Local Winter Getaway Guide: Backcountry Bliss and Pristine Powder Await in the Kootenay Rockies

“It’s just like an airline flight safety briefing.” I’ve buckled a seatbelt hundreds of times. But poking a long collapsible probe into deep snow at the urging of Andy Cole, guiding manager at Big Red Cats? This is new. Probing powder and learning how to operate my beacon are necessary parts of the avalanche training protocol I need to know before setting foot into the gleaming red snowcat that is our heated mobile home for the day.

The bluebird skies and plentiful powder snow conditions are perfect for my off-piste backcountry ski adventure with Big Red Cats, one of the largest cat ski operations in the world. Located about 30 minutes north of Rossland, B.C., the outfit has been ferrying intermediate to expert skiers and riders into this Kootenay Rockies powder paradise for more than 20 years.

Big Red Cats covers some mighty big terrain: eight mountains with 700-plus named runs accessed by 220 kilometres of snowcat roads spread over 20,000 acres. Fun fact: it would take about two years to ski it all.

My goal is to simply get down the mountain without faceplanting in (and digging my way out of) the deep snow. As a solid intermediate skier, I’m nervous, wondering if I’m up to the challenge. Powder skiing is different from the comfortable corduroy carving at Red Mountain Resort, just a few klicks south. I need to float above the powder and adjust my stance, speed and turns to glide through the snow-covered glades and down the mountain.

Fortunately, Big Red Cats welcomes skiers like me, and safety is always top of mind. With a full-time snow safety team and certified guides, like no-nonsense New Zealander Cole with Frenchwoman Charlotte Poulin-Rodrigue bringing up the rear of our group, I’m in trusted hands.

Poulin-Rodrigue gives me a quick pep talk before following me down through the glades with gentle encouragement. I take up her challenge to carve my own line in the deep powder, feeling the incomparable exhilaration of floating above it all before completing the run (upright and grinning) to the cheers of the group.

In the heated cab, laughter rises above the cat’s rumble. We sip steaming cups of miso soup as driver Adam Whitehead slowly moves us further into the backcountry. The mountains have called and I’ve answered, impressed by the legendary terrain and the unforgettable alpine adventure.

Cat skiing adventures with Big Red Cats start at $659 per day during peak season. From YVR, fly into Trail or Castlegar via Pacific Coastal Airlines or Air Canada. Stay in Rossland at the Josie Hotel, Big Red Lodge or Red Shutter Inn.