It has been quite a ride. Wife Lori built the beautiful  lodge  in only one year opening May 1 2004. We have welcomed guests from around the world for the past 21 years and have seen it all. A book is in the making.
Now it is time to pass the torch and the start of a new era. Jeremy Leonard CEO of Canada Pump and Power along with wife Carol are the proud new owners. For us, we won't be far away. Anyone have a couch we can crash on? I am sure we will be showing up regularly for 5pm wine with our friends who have been staying with us over the years. But now we won't have to go to bed early to make sure we are ok for doing breakfast.  Yes a new chapter  begins for this amazing place.

Another winter season has come to an end.  This was our 21st.  Hard to believe it has gone so quickly.  As a friend told me "life is like a roll of toilet paper.  It goes by a lot quicker as you get to the end." 
It was a not the best ski season.  It probably was the worst  we have had, with warmer weather at times taking a toll on the snow conditions.  But at the end of the day, we had some great guests and had some fun times. 
Our last day for skiing was April 13th and along with son Kori and his wife Elaine and friend Patrick we had to finish on a high.  And there is no better high than on a sunny, warm spring day to climb to the top of T2.  And it was worth it.  The top was a bit more challenging with a crust you had to break through but a we got closer to the bottom it was warmer and the snow became softer with a few cms of spring snow.   A great way to finish off  the season.
Vagabond will be reopening for business in June. 

I certainly haven't been exploring off piste this winter as in the past.  Snow conditions are so varied at times and temperatures have been fluctuating so much.  It can range from +15 C to -10C  in a  matter of days which makes for some interesting snow pack. Plus with the warmer temperatures we had a month or so again  made the avalanche hazard very high. 
But March 31 we had a great window to get off the beaten track and do some adventuring.  The top part was starting to warm up with the sunshine, then the middle was very nice with softer snow and deeper and then as we got lower there was a definite crust underneath which made for some tricky skiing.  But it was all good and so nice to do it again. 
We have a couple more weeks of this.   And the weather forecast calls for some more moisture which is great.
Vagabond is closed for this winter already but we will be reopening for the summer season in June.  You can book direct from the website for the best rate and if you are planning to come next winter we are not changing our rates yet.  So book next winter for this season's rates. 

It has been a wild ride this winter for weather.  Cold, rain, cold, snow, snow, snow and now spring in middle of March with temperatures in the mid teens for a couple days.  And it looks like snow and cooler temperatures next week. 
Overall for Vagabond Lodge it has been a good year for guests.  Mostly return from around the world and a few from Canada.  Very enjoyable bunch.
Our last guests leave March 23.    The resort will stay open until April 14 but it gives us a chance to visit with friends and neighbours before some take off and also a chance for us to take a deep breath after our 21st winter.  Crazy to think out quickly it has gone by.
But before we know it, summer will be here and reopening for our guests again in June.
There are so many things to do in our backyard.  One of our favourite thing to do is mountain biking.  And you don't have to put your body on the line and tackle single track.  Been there, done that.  I love to enjoy the scenery instead of looking a metre ahead. 
 There are a variety of old logging roads that take you to some amazing sites.   If you see another soul, you are lucky.  Video is from one of our favourite bike rides in our area not far from Golden.

After a great week of snow with over a metre of fresh powder to play in, we got nice beautiful blue bird sky days. 
I don't do this often enough but along with friend Patrick we did some touring up to Rudy's Bowl which is to the North of the resort.  The access is pretty easy.  It involves going to the top of the Stairway to Heaven Chair and then down into Fuez Bowl.  From there you basically traverse out of bounds. 
At that point we put on our skins and then toured up to the top which was a very pleasant hour and a half. The views are stunning and the snow was nice powder. 
The weather has stayed nice and cool  which meant the snow wasn't setting up. 
The ski down was about half an hour back to the base of the resort.
It is something I will do more often. 

It has been quite the last 10 days or so here at Vagabond Lodge.  In the 21 winters we have been here I would have to say, the most snow in a short period of time.  Well over a metre.  We got away lucky as some of the resorts in the area got hit by rain like Fernie but not here. 
Pretty busy time here at Vagabond as well as the resort with a lot of Aussies which are great.  Some  are return guests for the past almost 20 years. 
Video is from a few days ago with friend Patrick .
Vagabond is winding down its season with last guests in a couple weeks.

Wow.  Has this been a long wait for great powder skiing at Vagabond.  It hasn't been the best of year for snow conditions.  Really warm weather and some rain did a number of the slopes earlier and it was not recovering very quickly. We needed a good dump to bind with the hard packed surface.  A few cms now and then didn't do much.   And family day weekend recently it was the busiest it has been all winter which meant any new snow got skied off quickly. 
But that has all changed with over 90 cms in the past week.  And for only the second time this season along with friend Patrick we did some exploring off piste.  And it didn't disappoint.
Snow continues to fall which means we should have a great finale to the season. 
Video is from February 27th. 

We have an amazing playground here at Vagabond Lodge.  This area is where heliskiing started and is still a big part of the tourism industry in our area.  A lot of the terrain we ski on here at Kicking Horse used to be heliskiing terrain.  The first time I heliskied was one some runs that now are part of Kicking Horse.
We have two companies that operate close by.  CMH is the big one with operations scattered all through this area.  Great Canadian is another one that is about a 45 minute drive away.
Regular guests from Switzerland MIscha and Andy just got back from Great Canadian and they said it was outstanding, despite not having the best snowpack this year.
They supplied this video from a few days ago and it looks pretty sweet.
If this is on your bucket list, check out both these operations or give us a call and we can set you up.

Hard to believe it took almost to the end of January for our first hike to T2 at Kicking Horse Resort.  Usually at this time of the year we have been going daily for the past month.  The resort opened T2 a couple days ago and along with friend Patrick we had to do it for no other reason then to find out whether or not we could still do it.
I must admit, it seemed a lot harder.  But I will blame  it on the condition of the hike.  Since it was the first day, the trail wasn't packed down very well.   It is easy to step off the path and down you go into wait-deep snow.  The ski down was not that pretty as the knees were sore already.  We need to do this a few more time for sure.
The weather has changed for the worse for the next few days with warm temperatures  and rain.   It looks like next week the temperatures are due to drop and snow, instead of rain. But it is what it is.

Despite all the story lines I have been seeing on the internet in the past month regarding lack of snow at resorts in Canada, the best skiing starts now. 
That is usually the case and this is our 21st winter at Kicking Horse Resort.  Sure sometimes you get a great early snowfall which is nice over Christmas but historically it seems it is combined with really cold temperatures. I normally don't get serious about skiing until now and now we have some nice snow. 
Over the past couple days Kicking Horse has received about 30cm of champagne powder.  And that is what it is.  So light and fluffy you don't even know it's under foot.  
There are still a lot of small shrubs sticking up on the lower slopes you need to pick your way around.  No question Kicking Horse needs to do a better job of their summer grooming.  A lot of those runs could be used by now.  Hopefully this year is an eye opener for next year.  There is no guarantee of a lot of early snow and this year is an indiction of that.
But still some great skiing now and looking forward to start doing some hiking up to T1 and T2 soon.  Short video is from this morning at Vagabond Lodge.