There is a quiet country to the north that exists only as Gnarnia in the day dreams of us lower 48'ers. A mythical land where the only thing deeper than the snowpack is their collection of Bryan Adams CDs (Yes, CD's , When was the last time someone ever bought a CD?). Just the mention of the word, Canada, brings powder worshipers to their knees in reverence.

However, due to the ever popularity of Alaska on the silver screen, the pilgrimage to Canada may seem like a Muslim going to New York City, but the with so much terrain and snow, you can damn well be sure you'll feel right at home just across the border, I know I did.

It started as a rumor in August which matured to a semi-flaccid-concrete date by December. The plan was to head to somewhere in Canada at some point in late February. Yes, we could of used some commitment -Viagra but having open options is good too. As winter rolled around the bottle finally fell on Kicking Horse, but with one-small-minor-itty-bitty-kind-of-gritty detail, the snow was all south, like way south. Due to "The Nino" our group of 10 or more soon dwindle to just two. Despite the lack of coverage, and due to the fact that we were already in the area, we decided to continue as scheduled hoping our dream of the Great White North would live to fruition. And it did, in a way we would never expect....

It could have been all the miles of driving, it could have been all the beer and skiing or the beer skiing while driving, but one thing is for sure, I wound ass end up in one of the sickest set ups ever to grace the slopes. The details are hazy, but somewhere down the road we hooked up with a fellow from Bramble Ski. Bramble Ski basically rents houses to skiers and then cooks ridiculous meals, and forces booze and fun down your throat in a way that you'll be begging for more. They are basically in the business of catering, catering to sweet awesomeness. And I am not just talking about food, if you need a guide, they'll be there, if you want to go out, they'll be your wing man, if you want a sausage egg-McMuffin at 3am, they'll slap you in the face for wanting McDonalds and then cook you the best damn concoction of egg, cheese and pig meat you've ever had. Basically they specialize in making sure your stoke meter is off the charts at all times. They supplied us with so much liquor, beer and food I gained 10 pounds and passed out just by looking at it. Hot tubs, saunas, slope side, this place has it all, and if you go with 10 or more friends it costs the same as staying at the Motel Six by yourself. If you are going to Canada, or any of their other locations, give them a shout, you won't regret it.

Now despite all the awesomeness happening at the house, even with the lack of snow, there was still a lot of awesomeness in the form of chalky consolidated snow. Seriously, it hadn't snowed in weeks, and all the sidecountry was still better than most resorts on a good day. Shots like the Toilet Bowl and Terminator Peak offered great slackcountry skiing, and the amount of terrain accessed from the resort makes Jackson Hole look like a toddler with its head stuck between the crib bars.

Was it as good as we had hoped? Best skiing without powder I have ever had. Was it worth the drive? Is a frog's ass water tight? You know a place is awesome when on its worse days it still skis fun. Kicking Horse has the steeps, the terrain, the access, and the people to make it the place to go on your winter pilgrimage. And to somehow go from living in a van to living it up, my only regret is that our 8 other friends would have migrated north with us. When your constantly in search of pow sometimes it's easy to forget that the experiences beyond the slopes can be just as good if not better than the ones on the slopes.