I flew in early December 2013 to the Kootenay Range in British Columbia after 26″ of new powder snow fell. It was cold (-14F!), calm, clear and sunny. The early season powder was great. The people in Nelson, BC were the friendliest of any town I have ever been to. Men were strapping, the women slim, attractive and stylish despite the cold weather gear. Lots of families and young kids. Great town, good food, nice ski shops.
I had originally arranged to stay at Wildhorse Lodge http://www.backcountryskilodge.com/ run by Trevor Holsworth and made plans to travel to British Columbia Canada from Hawaii based on Trevor’s promises. Unfortunately after I arrived Trevor says, “Sorry my plans changed, you can’t go in. I don’t feel comfortable having you back there alone.” What? Too bad he didn’t mention that before I flew from Hawaii. Pretty flaky! Some of the locals were talking about his unreliability. Last year when we went in, he had a flashlight strapped to the snow machine, and he dumped the cat in a ditch stranding us and another group until late at night.
So plan B was to ski some Whitewater area backcountry lines and stay in Ymir and Nelson hotels. So things worked out well, even though not as planned.