Kicking Horse
Slope Breakdown
Kicking Horse at a glance
Kicking Horse is a ski resort in Canada, part of the Kicking Horse Mountain Resort area. It offers 128 km of slopes served by 5 lifts, with skiing between 1,190 m and 2,450 m (1,260 m vertical). That makes it the 6th largest of the 10 ski resorts in Canada listed on Intski. The season usually runs from December to April. Kicking Horse leans towards strong skiers, with around 60% of the slopes rated expert (black).
Top features of this resort
Snow forecast
About 2 cm of new snow at the top (2,450 m) in the next 3 days, none at the base.
New snow and temperature at the top station. Estimated by Intski from the MET Norway forecast, updated every few hours. Where it snows most this week
Email me when it snows
An alert when 15 cm or more is on the way at Kicking Horse, and a heads-up before it opens.
Getting there & lift pass
Nearest airport
Cranbrook (YXC) — about 208 km from the resort, straight-line distance, allow more by road.
Lift pass
Adult day pass around 185 CAD (2025/26 season). Kicking Horse Mountain Resort day pass, dynamic pricing, usually cheaper booked online in advance.
About €0.91 per km of piste the pass covers (128 km).
Compare lift pass prices at all resortsPrice source, checked 2026-09-14
Kicking Horse resort facts
Difficulty shares from skiresort.info, applied to the area total.
About Kicking Horse
Kicking Horse Mountain Resort sits 6.4 km west of Golden, British Columbia, on the easternmost slope of the Dogtooth Range of the Purcell Mountains, looking out across the Rocky Mountain Trench.
Resort Highlights
Big vertical in the Purcells
Kicking Horse Mountain Resort sits 6.4 km west of Golden, British Columbia, on the easternmost slope of the Dogtooth Range of the Purcell Mountains, looking out across the Rocky Mountain Trench. It takes its name from the nearby Kicking Horse River and Kicking Horse Pass, and its neighbours are national parks: Glacier National Park lies roughly 7 km to the west and Yoho National Park 23 km to the east. This is remote, big-mountain country, and the resort’s statistics reflect it.
1,315 m of vertical on five lifts
The defining number is the vertical drop of 1,315 m, currently the seventh largest of any North American ski resort and the third largest in Canada. The lifts run from 1,190 m to 2,450 m, and that top height is above the altitude at which elevation genuinely helps snow reliability. Across more than 3,486 acres, or just over 14 square kilometres of skiable terrain, the resort has more than 120 trails, which our data expresses as 128 km of pistes.
What is striking is that all of this is served by just five lifts. Five lifts for 128 km is an exceptionally lean ratio, and it shapes the skiing: each lift covers an enormous amount of ground, descents are long, and the mountain rewards skiers who can handle a full top-to-bottom run without needing to stop. There is no published breakdown by difficulty, but off-piste skiing is one of the resort’s two defining features, and a mountain with this much vertical and this few lifts is built for strong skiers who want terrain rather than infrastructure. Beginners and cautious intermediates should expect to spend their time on a limited part of the mountain.
The setting
Scenic views are the other defining feature, and the geography explains why: the resort stands on the edge of the Purcells with the Rocky Mountain Trench spread out below and two national parks within a short drive. Golden, only 6.4 km away, is the practical base for the resort, and the December to April season gives a long window in which to explore terrain that few visitors will cover in a single trip.
Getting there
Calgary is the nearest major airport, roughly 213 km away as the crow flies, so Kicking Horse is a destination that takes some reaching, and one that repays a longer stay for that reason. The season runs from December to April. No official resort website is recorded in our data, so confirm lift openings and passes directly with the resort.
Frequently asked questions about Kicking Horse
1,315 m, which is currently the seventh largest of any North American ski resort and the third largest in Canada. The lifts run from 1,190 m to 2,450 m.
The resort is named after the nearby Kicking Horse River and Kicking Horse Pass.
It spans the easternmost slope of the Dogtooth Range of the Purcell Mountains, overlooking the Rocky Mountain Trench near Golden, British Columbia.
Yes. Glacier National Park is roughly 7 km to the west and Yoho National Park 23 km to the east.
Just five lifts serve more than 120 trails and 128 km of pistes, so each lift covers a great deal of vertical.
Kicking Horse has 128 km of marked slopes: 26 km easy (blue), 26 km intermediate (red), 76 km expert (black), served by 5 ski lifts.
The skiing in Kicking Horse ranges from 1,190 m at the base to 2,450 m at the top — a vertical drop of 1,260 m.
The ski season in Kicking Horse typically runs from December to April. Exact opening dates vary by year and snow conditions.
Kicking Horse is better suited to confident skiers — only around 20% of the slopes are rated easy.
Kicking Horse has 76 km of expert (black) slopes — about 60% of the total. It is also known for its off-piste terrain.
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