The Selkirk Powder Triangle is a trio of destinations for powder hounds that incorporates great ski resorts for powder skiing and snowboarding, along with fabulous cat skiing and heli skiing.
Selkirk Mountains
The Selkirk Mountains are part of a larger group of mountains, the Columbia Mountains, that have lovely neighbours in the form of the Monashee and Purcell Mountains.
The Selkirk Mountains begin in the east of Washington State near Spokane and extend about 320 km north (200 miles) into British Columbia in Canada.
The International Selkirk Loop is a series of scenic highways that head around the southern parts of the Selkirk Mountains which includes northern Idaho in the panhandle, the furthermost northeast corner of Washington, and southeast British Columbia.
From the International Selkirk Loop, if you take a side trip to include Rossland, then you’ve pretty much got yourself the Selkirk Powder Triangle.
A common entry point to the Selkirk Powder Triangle is the Spokane International Airport (Washington State) where you can get a
rental car to explore the triangle. You can look at
flight options to Spokane here. Castlegar Airport (un-affectionately called Cancelgar) is also in the region, but this airport often suffers from flight cancellations during winter.
Selkirk Powder Triangle
The three main points of the triangle are: Nelson (near Whitewater Ski Resort); Rossland (Red Mountain); and Sandpoint (Schweitzer). The first two form the southern part of the
BC Powder Highway.
Keep in mind that most of the heli skiing and cat skiing in the Selkirk Powder Triangle books out way ahead of time, so you’ll need to plan well in advance.
Nelson
Situated in the Kootenay region in the southeast corner of British Columbia Canada, Nelson is 255 km (158 miles) north of the Spokane Airport.
We’ve called Nelson the capital of the BC Powder Highway because it’s a hot pot of great powder skiing and snowboarding opportunities. Here are some of them:
- The Whitewater Ski Resort is 15 minutes (19 km) southeast of Nelson
- Stellar Heli Skiing is an hour drive north of Nelson, offering single or multi-day packages
- Baldface Valhalla Cat Skiing is based in South Slocan, a 20 minute drive from Nelson, and offers single day trips
- Retallack Cat Skiing is an hour drive north of Nelson, and offers multi-day packages
- Big Red Cat Skiing is an hour southwest of Nelson, with single or multi-day packages
The tiny little settlement of Meadow Creek is 100km north of Nelson and home to
Selkirk Snowcat Skiing and
White Grizzly Cat Skiing.
Nelson Accommodation Listings
Rossland/Red Mountain
Rossland in BC Canada sits on the edge of the Selkirk Mountains and is 76km (47 miles) southwest of Nelson, just near the US border, and 127 miles north of Spokane Airport.
Rossland is home to the
Red Mountain Ski Resort and cat skiing with
Big Red Cats, and it’s only a 45 minute drive to the base of Valhalla Powdercats.
Red Mountain Accommodation Listings
Schweitzer/Sandpoint
Cross the border and your Selkirk Powder Triangle includes the third brother of the powder hound trio in the town of Sandpoint. Sandpoint is located in the panhandle of Idaho, just 78 miles northeast of the Spokane Airport.
Sandpoint is home to:
Sandpoint Accommodations Listings