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The Kootenays’ Whitewater: Up in Cold Smoke

Posted on 01. Mar, 2010 by Dave Quinn in BC

What is cold as ice, yet warms you to the core?

The answer is cold smoke – that white, light, powder snow that falls free all winter long across much of British Columbia, but that’s especially abundant here in the Kootenays.

Nelson's backcountry Cold Smoke Powderfest comes as Whitewater contemplates future ideas for expansion, including plans to expand into critical habitat for the south Selkirk endangered mountain caribou herd. Courtesy Whitewater

Cold smoke. Trailing behind your skis like dust on a summer logging road.

Snorkel-deep on blower days, fresh, light-as-air Kootenay powder has the elevating power to jar relationships, disrupt promising careers and turn fine upstanding citizens into disreputable ski bums. Given that one ski run in cold smoke is enough to change a life, perhaps it’s no wonder that the unrivalled lightness of skiing in the Kootenays has attracted an entire tribe of skidonists – a community where lives revolve around mountains and the need to shred.

Heads up: The good news for newbies is that the cold-smoke scene is the focus of the 4th annual Cold Smoke Powderfest, leaving tracks March 5 to 8 at Nelson’s Whitewater Resort. And with a full slate of clinics – from an Introduction to Freeheel (Telemark) to Steeps in the Backcountry and Advanced Touring Ski and Avalanche Awareness Clinics – there is something for everyone: from the polypro-clad, bearded backcountry tele-rats to the Ditrani-guilded gondola queens who’ve been eying the backcountry.

Plus: the Cold Shot Foto Face Off promises to bring some of the best ski-culture photographers together for a visual orgy of skidonism, a poker run, banked slalom, slopestyle, randonee rally and annual Cold Smoke King and Queen contests.

The good news for newbies is that the cold-smoke scene is the focus of the 4th annual Cold Smoke Powderfest, leaving tracks March 5 to 8 at Nelson’s Whitewater Resort.Courtesy Ralph Grant

Environment alert: Nelson’s backcountry fest comes as Whitewater contemplates future ideas for expansion, including plans to expand into critical habitat for the south Selkirk endangered mountain caribou herd. These critters embody the essence of wild winter backcountry mojo, and indeed help define what the Kootenays are all about. But less than 50 mountain caribou remain in the Selkirks and every kilometre of remaining habitat is critical. So if you bump into event organizers, please ask them to pass on a request to the owners to confine the resort expansion plans to already-impacted Apex Creek and to keep out of pristine Qua Creek. Part of any backcountry fest should entail protecting the backcountry. Caribou love cold smoke, too!

Lead photo courtesy Brian Sproule

Tags: Endangered South Selkirk Cariboo, Environment & Sustainability, Top B.C. Winter Ski Festivals, Whitewater Cold Smoke Powderfest