New Snow Reported by Resort - 7cm (2-3 inches)
New Snow Observed on Mountain ? approx. 8-10 cm (3-4 inches)
Surface Conditions ? Powder / Chowder
Sky ? light snow
Temp ? 20s F
Skiers ? Jay, Dave, Erica, Chris, James, Greg
Runs / Vertical Skied - 12 / 12,480’
 

 For our second day of the trip, we visited another ski are in the Kootenay region known as Whitewater.  Whitewater came highly recommended by everyone we spoke to; they said if we liked Red, we’d like Whitewater as well.  Since it was also covered by our lift tickets, and Greg was visiting with his car, it was a no-brainer to make a visit.  Whitewater is about an hour north of Red, near the town of Nelson.  It is a bit smaller than Red, servicing only 1300 vertical (5400 ? 6700 feet).  However, Whitewater averages about 100 inches more snow per year than Red (obtained from the sources I had available), putting it close to 400 inches in an average year.  They also tend to have less rain than Red due to their location and the elevation of their base.  The small vertical was not really an issue for us, since it was basically equivalent to the top half of Red, an elevation that we found to have the lightest snow and stayed in whenever possible.  There were two main lifts, servicing two sides of the bowl that made up the ski area.  Off to our left was the Silver King Double Chair.  It serviced some blue and black terrain with a couple groomed runs and a bunch of trees.  Off to the right was the Summit Chair, which offered some really steep terrain approaching 40 degrees (estimated).  Overall, the skiing was very similar to Red: steeps and trees.  It was also possible to access a large treeless area by traversing to the end of the bowl.
 We found about 3-4 new inches of snow over an already soft and fluffy base.  The snow was again not fabulously light, about 9-10% H2O.  It was great powder skiing nonetheless.  We found some great steep chutes in the woods, more stuff in the 35-40 degree range that made for fun jump turns.  Right under the skier’s right of the Summit Chair, Chris shot some fabulous video of everyone running a steep tight chute.  There was so much snow that Chris was nearly buried by the time the last person came down the chute.  The base was amazingly deep.  Even on the steeps, after six of us went down that chute, there was just more soft snow below.  I’d recommend the trip to anyone that is visiting Red Mountain, it’s a nice bit of variety.  We were fortunate to have Greg’s car, but it seemed as though a one day car rental was also an option and there was a shuttle from Red Mountain to Whitewater on Tuesdays.
As an addition to our Whitewater trip, we visited the Ainsworth Hot Springs.  These are natural hot springs about 30-45 min north of Whitewater that also came highly recommended.  You can choose from heading into caves that have the spring water pumped in at 112 degrees F, a heated pool at 96 degrees F, and a cold plunge at 4 degrees F.  We also got fabulous views of the Purcell mountains surrounding Kootenay Lake (not quite the tops ? a cloud ceiling was still present) while hanging out in the pools.  The Ainsworth Hot Springs Web site provides some interesting information about how the water is heated and arrives where it does:

The Ainsworth Hot Springs feature a unique horseshoe shaped cave, where the darkness, mineral deposits and humidity combine for a most interesting hot springs experience.  A hot steamy odorless shower of mineralized water falls from the cave's roof and forms into a pool about waist deep, providing a natural steam bath.
Where Does The Water Come From?  The springs originate in the Cody Caves area, which is directly above and to the west of Ainsworth Hot Springs. The water works its way down through porous rock to a depth of 1-1/2 to 2 km. The water picks up temperature at a rate of 40C per km down until it strikes what is known as the Lakeshore Fault.  This fault is an impervious layer of rock lying at an angle of 45 to 50 degrees from Ainsworth Hot Springs to a point directly below the Cody Caves. Hydraulic pressure forces the water up along the fault where it emerges at Ainsworth Hot Springs - Voila - Hot Water.

This information was obtained from the Ainsworth Hot Springs web site http://www.hotnaturally.com.  They also have some interesting history of the hot springs there, so check it out for more information.

On to the pictures!