When winter comes knocking at the door the only sensible thing to do is to head to the Rocky Mountains, where adventure is waiting for you around every curve of the skin track. The snow is sugary powder, the ice is blue and the mountains are beautiful, big and in your face. The area surrounding Golden is the perfect winter playground where you can ice climb one day, ski big backcountry mountain lines the next and then head for a fun day at the ski resort.

The Now and the Future

Golden is sandwiched between two impressive mountain ranges, so there’s no doubt that amazing Alpine trail running is a “thing...” and only getting better.

The current alpine running options are primarily focused in the Purcell Mountains, to the west of Golden and based from Kicking Horse Mountain Resort.  The resort does not currently permit “uphill traffic” during summer operations on the resort trails for safety reasons (downhill mountain bikers and a grizzly bear refuge) so you can access the alpine with a quick gondola ride.

Kicking Horse is known for many things – its title as ‘the Champagne Powder Capital of Canada’, its abundance of varied terrain, its-easy-to-get-to location, its laid back charm. Even though this winter hasn’t brought the volume of snow we’re normally used to, the conditions here are still better than most everywhere else -- in the West at least.