Muleshoe, BC · guide-owned since 1978
40 cm new · the morning report2,340 m · 06:20 · light snow, wind out of the west
The Powderhorn tenure is 9,700 hectares, sole-operator, 68 named runs. It stacks in four bands: the bowls under the Horn up top, two ridgelines that hold the wind, the fir glades that keep cold snow for days, and the creek runout where every line ends at the pickup. Here is what each band actually skis like.
2,610 m · the whole tenure in one look
2,610 m · alpine
Wide open alpine off the Horn, the high point of the tenure. Big fall-line pitches, soft rollovers, and the light that gets everyone out of the cab in a hurry. This is the fair-weather ground: when the ceiling lifts and the wind lies down, the meeting sends the groups up here first.
Runs sample: Marchant's Line, Long Reach, Refill Bowl
2,300 m · sub-alpine
Horn ridge and Sixmile ridge frame the bowls and take the brunt of the wind. Sheltered pockets between the rolls hold soft snow long after the open faces have gone firm. Snow safety reads these two first every morning, and the day plan follows what they find on the shoulders.
Runs sample: Silver Ladder, Gus's Traverse, The Shoulder
1,900 m · treeline
Old fir spaced the way you want it, holding cold snow for days after a storm has passed the alpine by. This is storm-day ground and refill-day ground both: shorter laps, faster machine turnaround, and whiteroom turns in the trees while the wind does its work up high.
Runs sample: Fir Bench, The Larder, Whisky Glade
1,620 m · valley
Every line on the tenure funnels down to the creek road, where the cat idles with the heater on between laps. Mellow, playful runout through open timber, and the place the sweep gathers the day before the last pickup. Nobody finishes alone down here.
Runs sample: Creek Road, The Runout, Sixmile Flats
2,610 m · pick your line
The painted map has hung on the lodge wall since 1981, and the guides still brief off it. Two lines matter on your first morning: the one for your first week in deep snow, and the one for people who have worn out this kind of week before.
the first week
Your first deep-snow week rides the white line: ridge shoulders with room to breathe, open glades where the trees coach instead of crowd, and runouts long enough to find your legs. The guides double up on technique the first two mornings, and by day three the bowls start opening to you.
the deep end
The orange line is for people who already know what the whiteroom feels like: the steep bowls straight off the summit, tight old-growth fir where the snow stays cold for days, and the long line to the creek when your legs have earned it. Ask about the A-Star add-on: this line is why it exists.
2,340 m · the vertical, told straight
A cat day at Powderhorn runs 3,000 to 4,500 metres of vertical across the two groups, weather and snow deciding where in that range you land. On a refill day the machine climbs shorter, faster laps in the glades and you take the high end. In a storm we stay low in the trees and everyone still gets a full day. The number is a range because the mountain does not do promises.
Vertical, cat day
3,000 to 4,500 m
across two groups
Laps, typical
8 to 14
shorter and faster in the glades
Guests on the tenure
12
two groups, nobody else
2,200 m · access notes
Terrain is chosen at the 5:45 meeting, every morning, from that day's snow and weather. We do not sell a run. We sell a day on the tenure, and the guides put you where it is good and safe.
