Red Mountain, British Columbia

Red Mountain is in interior BC just over the US border near the town of Rossland.  This resort is known for steep technical terrain and a large vertical drop across 2 peaks.

Stats

Real Vertical ?	2,919′, Rank: 27
Size	3,850 Acres, Rank: 11
Annual Snowfall ?	300″ claimed / 274″ actual, Rank: 62
Ski Pods ?	6, Rank: 47
Distinct Trails ?	119, Rank: 25
Review Date	January 2011 and January 2023
Number of visits	3
Our Rating	★★★
Resort website	https://www.redresort.com

Red Mountain Review

I first visited RED (they capitalize it) in 2011 during a very good snow year when I did one day at the resort and one at Big Red Cats guided snowcat skiing.  That was the best cat skiing experience I ever had.  It’s one of the largest snowcat skiing operations in the world at over 20,000 acres.

The second day of that trip was over at RED skiing the resort, but it took us another 12 years to get back there for the project so AiRung could ski it.  Both trips were in January, and both featured some icy conditions on the lower half of the mountain after a rain event and re-freeze.  On the recent trip we encountered actual falling rain at the base while skiing.  Still the snow on the upper half was very good and powdery both times.

Big Red Cats

I won’t spend a lot of time on this since the project is focused on resort skiing, but if you can swing it and like skiing powder, you really should try the snowcat skiing.  It’s out of this world skiing deep untracked powder all day and is one of the most memorable experiences of my skiing life.  Back in 2011 they had last minute spare seat tickets available for $150 / day!  Unreal, and I know they don’t do it for that price any more, but you might want to give them a call the night before to see if anything is available for the next day.

RED Resort

The first day we skied featured the top 3/4 of the mountain in fog with some light rain at the bottom.  We took the mountain tour and signed up for the advanced group.  This turned out to be a mistake because we overestimated our ability to ski a new, huge mountain in deep fog trying to follow an advanced guide.  We had no idea where we were and had trouble keeping up with the guide. Kudos for the resort having 3 different levels of free tours though!

This points out a frequent issue there there which is what we heard locals call the “Kootenay Fog”.  I could write it off to bad luck (both in 2011 and 2023), but I was looking at the webcams in the weeks leading up to the trip and it was the same most days.  I think mid February to mid March would be the best time to visit to avoid fog and still find cold enough conditions but that’s just a guess.

Paradise

The most used part of the mountain seems to be the Paradise triple chair.  This is a 1,200 vertical drop zone of mostly intermediate terrain.  This is where they do a lot of grooming for consistent cruising.  We briefly sampled the trees on the upper half where the snow was in good shape.

Mother Lode / Granite Mountain

This is the upper front-side main lift.  It’s another fixed-grip triple straight up the steep part of the mountain for a massive 2,400 vertical drop.  When conditions are good, this will be a really fun zone which we would spend more time on, but with the icy conditions off-piste we stuck to the one steep groomer “Main Run” from “Buffalo Ridge”.  This makes a great top-to-bottom run all the way to the base.  Steep, winding, and interesting, this was our favorite run on the mountain.  This lift also serves the steep chutes and open terrain off the ridge on looker’s right.  The only thing we were brave enough to try was the only single-black trail in that zone “Beer Belly”.  Really fun stuff and under the right conditions this would be some of the best steep skiing anywhere.

Grey Mountain

This is the newest peak that was added to the resort after my first trip in 2011.  Yet another fixed-grip chair takes you up about 2,000 vertical to some more accessible advanced/expert terrain.  This would be the best powder skiing on a deep day.  The map makes it look like it’s mostly an intermediate zone, but it doesn’t really ski that way other than the excellent “Get Up Stand Up” and “Cory’s Run”.  The rest is pretty steep fall-line skiing under the chair, plus another large double-black zone on looker’s right of the ridge.

Any of the intermediate runs feed into canyons that take you back to the lift on a long / fairly easy slope.  It’s not ideal for intermediate skiers looking for consistent pitch and turns, but it is interesting and fun.  We also sampled the advanced runs which were pretty bumped up.

Topping Creek

We didn’t spend much time in this zone because it’s low-intermediate at best, and only about 1,000 vertical feet, but it is great for the average skier and pretty much everything was groomed.  It’s a good choice on a foggy day because it’s often below the fog line according to the mountain host we talked to.

Silverlode

Silverlode is the main chair out of the base area and serves beginner and low-intermediate terrain.  There were a lot of kids and families skiing there but for us it was not a ski pod that we would lap with only 700 feet of vertical.

Red Mountain

The last peak and namesake for the resort is served by the Red chair, which is an old double with a significant 1,400 vertical.  These are all steep runs and in the fog it was a little spooky at the top, but they groom at least one run from the top and it’s pretty fun for a couple of laps.  This is all fairly low elevation though, so the off-piste won’t necessarily be that great much of the time.

Food

We encountered pretty standard ski resort food at both of the places we tried:  Rafters Bar and the Paradise Lodge.  It was a rare event for us to eat at a mid-mountain lodge but Paradise was pretty decent with good variety.  Still, I’d probably go to Rafters.  There are also upscale choices at the hotel that we didn’t try.

The good

• Large resort experience with plenty of variety for multiple days and different abilities
• Snowcat skiing operation right out of the base area of the resort
• Plenty of challenge when conditions are right
• Along with Schweitzer, these are the 2 biggest resorts in the inland Pacific Northwest
• Pretty decent grooming
• Uncrowded

The bad

• Frequent fog on the upper mountain and some rain impacts on the lower
• For a resort this size some high-speed lifts would be nice
• A couple more steep groomers would help on days when the off-piste conditions are not great.

The bottom line

This is a pretty decent resort with a lot going for it including a large vertical drop and plenty of challenge.  High-speed lifts are missing but this is not a major issue for us.  Rain, fog, and refreezing seem to be an issue as it is with every inland PNW resort we’ve been to.  Because of snow quality and general weather conditions we give it 3 stars instead of 4, but it’s definitely worth a visit.  We recommend combining it with nearby Whitewater for the best overall vacation experience.