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Golden Credentials

  • Golden sits in the middle of the highest concentration of National Parks in the world: 5 parks within 1.5 hours drive, with a 6th only 2 hours away.
  • Golden and Kicking Horse Country is home to the highest concentration of Powder Providers (including ski resorts, backcountry touring huts, helicopter and cat-skiing operations, and snowmobile outfitters) in the world. Count with us:
    • Average of 10 m(32ft) of fantastic champagne powder in surrounding 3 mountain ranges – Purcells, Selkirks and Rockies
    • The birthplace of Heli skiing, The Bugaboos, is in our backyard
    • 4 Heli skiing operators
    • 1 cat skiing operator
    • More than 20 backcountry lodges with great ski touring terrain – the highest concentration of backcountry lodges in North America
    • Famous Rogers Pass, ski touring capital of the world, is only 78 km from Golden
    • 11 snowmobiling areas
    • 4 snowmobile guiding outfitters
    • Direct access to numerous peaks and valleys of ski touring slackcountry from Kicking Horse Mountain Resort, just 15min drive from downtown Golden
    • Legendary Kicking Horse Mountain Resort with its quality powder and astounding vertical
  • Canada’s highest concentration of world-class ski resorts can be day-tripped from Golden. Kicking Horse Mountain Resort is only 15 min. from downtown, and 4 other resorts are within a 1.5 - 2 hour drive: Lake Louise, Sunshine, Revelstoke and Panorama.
  • KHMR has the highest elevation of any ski resort in BC. The summit sits at 2450m / 8,033’.
  • Heli skiing was born in the mountains near Golden, BC in 1965. Hans Gmoser pioneered the first ever commercial heli skiing in the Purcell Mountains' Bugaboo Range. Thus Canadian Mountain Holidays (CMH) was born. Just 8 year later Golden had its own heli skiing company. Today there are 4 heli skiing and one cat skiing operators guiding guests in the mountains around Golden, BC.
  • Golden is the only town in BC that sits on the confluence of a Canadian Heritage River (Kicking Horse River) and a BC Heritage River (Columbia River). In fact, Kicking Horse River is the first BC river classified as a Canadian Heritage River.
  • Kicking Horse Pedestrian Bridge spans the river of the same name at 46m / 151’ across. It’s the longest freestanding timber frame pedestrian bridge in Canada.
  • Kicking Horse River is one of the wildest and fastest whitewater rafting rivers in Canada. Deep canyons and amazing scenery make this river a jewel among Canadian rivers and also one of the most utilized whitewater rafting rivers in Canada.
  • The Columbia Wetlands, which extend for 180 km, are on the Ramsar List of Wetlands of International Importance. The area is the largest wetland of its kind in British Columbia. The wetlands comprise a regionally unparalleled diversity of 16 habitats and shelters around 216 species. It has the second largest population of great blue herons in western Canada.
  • Golden hosted the longest singletrack downhill mountain bike race in the world (Psychosis). The race may be a thing of the past, but the trail still beckons.
  • Mount 7 is Canada's premier launch pad for paragliding and hand gliding (considered within the world's Top 5) – 1,219m / 4,000’ above the valley floor. Eight world records (including a 325km hang gliding flight) and all Canadian records (including a 128km tandem paragliding flight) for distance and time have been set from the launch at Mount 7.
  • KHMR has the largest grizzly bear refuge in the world. Boo, a cub orphaned by a poacher, has been a resident since 2003.
  • Kicking Horse Bike Park has the highest elevation and longest vertical of any bike park in Canada. The Golden Eagle Eye Express gondola takes bikers to 2347m / 7700’ for an astounding 1128m / 3700' descent.
  • KHMR has the highest restaurant in Canada, The Eagle’s Eye, at 2347m / 7700’ with astounding panoramic views of the Canadian Rockies, the Purcells, and on a clear day, the peaks of the highest Selkirks. The experience is atmospheric, the prices are earthy.
  • Golden has the only place in Canada where visitors can walk with wolves, in a natural Rocky Mountain setting, and discover the truth behind the mystery of these marvelous animals.
  • Nearby Glacier National Park is the acknowledged birthplace of North American mountaineering. Recreational mountaineering began here in 1888 when two British mountaineers first scaled previously untouched Selkirk peaks. Eleven years later, the CPR imported Swiss mountain guides to lead paying clients up the majestic heights.
  • Golden is home to Edelweiss (Swiss Village) where the CPR built homes for the Swiss Guides and their families in 1911. This village provided a base for the now-famous Canadian Alpine Club which, in turn, drew many more guides from Switzerland in the following years. Today the village still houses Golden residents.
  • Golden Backcountry Recreation Access Plan – as BC’s first, this was an unprecedented effort by local interest groups to share and promote 9,000 square kms of backcountry adjacent to Golden.
  • Golden became the 2nd Fair Trade Town in BC, and 5th in Canada. Fair Trade Towns are communities that officially promote Fair Trade products and have met a variety of criteria related to consumption of those products, public education, and municipal commitment.