We did our annual guys snowboard trip to Red Mtn this time and had 12 of us up there this year. They were having a pretty rough El Niño year but that doesn’t mean there still wasn’t pow to be found. The journey to Red is kind of a doozy. Almost 3 hours of driving from Spokane plus a border crossing. The town of Rossland is a mere 6 mins from the base of Red is quaint and has MOST of what you need. It’s small, but theres a grocery store, liquor store, couple pizza places, couple of bars, and a couple other random restaurants. The next town over, Trail, had more of everything if you run out of restaurants in Rossland. Bummer though, apparently the only snowboard shop owner in Rossland passed away a couple years ago and since there theres been no snowboard shop within quite a distance. You can rent directly from Red but thats your only option basically.

Lodging options are pretty cool at Red. They have slope side cabins, we stayed in one of those, they had a newish hostel that some in our party stayed in and had a good experience, and then there were more options in Rossland with a free shuttle that takes you to the mountain. Was also told theres another hostel in Rossland directly across from the shuttle stop, and probably a lot cheaper than Red’s hostel.

Ok on to the ratings.

Red has the highest “acres per skier”… meaning the place is both huge, and empty… Butttt if you aren’t hiking the cat track to Mt.Kirkup, or hiking Mt.Roberts… your missing out on a lot of that acreage. We found all of the best snow on the mountain in those areas and also did several hikes up the Whitewolf ridge area and had awesome snow there as well. Lower mountain everywhere was pretty shitty the entire time. Best you could hope for was slush. But upper mountain if you worked a little bit, there is always pow stashes to be found at Red Mtn. 4/5

What more can you say besides most skier per acre… the place was empty. Every day of the week It was empty. 5/5

The lifts were brutal at Red. All fixed grip 3 and 4 seaters, except for the iconic RED chair which was an ancient looking red center pole 2 seater. They all stopped often. The motherlode chair at the top of the frontside gets realllll cold when the weathers bad and your on that thing with no foot rest for what feels like an eternity. The lack of footrests everywhere except for Silverlode was just salt in the wound. That being said, they’re in the middle of a monster expansion, which is gonna see many more lifts some for more terrain, and some in strategic locations where there is horrible catwalks currently. But for now : 1/5

The piste trails at Red were alright. The groomers seemed to have a hard time keeping up with all the acreage as a lot of stuff went ungroomed that felt like it should be groomed. The runs themselves were mediocre, kinda short fall line groomers without a lot of character. The real winner here is the stuff just off the groomers… 2/5

Off-piste at Red Mtn… the reason we traveled all the way from Tampa FL. And it delivered. Red mtn had some absolutely incredible terrain. Steep trees with drops and pillows, more spread out trees, its got chutes, its got cliffs. And the best part to me is that it seemed like every day of the year you could go for a 5-30 min hike / skin and score as much fresh BC Pow as you wanted to work for. We rode what felt like every inch of the place… but I reality theres still so much more to ride at Red. 5/5

As far as child friendliness goes at Red I'd say they're one of the more child family in that area. Between them and Whiitewater, Red has a lot more in the way of a base village, a couple restaurants, and a good chunk of area for the kids to learn to ski. 3/5

For Value Red mtn gets high praise. Lift tickets are less than 90 USD per day and there is 3,850 acres to explore and typically great snow quality. worth it worth it worth it. 5/5

Nightlife is kinda lacking at Red. I think theres one bar open til like 10 but we never went. For Apres Ski however, Rafters is a really sick experience. Great vibes in there and it was absolutely packed when we went but still had no problem getting table. They close early though so it’s strictly Apres. Theres a couple places open later in Rossland but overall it’s a sleepy area. 3/5

Lastly we’re definitely going back. The pow was good even though it was bad… everyone in the group is dying to see what it’s like when it’s actually GOOD.
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Had a week at red and really enjoyed it. Was surprised how extensive the grooming was considering it’s reputation as an off piste mountain. That is also awesome BTW. Didn’t get much snow whilst we were here but the temperature stayed cold so the snow was in good condition. Loved how uncrowded and relaxed it is. Would love to strike in on a pow day as the terrain is amazing. Will definitely be back!!
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My 2nd favorite mountain after Whitewater.
Red is a large ski center with little waiting lines.Sun and snow abundtant.Almost 360o skiing around the mtn. Sunnier than whitewater but less snow. Around 1.15 hr drive from Nelson.
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If you were gonna pic a mountain for your 80’s ski movie...this is it. That perfect small cheap friendly ski hill with amazing terrain...it exists. It’s Red. The terrain is amazing and it surrounds you. You can’t get lost. 360 degree skiing. Trail signs were hung 30 years ago by some local guy. Everyone is exceedingly friendly. I would say this might be my number one resort for chasing powder. Like, if I saw that Red was gonna get a week of snow I’d pick there over probably anywhere else. I stayed in a cabin at the base and it was m 120 bucks a night and I could walk to the slope. The drive up from Spokane is easy. Way easier than getting to Revy.
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On previous visits the snow quality has been really poor and no one in their right mind would have skied the ice off-piste, so on this visit we were lucky to score some fresh powder and ski the phenomenal terrain at Red Mountain. The range of slopes for advanced and expert riders was truly impressive. The advanced slopes tended to have big bumps underneath the powder that a pair of super fat skis may have fixed, whilst as to be expected, the steeper pitches hadn’t scored much traffic on them and were blissful. Unfortunately the cat skiing terrain wasn’t open but it sounds like this rocky sun-baked slope needs a lot of snow for it to become operational.

Red Resort has become a little busier, and because it was a powder day all the locals came out in force to queue up at the Silverlode chair. The lines to the slow old Motherlode chair were long each time which became a bit tedious. Thankfully the slopes weren’t crowded, but we didn’t score a lot of true freshies because we weren’t at the front of the queue. Hopefully the new chair lift (which will also be a fixed grip chair) might relieve the bottleneck at Motherlode a little.

We spent half of our nights on-mountain staying at The Josie Hotel, a new ski-in ski-out hotel that was superb. It was a fabulous stay and our room was really special – you can see our Josie review here.

Our other nights were at the Prestige Hotel in Rossland which was OK but it didn’t provide great value for money, but naturally we loved Rossland! This is a sweet ski town that we’ve nominated a couple of times for the USA Today 10 Best Readers’ Choice Awards for the best ski town in North America. So it must be good!

Of course we also went out cat skiing with Big Red Cats which was an amazing highlight. Love that place!

You can see our Red Resort overview for our thoughts on the pros and cons of Red Mountain, and also see our Canada ski resort ratings to see how it compares.
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If you love serious off piste skiing and snowboarding, Red is the mountain for you. There are a lifetime of in-bounds lines at Red, never mind the nearby side-country or cat skiing.

Like most of the smaller ski resorts in BC the Red's ski lifts are slow and old, or is that old and slow! All is forgiven though because the terrain options will spin anyone's head - in a good way though.

If you cannot ski steeps, be wary in the off piste in poor weather. Most of the interesting mellow terrain is around the Paradise chair and skiers right of the Grey Mountain Chair. Everything else, hang on to your hat and prepare for freefall! Great fun.

The village at Red is generally quiet, but the main lodge dining and drinking options are excellent. The Rafters Lounge is a world class apres ski bar literally in the rafters, and had me wishing we were staying at the resort rather than in nearby Rossland. Having said that, Rossland is a nice old town that retains much of its gold rush architecture and charm.

There are extensive plans to increase the size and diversity of the village at the resort. Might be worth skiing Red sooner rather than later!
We loved Red. So will you.
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I had low expectations about going to Red but what an experience. Even in a holiday period Red was deserted and we were still finding some fresh powder 3 days after in last snowed.

Unlike most ski resorts, at Red Mountain you can basically ski everywhere inside the boundary and as you can ski down in every direction off Granite mountain and almost every dirction on Red Mountain and Grey Mountain. There is LOTS of terrain.

If you like tree skiing this is the place for you. I can't express enough how amazing and perfect the glades are, even in the backcountry which is super easy to access. The $10 catskiing was awesome which opened up even more terrain. I will definitely be back.

Pros:
- Terrain to suit everybody
- Best tree skiing ever
- very very uncrowded
- Lots of terrain off lots of lifts
- Lots of Backcountry options

Cons:
- Slow lifts
- Little option for eateries
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I had a great day at Red!
There had been fresh 10cm snow fall overnight. No lift queues, but the lifts are slow. If you are carrying a back pack you are made to remove them when on the lifts. There are some great steeps through the trees and open gladed runs that had fresh lines late in the afternoon. I had to unclip to access some of the further runs along the ridge lines & also unclip to get back on some of the return trails back to the lifts but it was well worth it. I would definitely ride here again!
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Red Mountain is wonderful. Very big, lots of glades and steeps, and - at least during my visit - plenty of snow.

The town of Rossland is quite adorable, too. Unspoiled.

Definitely recommended, especially if you're American, as the dollar exchange rate is highly favorable.

The only negative mark is the slow lifts.
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I was in Red Mountain the second week of February 2015. The conditions were the worst I had ever skied. I quickly learned that Red Mountain was experiencing a warm winter and the mountain was loaded with ice and rocks. I feared for my life coming down the icy trails.

The restaurant on the mountain does not have plumbing and I had to use an outhouse style bathroom. This was a major turn-off considering it is common to want to wash your hands before having a meal. Hand sanitizer does not substitute for hot water and soap.

Finally, the lifts are a outdated and dangerous. I said a Hail Mary prayer each time I had to get off the chair lift. The outdated chair lifts were a running joke among the group I was with.

The combination of poor skiing conditions, outdated chair lifts, and lack of modern amenities has made me give this mountain a poor review.
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