Rossland, BC, is the place to be!

Mar 18, 2009

Author: Roberta Rodger

Home to Big Red Cats and Red Mountain, a resort known for it’s easily accessible and limitless backcountry terrain, I set out with photographer Brian Hockenstein and riders Meghann O’Brien, Raewyn Reid, Colleen Quigley, and Marie Hucal to Rossland, BC for a travel feature in next season's Snowboard Canada Women’s Annual.

We made the seven-and-a-half hour drive out to the interior in sweet SUVs from Avis and stayed in plush on hill accommodations at Slalom Creek for 2 days riding Big Red Cats and 3 days riding Red Mountain toured around by local riper Lindsay Scott and Betty Go Hard founder Natasha Lockey. We couldn’t have timed it better with epic snow conditions, a few sunny days and a crew that was hard working, motivated and creative. We hit up all types of terrain from, powder slashes, cliffs, cornices, tranny finders, wood jibs, bomb drops, and even made ourselves a nice little QP!

We spent most of days riding till almost 7:30 at night so we didn’t get to explore the local scene as much as we wanted but from the people we met on hill and the time we spent jibbing around Rossland we got a real sense of the local vibe and community. Like all small towns the locals area very protective of their spots and don’t want the area to get to over exposed, they’re all serious powder pushers and live to shred Red’s epic backcountry and were nice enough to show us some cool stashes. Although I’d say the terrain is equal or better than Whistler Blackcomb with no major cities nearby hopefully it won't get blown out. The downtown area is a few blocks long but has everything you would need, hardware store, library, clothing shops, gift shops, an amazing grocery store, Ferraro Foods that surprisingly stocks a diverse selection of specialty, gourmet, ethnic, organic and hard to find food items, the local shred shop is Rossland which makes a play on Vegas and stocks all the latest gear and fashion from top snow/skate brands, and with restaurants ranging from Subway, dinner style, to even the cool trendy recent addition Japanese restaurant Drift.

I also got a chance to check out Rouge A Gallery of Local Art, a collaboration of all the local artists who take turns running the gallery. I was drawn inside as I walked by and saw a women painting right up near the window. Te gallery was filled with beautiful artwork many of which depicted the mountain life and beauty of the local scenery, beautiful scarfs, jewelry and hand carved wooden kitchen utensils as well they were having a silent auction of art for a local guide to raise money for his cancer treatment an example of the tight supportive community.

What began as the center for gold mining in the late 1800s has turned into a must snowboard destination that all of us hope to get back to real soon. Look out this fall for the latest edition of SBC’s Women’s Annual to get the full scoop on our trip and all the wicked shots!

If you’re heading to Rossland Click here for info on Red Mountain and Slalom Creek

While in Rossland be sure to spend a day or two at Big Red Cats Click here for more info.

Important After Shred info!
Head upstairs of the main lodge at the base of Red Mountain for beers and the nest Nachos this side of Mexico

If you need a break from the long runs of powder head over to the Mining Museum for a look at the local history Click here for more info

For an eclectic mix of Japanese food head over to Drift in downtown Rossland where you can get a wide selection of Japanese beers and sake to accompany a diverse food selection including Cheese Kushi, Agadashi Tofu, Halibut Taco’s, Tuna Tetaki, and Godzilla Bones! Click here to check out the Rossland Tourism site for info on Drift and other cool establishments

Thanks to Lara Wiseman and Erik Kalacis at Red Mountain

Paula and Kieren at Big Red Cats

Lindsay Scott for showing us around

Natasha Lockey at Betty Go Hard http://bettygohard.com/cms/

Deanne Steven from Tourism Rossland

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