and a challenge to drop in and make your way down. CPR Ridge has so many different chutes and paths that you could probably spend all day riding it alone without getting bored. And if you're willing to hike over to the Terminator peaks, there's even more great terrain. Fair warning: don't bring your grandma here. There are easier runs for beginners, but this mountain is definitely geared toward advanced and expert skiers and snowboarders. Others will still have a good time, but they won't be getting the full experience. Kicking Horse gets some amazing powder days, the likes of which other mountains can only dream of. You might end up getting stuck in Golden if the weather is really kind to you, but it will be well worth it when you're blasting through two foot deep powder. If the sky is clear, the views are also beautiful. I do wish that getting to the Terminator peaks was a bit easier; I know it would mean more riders there and therefore less quality snow, but the hike can be a killer if you do it a couple times in a day. That's really my only complaint, though. KHMR is amazing. Go there. Do it.

Terrible customer service and beware of the gondala closing. I was at the resort yesterday for an anniversary lunch. I made my reservation on the website to eat at 3:15pm. I also called and spoke to two different customer service reps to confirm the reservation and ask about gondala information to make sure there wasn't anything else I needed to know about my arrival. When I got there I paid my $96.50 to ride the gondala up to the restaurant. I just finished my app when the waiter comes over and tells me that my main app will be ready in about 10 minutes but that the gondala closes at 4pm so we needed to leave. He had to put our main apps in a box since we didn't get to eat them and we didn't get to finish our drinks. We paid over $100 to have to eat our meals in our car. I called about getting a refund on my gondala pass since the information about the gondala closing is nowhere to be found on the restaurant reservation page and was told nope, to bad. To say this was the worst and most expensive experience we have ever encountered is an understatement.

This is one of the worst resorts I've ever been to. Huge line ups to get on the gondola, most of the trails are not being cleaned at all and others are just closed. I don't know where the money goes to from the purchase of the lift tickets but it clearly not to trail maintenance. I was extremely dissatisfied especially after such a long drive

Love kicking horse. Although it's pretty difficult to get there, the pro is that there's less people, meaning more chance of getting fresh powder! Even though this resort only has 3 lifts, the lifts lead to so many different terrains. If you want trees, they have your beautiful trees. If you want your open wide terrain they have it too. Would love to come back and explore more of kicking horse!

My husband and I visited Kicking Horse in September, so we got to enjoy the summer/fall experience at the resort. During summer season, you can ride a chair lift up to a grizzly bear sanctuary, or take the gondola up to the very top of the mountain. When you buy a gondola ticket, it is good for 24 hours, so you can ride up and down the gondola as many times as you like. We saw lots of mountain bikers taking their bikes up the gondola and then down the trails multiple times in the day we were there. I enjoyed the gondola trip, and the views at the top of Kicking Horse are spectacular. On our trip down we also got to see Boo the grizzly during an interpretive tour below us. The top of the mountain is quite different than I was expecting based on my experience with the Jasper gondola, and my understanding of the trails at the Banff gondola. There are four or five hiking trails on top, and despite the description on a third party hiking website of being easy, I found all the trails to be challenging, and mostly outside my comfort zone. The trails are narrow, steep, and have sheer drops in many places. If you are a beginner hiker, or like me, are a little unsure of your balance in high altitudes, perhaps plan a different destination for hiking. I tried all three of the easy/intermediate trails and turned back because I got too nervous - you are literally on the side of a mountain! Despite this, we had a wonderful time visiting Kicking Horse, and I would definitely enjoy a return trip to wine and dine in the restaurant while my husband heads out on the trails with some more adventurous friends.

We stayed here because we were attending a wedding at this resort and this is my first experience with this hotel. Prior to arrival I had asked for an early check-in but did not expect that to be guaranteed as I understand its based on availability. Upon arrival (2pm) I was told a priority had been put on my room and they would text me when it was ready however if I didn't hear it would be ready by the standard check-in time of 4pm. I didn't receive a text so I came back at 4pm. My room was not ready. I was told it would be ready in 10 minutes. I followed up again in 10 minutes as I was told to and was put off 3 more times of '10 minutes' each time which I watched several other people successfully check-in with equivalent rooms. An hour later it was finally ready. This is not exactly what 'priority' means to me. As the normal check-in time was not honored I asked for an hour later check-out time which I think is fair given that I was no longer getting what I paid for. Not only did they not give a late check-out they were rather rude about it and the staff clearly couldn't care less. I pre-paid for this room and as far as I'm concerned, by not honoring their check-in time and doing absolutely nothing about it they are essentially stealing, which is not okay no matter how small an amount. They advertised a price for service and refusing to honor it upon the guests arrival. Once they had my money they clearly had no concerns about doing the right thing. In addition, the room itself was nothing to write home about. The bed was hard, the worst I've ever experienced in any level of hotel or hostel, the couch was hard and saggy, the outdoor patio furniture uncomfortable, and the temperature of the room in the summer with no AC was horrid. Now they are clear this hotel has no AC and actually that isn't the problem here. The problem is that in the rooms there isn't a single air vent so there is zero air circulation in the room. Even with the windows and patio door open there is no air flow unless you use their fans which are so loud I could hear it blowing with ear plugs in. I didn't get any sleep during the 2 nights we were obligated to stay here. The room looked clean but wasn't thoroughly checked as I found clothing from the prior guest in the closet. The crappy room, along with the the terrible customer service, made this one of the worst hotel experiences that I've ever had. There are a lot of nice places to stay in golden. If you have other choices I'd suggest going with those.

If there is fresh snow, and not an Alberta long weekend, this place is the best. Anything you want to find here to push yourself, it's here. The backcountry access and terrain rivals anywhere in the world, if you know what you are doing. The only negative thing about the inbounds terrain is that a lot of the place isn't really fun to ride if it hasn't snowed in a while. All in all, one of the best places on earth to ski/snowboard, with friendly locals.

We are staying at a hotel on the hill called Pallister Lodge, we drove all the way from Calgary and it took about four hours, you have to check in at the main lodge to get your room keys which is called glacier Lodge. I am renting three hotel rooms in Palliser, the room numbers are 103 and 103B and 106. When the staff handed me my room keys she wrote on one room key packet D103 and on the other one P106. When I got in the elevatorFrom the underground parking the options were P or D or L or one or two or three. No P as an option so of course we got off at D and wandered around for ages because there are no hotel rooms on that level. It turns out she should've written L. because all the rooms on the 100 level are on the lobby level. Therefore L. I have no idea why she would write P or d so I asked her later what was up with that because we just wasted a half an hour wandering around aimlessly after a very long arduous difficult drive through the snow. She said P stands for Palliser so I wrote P. But my pen was running out so the one that look like a D was actuallySupposed to be a P. Whatever that is really not helpful whatsoever to people who don't know their way around how am I supposed to know that?. Plus having a hot tub was a huge selling feature for this hotel but guess what it's broken and they have no idea it's probably gonna take a week to fix it. Plus they have a ski boot heater inside the hotel rooms but guess what ours don't work. Plus when we showed up to the room which should have been ready earlier the temperature inside was literally 2°. When the maids are cleaning the rooms why did they move the temperature back to almost freezing? The radiators in these rooms suck and we were freezing all day even though we asked for space heaters. My mother-in-law is also freezing in room 106. So far this is a really bad first impression!

Had fun here...suite was nice, coffee shop was legit, runs were good, was not too impressed w/ the saloon it was more of a 2 or 3 star. I got a deal on Travel Zoo for 3 nights and 2 days of lift tickets for 2 adults. Not sure I'd be down for it at full price. Friendly people and overall a good experience...I plan to be back.

The web site advertised open. Drove two days to get there. This morning the website had "monster powder alert". They got 18 inches. I have skiied 50 years and 18 inches should not shut down a resort and if it did they should not sell tickets. Purchased lift tickets looking for monster powder. Snow was not powder. Solid wet cement. Turns out the only chair open was a very slow beginner chair. We were told at that beginner chair that pioneer chair was open, but gondola was on hold. Huge crowd lined up for non functioning gondola. Pioneer chair was not open. We skiied to it and it was definately not open, and they were obviously struggling to still open it at 11:30. So we paid for adult lift tickets for one ride on a baby chair. Nobody on the staff seened to know what was going on. Ticket sellers and lift ops were unable to give accurate information regarding lift status. Just so you know the services and infrastructure at base is bare minimum. We are here for a week and this place obviously does not have their act together. Should have gone to Revelstoke which is a class act. This is not a destination resort. Probably great upper walls when open for locals but would not risk a trip again.

The mountain is beautiful, the people are friendly and the powder was amazing. The prices can be a little steep though. We went on Christmas day and there was maybe 20 people on the slopes. Great day boarding! However on any other day it can get quite crowded. We've stayed 3 times now at different establishments and there is something to be said for staying on the mountain and just being able to walk to the lifts first thing in the morning. Running up from town takes time but your accomodations are way cheaper.There are also many differents levels of runs for different levels of experience plus a magic carpet ride for the bunny hill, huge bonus over a t-bar!!

Not sure if people think this is the ski hill or the main hotel at the base of the chair lift. I am assuming it is the hotel. Favorite ski hill for out family. We rent the two bedroom units with the loft and will stay for a whole week. It's great for the kids because they can ski a half day and then head in and the runs are long enough to give the adults a nice full day. It's nice to be able to pop in from skiing to grab a hot chocolate or a quick lunch and not have to fight for a table in the lodge. Rooms are comfy and large so you don't feel crammed in. Staff is friendly. Parking can get a little crazy but it is underground and heated so it is worth it.

Went in the summer and had an awesome time seeing Boo the resident grizzly bear. It was my first time ever seeing a bear and I had a blast. Staff is friendly and helpful and I highly recommend for adults and children.