Canada Trip!

A few months back Chris and I went to the Snowlander Expo/Powder Keg Brew Fest at the Spokane Convention Center. It's the perfect mix of local brews and winter sports information and gear. With admission, we got free lift tickets to Red Mountain in Rossland, BC. We figured since we had the tickets, we'd plan a weekend trip to Canada for some great skiing! We booked the hotel early and counted down the days...

When the day of our trip finally came, we weren't sure if the mountain was even open yet. They hadn't posted an update on their website, but since the hotel was locked in we decided to go anyway. There was always the Ainsworth Hot Springs if skiing wasn't an option. We loaded up the car with all of our gear, made sure we had some music and, of course, our passports, and headed out. Now it was on-wards to the border! After a nice drive up US-395 we arrived at the border only to be interrogated by the Canadian border patrol agent. In a stern tone and in rapid succession, he asked us about nearly every detail of our lives. I thought we had passed his test, but he asked us to pull into the lot so he could search the vehicle. Two agents came out and looked through every nook and cranny with a fine-toothed comb. A good ten or fifteen minutes later, they seemed satisfied that we weren't doing anything illegal and let us continue on.

The day was beautiful and sunny and we went straight up to Red Mountain, hoping that they might possibly be open. Turns out only the T-bar was open, but snow was expected later that day/night. We decided to head to the hot springs and pray to the snow gods that the mountain would open the next day.

The mountain passes were foggy but breath-taking on the drive away from Red, and we had fun driving on the snowy roads. We were passing through Nelson on the way to the hot springs, and saw a charming shopping area that ran up and down Baker St. We wanted to stretch our legs so we walked around and checked out a bunch of the local shops. We were pleasantly surprised with the number of local bike shops!

Driving on Highway 3B

The rest of the drive to Ainsworth included a short stop at a nice little stream, and some unintentional off-roading (due to an outdated GPS), but we arrived at the hot spring in time for lunch. The hotel and hot springs are situated between Kokanee Glacier Provincial Park and Kootenay Lake, so the view from the restaurant on the top floor was beautiful. For lunch, the waiter's hilarious description of the day's special helped me quickly decide what to order... In a slow and sophisticated voice, "You see, what they've done is they've taken a bacon cheeseburger and crumbled it into a dish of macaroni and cheese." That paired with a delicious beer brewed by the Nelson Brewing Company, made for a great lunch. The hot springs were clean, well maintained, and incredibly relaxing. We spent some time in the cave and even went in the freezing ice bath before going back to the restaurant to try another amazing Nelson beer.

Stretching our legs a bit

Restaurant at the Ainsworth Hot Springs

View of Kootenay Lake

Chris, nice and relaxed after being in the hot springs

We got back to Rossland in the early evening and decided to check into the hotel before finding a place for dinner. It was a good thing too, since the hotel owners invited us to their annual Christmas party that they throw for select local residents! Once we settled into the room we went over to the party. The food was authentic Indian cuisine, and it was FANTASTIC! Everyone was extremely friendly, we met some great people (hi to Dave, Karen, Leann, and Grant!), and we had a really good time. Hopefully we'll be able to make it back next year!

During the party, it had started snowing pretty heavily, so we had high hopes for Red Mountain the next day. Afterward, we relaxed in the room for a bit and played a game of Monopoly (which I won!) before turning in for the night.

In the morning, we woke up to a power outage! We had to shower in a dark bathroom, then had no wifi to check the status of the mountain. After a quick breakfast, we checked out, brushed some snow off the car, and went up for some (potential) skiing. It turned out that even with all the snow, they still only had the magic carpet and T-bar open. We were already there and wanted to at least get some skiing in, so we went for it! Neither of us had ever ridden a T-bar on skis before, so it took once or twice to really get used to it. We didn't spend a ton of time on the slope since only one run was open, but it felt great to be skiing again.

Red Mountain

Getting ready!

Look at that view!

Peter and Chris

After skiing, we went into Rossland to check out the town a bit. We walked up and down Columbia Ave., and went into local coffee shop for a quick pick-me-up before going home. The drive home was fast and uneventful and we had no issues at the border this time!

I definitely can't wait to go back up next winter!