BC’s Favourite “Little” Resort Expands Again, Top 4 in Canada and Top 10 on Continent
ROSSLAND, BRITISH COLUMBIA, CANADA
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – March 15, 2019
RED Mountain Resort just got radder. The B.C. resort—long-time favourite of powder-hounds and fall-line aficionados—continues to climb through the big leagues with yet another addition of new terrain for its guests to recreate on. The Topping Chair expansion set for the 2019/20 season adds to RED Mountain’s stature, putting us in the Top 10, size-wise, for North America with total skiable acreage at 3,850.
“This new triple chair is exciting on its own,” says RED CEO Howard Katkov. “But what’s truly exciting is how the Topping Chair continues our dedication to ‘improving the adventure’ for our guests. With everything we do around here, we always try to keep that in mind…and this new chair streamlines skier traffic around the resort beautifully.”
Indeed, Topping Chair makes “getting up to the good stuff” easier for everyone. Grey Mountain is now a straight-shot from the top of Silverlode with Topping’s addition, and should alleviate the occasional powder day bottleneck on Motherlode Chair. Skiers will be able to return to Topping from anywhere on Grey Mountain or from the legendary $10-a-run cat skiing on Mount Kirkup. (The big question is whether anyone’s legs can handle all that RED will throw at them!)
Since 2013’s opening of a whole new peak on Grey Mountain, RED has been expanding as an independent resort, while many others have been consolidated into large resort “chains”. First, RED lassoed Grey Mountain in 2013, added Mount Kirkup Cat Skiing in 2014, and now the new vertical and acreage of Topping for 2020. Add to this a new boutique hotel, The Josie, opened in 2018 and a next-level, ski-in/ski-out modern hostel, Nowhere Special, just a month later in December 2018. It’s hard to believe this storied resort in Canada’s Kootenay region is actually the oldest in Western Canada.
“We always hold tight to our history,” says Katkov, “but that doesn’t mean standing still… The ski resort business is a competitive one with billion-dollar players and no shortage of options for skiers and snowboarders. We want all of our guests to come here for a week or a weekend and then wonder why they ever went anywhere else. It happens all the time and this is the metric we measure ourselves by.”
The Topping Chair construction covers a total of 300 additional acres and boasts six new Intermediate runs with stellar tree-skiing, “squirrel trails” and “slots” on all facets. From the top of the new Topping lift, skiers and snowboarders will be thrilled by 1,000 vertical feet of what can sometimes be some of the best snow on the resort—thanks to its southeast facing aspect. This new lift-accessed acreage is just another addition to RED Mountain that makes it one of the largest remaining independent ski resorts in North America. It is sure to attract new destination visitors who only want to ski the biggest and the best with one of the lowest skiers per acre in North America.
Closeup
ABOUT RED MOUNTAIN RESORT
RED Mountain is the last great, unspoiled resort. Located in Rossland, BC, 1st stop on Canada’s famous Powder Highway, independent RED delivers 3,850 skiable acres of pristine, unfettered skiing. Our expansion to Grey Mountain added nearly 1,000 acres of mostly-intermediate terrain to the equation, bumping us into the Top 10, size-wise in N. America. With 300″/7.6m of annual snowfall, wide-open groomed runs, epic vertical (2,919ft/890m!), in-bounds cat-skiing, 360 degree descents off select peaks, a new boutique hotel, a modern hostel, a rich tradition, and the best tree runs on earth, it’s no wonder The NY Times voted us their #8 “Best Place in the World to Visit.” We also nabbed “Most Underrated Resort” by Skiing. For fresh turns you don’t have to fight for, RED really is unrivaled.
too bad parking is so inadequate. It is gross
When is red going to get into lift access mountain biking? Seems like this was a perfect opportunity to make the move to a full season resort but not without a detachable lift. Let’s be real, this is more about developing and selling on mountain property than it does about giving the local shredders the goods.
Do you really have to take silverload chair to access this lift
There is lots of parking available….. not sure what you issue is unless your one of those folks who roll in at 11 and expect to get parking next to the lift…
There was not enough parking last winter, on powder days, race days, and holidays. The new hotel and hostel ate up parking we used to have, plus more people want to visit. The bus is a good move. A new parking lot at TC lift base would be a real help when RMR gets it built (maybe next year?)
Shame you can’t access motherload from top of this lift. Will also mean button of grey will be skied out….
Reducing the line-ups at Motherlode on powder mornings is, I believe, the rationale behind the location of the Topping Creek lift. It will also, to some extent, reduce the number of people lining up at Silverlode in the morning just to get on the mountain, as many people will likely go directly to Topping Creek to start their day on Grey. Dispersing the crowds of skiers first thing in the morning by providing another option to get on the mountain seems logical to me.
How is it possible to go straight to topper creek with out going up silverload first?
I think this winter Toppng Creek lift is only accessible from Silverload lift, or if you ski down to it from Grey..
Hopefully a new access road and parking lot at TC lift base will be in place next winter 20/21
When will the mother lode be upgraded to something faster and more comfortable so laps on granite would make sense
Never.
Howard and Don-
This is great news. Congratulations. Keep up the good work.
I’m so glad that you put a new chair in to reduce the ridiculous line at the base of motherload
Paying $500 for a day of skiing then waiting in line for 20 minutes really bothered me.
Too bad it came with a 20% increase in costs.
Way to keep the man out.
Don’t worry, you’ll be reducing the locals (ie working families, NOT Rosslanders)
$500 per day? You need to buy season passes.
Great news and will be a great addition to SIlverlode for beginners. Have you considered adding a webcam on the Motherlode, Grey, or Topping lift area to help people choose which one has the better lines?
To the guy with the parking problem, you should try the access road at Whitewater. To the guy with the Motherload issue, when did laps on Granite not make sense? Let’s give credit where it is due. The owners are providing more terrain in an effort to keep skier density down, while still paying the bills. Rumor has it that a parking area may appear near the base of the new chair, taking some heat off Silverload. Please, no high speed detachable chairs. I don’t want Red to have the capacity to put more skiers on the hill faster. Save the powder. Waiting in a lift line is good for you. It will sharpen your social skills. Ask the folks on a powder day at Mad River Glen, where you could spend 30 minutes talking to people in the line for the single chair, and then have the place to yourself when you got off at the top. Not that different here. Let’s keep it that way.
Right on Bernie!
👍🏻👍🏻
Awesome. Agree 100% Bernie! Keep it real! 🤪👍🤟
Yep. Totally keep it real!
Howard – This is great news. Congratulations, and ignore the spoilt little kid that made the first comment up top. Keep up the good work.
Super cool. excited to take it for a spin next winter!
Red is not a resort for those that complain – the pretentious, self-entitled folks. It’s not a place for you and we don’t want you. Go to Whistler or Vail
Right On Patrick!!!
Spot on! 👍👍👍
Nnnnnnoooooooo – Patrick, please, we have enough spoil, entitled, posers at Whistler. You really need to send us more. Have some compassion man!
Spot on reply
Great news. All us Grey lovers will be happy to have faster access…would love to see a small “warm” lodge there.
Thanks for all of your comments. Agreed that high speeds are not necessary at Red today. The new chair will have a very positive impact on giving our customers choices and removing the bottleneck at Motherlode on powder days. With regard to parking at the base of Topping Creek chair lift, here is our latest update. Along with the chairlift, we are researching the feasibility of an additional access road and parking area at the bottom terminal of the new chairlift, with the objective of constructing a new Guest Portal to the mountain. The area will potentially include 200-300 parking places, a ticket office, washrooms, a small coffee bar and locker room. As noted this is in the feasibility stage and we are working with our transportation engineers, biologists, and mountain planners on development programming. Someday, we might put a high speed quad to replace the Silverlode chair at the base to move people out of the mountain faster.
Cheers,
Howard
This is all encouraging news Howard! The extra parking lot would be a wonderful addition. If not this year then hopefully next year. I love the lifts just the way they are, and of course the hallowed lockers! As a family man, more lockers would make my life exponentially better! My kids will be grown by the time we get to the top of the waiting list. Haha.
I like the slower lifts. The runs don’t get skied out super fast like they do at resorts with high speed lifts. I saw this at Alyeska where I skied for years before I came home to Red. Powder days lasted a few runs. At Red they can last for days.
Greetings from New Zealand. My wife and I were lucky enough to do a road trip from Denver to Seattle thru Feb and early March. We skiied 12 of the more commercial resorts in the USA and 7 in BC. Many of them on the IKON or Collective pass. We spent 4 days at Red with fresh every day. Apart from Jackson Hole, Red was the highlight of the trip. We will be back to Red in 2 years for some more. Keep up the good work and keep being different to the corporates…………
Let’s face facts- this is to appease families not the core group who enjoy Red’s steeps. Nothing here of remote interest to the serious skier but good on Red for appealing to a broader demographic and get novice skiers and boarders out of our way.
Removing the bottleneck at Silver and Mother is in everyone’s interest, regardless of skill. The addition of this lift will get me up to the steep stuff even quicker! It’s a win!
When will there be a plan available of the proposed access road and parking lot at the purposed Topping Creek Lift?
Hi Bernie I think we have a parking problem. Sometimes people tries to park illegaly at the Rams head. Some times the old road is full of cars. Its really hard for me to walk by with my dog. Cityhall spent alot of money putting up an expensive no parking sign. But when i talked to the guy that writes parking tickets in town. Why he dident give people tickets for parking ilegaly. He told me Red mountain has a special deal with the mayer. So he cant give them tickets. What a waste on the NO PARKING sign.
Just skied at Red for the first time in many years. We live now on V. Island. But we have decided to stay longer in Rossland next season. It is still (I went to school in Rossland) the best place to ski!!! And to think yet another chair lift in 2020. For the people who can’t park….why not ride the bus from town and leave your car in Rossland?
What kind of accommodations do you have for motorhomes? Do you have any kind of electrical hookups?
Here’s the real bottom line on Red.
1. There isn’t a high speed lift on the mountain. Lifts are all old slow and you freeze on any cold day which there are many.
2. The parking is terrible on busy days.
3. Grays Mountain has heavy brush all over the place and needs tons of snow in many places to cover it..
3. The area grooming equipment is poor to non existent. Green runs and Paridise chair runs are only area with decent grooming. Gray’s and Granite lift areas have very little to none and isn’t done on runs that have heavy brush or full of stumps.
4. One bar (Rafters) at the resort and no nght life. Area food adequate to poor.
5. Area needs major infusion of capitol money not own a piece of the mountain gimmick!
Ted, I would suggest taking a nice trip to Panorama or Sun Peaks. They are premier interior resorts with gigantic grooming fleets, less of that icky deep powder, and extensive highspeed lift systems. They keepswarms of Jerry’s on vacation from Calgary and California warm, happy, and gaping.
Also of course Gray needs decent snow… So does everything steep on Granite. Or at Whitewater. Or at any ski area. Red mtn is like Bridger Bowl in Montana , A-Basin in Colorado, or Mt.Baker in Washington; put a focus on the best steep and challenging terrain. Put a minimal emphasis on high-speed lifts, family friendly terrain, and grooming. Doesn’t mean ignore it, but like a good restaurant you should serve what you make best.
I grew up in Spokane visiting Red a handful of times every winter. Those slow lifts, steep runs and good snow are what skiing in this part of 2 countries is based on. As soon as Red starts putting highspeed lifts above Silverlode, I’ll think twice if its the Canadian destination I want to experience. A little bit raw. There’s a reason I come back here almost every winter from the Southwest USA and not Whistler or Banff.
Ted, Thank you very much for your valiant attempt to keep people from visiting Red. I assume that you are either a crusading local, bent on preserving the great vibe and terrain here (but then you would know how to spell Grey), or a serious a-hole from someplace like Whistler who just doesn’t get it, which is a lot more likely. Please take your whining to someplace where the skiing and riding are second to the fancy stores and drunk tourist trade and leave places like Red to real skiers, who don’t feel compelled to brag about how much vertical they got that day (high speed lifts?), and would rather talk about the experience they had with their friends.
Sorry about the rant, but I am sick of people like that. In the last 16 years, I have skied at over 40 resorts in North America, a lot of them more than once. From BC and Cali to Vermont and Quebec, my wife and I have been very lucky. This will be our 10th year in a row at Red. You can make what you want of that statistic.
On another note, has construction begun on the Topping Chair? Just curious.I realize that it’s not the terrain roll-out that Grey was, but I thought that there would be a few pics or vids. See you February.
Here you go!
https://www.redresort.com/news/2019-chairlift-expansion/
🙂
Ugh. Hate Red. So much powder. Too steep.
Lifts should be ultra speed, heated seats, Fox News TVs, with people who gently place your buttocks on the massage pads.
I expect really nasty, overpriced food and a casino bar that only plays chart music and EDM.
When will Red ever get with the program??!?
LOL
Never, I hope. Also, do we need music on ski hills played over loudspeakers? Aren’t all the kids listing to their tunes with ear buds anyhow? Keep the peace!! Just the sound of snow swishing beneath your boards, and some pleasant conversation on the lift. Whooping in the trees is also permissible. Are we skiing yet?
I totally disagree with all the negative comments and I think all those people should ski or ride elsewhere and the improvements being done are awesome !
Yeah someday if there was a 200 or 300 car parking lot at the new Topping Creek lift and a high speed quad for Silverload chair that would be even greater but everything else is just fine the way it is and that will just make it more crowded . Takes time and money to develop all of this stuff plus a lot of work from all involved and it is appreciated !
Skied a lot of places myself and Red has some of the best terrain and still has that sense of adventure I have been looking for since and found it here in 2004. Don’t want a Tahoe, Jackson Hole or Whistler they were nice back in the day but now their overrated, expensive, overcrowded and the sense of adventure is gone being replaced with a commercialized resort. Keep up the good work boyz !!
I love how the mountain is developing, yet remaining true to its simple roots. I just started skiing two seasons ago and instantly fell in love with what Red offers. I meet kind, friendly, people from near and far, from varying stages in life and this is what I absolutely love! The runs and lifts are very user friendly. Also, the staff are professional and courteous. In my opinion, the company is doing a great job with products, promos and operations…my only complaint is the locker situation, lol.
Thank you for providing our area with a kickass, local mountain!
Who made the idiot decision to remove the old chair that accessed the Motherload chair? The lift should have remained where it was and realign the new Silverload chair to access the beginner terrain. As it is now everyone must go up a slow beginner lift to access all intermediate and expert terrain.
The old lift IS Silverload. Just got moved.
Wrong.
I love Red and always have. The ONLY problem is the silverload bottleneck. Motherload needs to go to the bottom. Also, I have a locker so Topping parking does me no good.
I truly believe a five or six story parking garage would eliminate the parking fiasco.
Forget parking, When is the gondola from the skate park area in town going to the top of Red slated for construction !!
Good luck having Motherload going to the bottom of the mountain. With the silverload chair put where it is there is no straight line access to the top of granite. Silverload should never have been put where it is.
Will Topping bring ski out potential to new developments just up the highway?
I see a proposed XCountry and biking area in there so maybe a connection…
Hold on, you want me to spend $118 to ride fixed grips all day? Terrain sounds like it would be worth a trip but your pricing needs a reality check.
I have skied at Red for 45 years. The new owners are doing a great job of improving our access to more terrain but continue to keep the wonderful ambience of our mountain intact.