A lot to choose from at Kimberley
B.C. resort’s treed area has experts stoked while newbies have space to learn
There are some resorts in Western Canada where you know what you’re getting as soon as you pull up to the base area.
Kimberley Alpine Resort is not one of them.
To be clear, the base area has everything you’d expect from a world-class resort. There’s ski inand-out lodging, dining options and all the amenities a skier or snowboarder could want.
But a recent day at Kimberley served up a reminder that there’s a lot more than initially meets the eye. Head up over into the backside, and suddenly you’re ripping through acres upon acres of terrain.
Matt Mosteller, the senior vicepresident of marketing and resort experience at Resorts of the Canadian Rockies, which owns Kimberley, tried to explain the sensation that greets so many skiers and snowboarders when they realize just how much there is to discover.
“There’s just so much,” Mosteller said. “If you took a span of a big mountain and then threw in perfectly spaced trees across thousands of acres … you’ve got a lot to choose from.
“I take many different backgrounds of skiing abilities, and the experts are stoked, they’ve got lots to do. And then the newcomers, too.”
The highlight of Kimberley for most experienced skiers is the massive treed area that provides countless options to get from the top of the mountain to the bottom.
That treed area is a source of pride at the B.C. resort. While lots of resorts have wooded terrain, the folks at Kimberley have gone out of their way to make sure there are runs that work for both the most expert skiers and snowboarders, and those who are slowly but surely thinking about trying to ski between trees for the first time.
PERFECT POWDER DAYS
“We have those perfect powder days and when you want to go treeskiing, it’s sort of for people who have never tree-skied,” Mosteller said. “With the graded (terrain), what it means is basically it’s spaced appropriately for skiing in between, so there’s lots of area before the next tree.
“So you can ski in that powder without worrying if you’re going to get through there. It’s really a treat to ski in areas.”
For expert and advanced skiers, though, it’s not just tree-skiing on the backside, either. Kimberley boasts a wide array of steep, fallline blacks runs that rival similar runs at any other resort in the country.
And while highlighting all that challenging terrain is really the point of this feature, it’s also worth noting that Kimberley’s familyfriendly reputation is well-earned.
Not only does the resort boast dozens of long, winding blue runs, it also features a learning area that’s’ specifically designed to make newcomers to the sport feeling safe as they find their feet on skis and snowboards.
“It’s got one of the biggest learning areas, and what families love is that it’s isolated,” Mosteller said. “You’ve got a private learning area with a t-bar and a magic carpet and you’re not having traffic flying through there.”