Red Mountain, BC

Red Mountain sits tucked into a quiet corner of southern British Columbia, but when the storms roll in from the coast, it rides deep and steep.

We decided to head to Red on Christmas Day, chasing a system we’d been watching for a week, a large coastal storm blowing inland, stacking centimeters across the Kootenays. When we pulled into Red’s base area that evening, it was snowing hard and the lights from the lodge beckoned us to the lodge bar Rafters, which is a rowdy time.

For $25 CAD a night, Red lets you sleep right in the main lot, just 100 feet from the lifts. There are no hookups, so come prepared to be fully self-contained, heat, water, power, the works. Bathrooms open at 7AM and stay open until the bar shuts down, which means you’ve got civilized access to the essentials even when you’re living the lot life.

The lot was a vibe. Rigs of all sizes, from dialed Sprinters to a Tacoma with a plywood bed platform and frost on the inside of the windows. We settled in next to a camper with a local guy who’d been living in it most of the season. He told us, “If you sneak in after midnight, they don’t usually come by. You can skip the fee.” We appreciated the beta, but Red’s setup felt more than worth the $25. We were parked closer to the lift than most resorts in North America.

By dawn, the lot was already stirring. First chair is serious business here, and the locals don’t miss. Even sleeping 100 feet from the lift doesn’t guarantee pole position. But you don’t have to be first to find the goods. Red claims the most skiable acres per skier in North America, and we’re here to confirm - even on a busy holiday week - we found glades and powder stashes all to ourselves, hours after the lifts opened. Sometimes riding up the lift, all you wouldn’t see a single skier, just hear the echos of hoots and hollers off the ridge-lines.

BUT, and this is a big but for some people, there are no high-speed lifts at Red Mountain. All the lifts are old school fixed wheel lifts. They are incredibly reliable during storms and are always running, but they do take a while getting you to the top.

Terrain-wise, Red sprawls. Steep trees, mellow gullies, rolling pillows, and plenty of terrain where you can just point it and let gravity do its thing. The Motherlode Chair, which serves much of the steep terrain, was the highlight; not just for the turns, but for the culture as well. The Motherlode is a 3-Chair which means you get plenty of face time with single riders. One lifer looked over at us and said, “I’ll die on this lift,” with a grin that told us he meant it in the best possible way.

Lot life at Red feels like a secret you’re in on. The locals are friendly, the vibe is low-key, and the mountain delivers. This wasn’t some manicured, influencer-friendly parking scene. This was wake-up-with-frozen-condensation-on-the-ceiling real. But when you unzip your bag, fire up the diesel-heater, and step into two feet of fresh with the lifts spinning right above you. We are believers after this trip.