Fernie & Kicking Horse Reader Holiday – Part 4
Saved By The Bell - Part 4
As I clung to the side of the mountain in the Canadian resort of Kicking Horse I could hear someone shouting, “Yup, the ski is still hurtling down.” I’d just taken a tumble along a narrow ridge leading to a seriously steep chute that our guide Steve Fisk was planning to take us to and in the process my ski had popped off. [caption id="attachment_757" align="aligncenter" width="480" caption="Kicking Horse awaits"]
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Hmm, it was a worrying moment. I knew that it was a steep descent but I didn’t quite know how steep. All I did know was despite trying to dig in it felt as if I would slip down at any moment. And I wasn’t able to pull myself up and back on to the path.
[/caption] In my group were seven readers of Daily Mail Ski & Snowboard, on one of the holidays the magazine organises – this one a road trip around some of Canada’s finest resorts. Part of the appeal of the holidays is that on some of them you get the chance to ski with ex Olympic skier, and the magazine’s equipment editor, Martin Bell. I was very glad Martin was in this particularly group because seeing my predicament he raced down, lent over the side of the edge, grabbed my jacket and with sheer brute force managed to yank me back on to the path. [caption id="attachment_760" align="aligncenter" width="480" caption="Enjoying the Horse"]
[/caption]It was a relief to be off the edge but now, of course, I only had one ski. Steve asked me my boot size and then gallantly gave me his skis after adjusting the bindings. He then headed down the steep descent on my one ski, still managing to arc graceful turns, and regrouped where my other ski had come to a halt. The only positive to this experience was that once the ski was retrieved we ended up skiing down a powder choked slope that we would otherwise have missed. So there really was a silver lining to this particular cloud. It was quite a contrast to the previous day in the nearby resort of Panorama where we spent most of the day racing down groomers and weaving down gentler mogul fields. Tomorrow we are due to bag yet another lesser known resort, Revelstoke, which has the most vertical of any resort in North America. Bring it on.