Catskiing at Big Red Cats

1st powder skiing of 2009/10 winter

2009-10-27T19:59:00.000-07:00

pretty good for the 27th Oct.

Claw Mountain New terrain - this is as steep as it is possible to ski

2009-07-25T11:41:00.000-07:00

Check out some of this new north facing terrain on Mt Claw that we are opening for this winter.

Kieren

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New terrain North side of China Mountain

2009-07-25T11:34:00.000-07:00

This is a picture of some of the great new terrain that we are adding for this winter. This shows some of the skiing on the north side of Mt China Steep, North facing, reasonably length about 1400 vertical feet. Really looking forward to skiing this...

Earlybird Sale ends in 10 Days

2009-06-21T20:45:00.000-07:00

The best bargain in the backcountry ends in just 10 days - book and pay in full by 1 July and get a full cat (up to 12 people) for only $3500 in high season, or $3000 in low season! (That's as low as $250 per person, so book now!)
You don't have to give us the 12 names yet, and the dates you book can be changed up to 90 days before your arrival. So if you think that you'll have a whole group this season, book it now!
Call Kieren and Paula at (250) 362-2271, or on our cell (250) 368-7462

Big Red Cats - is heading to Reno for the FWSA

2009-06-04T22:39:00.000-07:00

Big Red Cats - Kieren and Bob are heading to Reno to the annual Far West Ski Association meeting. Should be fun. We will be at the Peppermill Resort and Casino on Friday and Saturday.

Work will beging in the bush next week. We have a 3-4 month long campaign planned. Lots of glading new roads, 2 new mountains, and about 100 new runs.

Groups are booking space now - so it would be worth starting to book your seats for the winter...

Kieren

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Kieren becomes a professional member of the Candian Avalanche Association

2009-06-02T20:09:00.000-07:00

Just a quick note. We just got back from our holiday to find that I was accepted as a professional member of the Canadian Avalanche Association. This is the highest qualification in Canada at present. It also requires a high level of professionalism and ongoing professional development. Looking forward to doing some more research and work in this feild.

Kieren Gaul

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New Mountain for 2009/10

2009-04-22T20:41:00.000-07:00

Here is a shot of one of the aspects of the new mountain that we plan on opening for 2009/10. This is the east aspect. The North aspect is a 120ft cliff! with some skiable chutes. The south is open and cruisey. The west is good tree skiing. I think that we will call this mountain - claw mountain. This will be the 6th mountain that we have opened. You can also see the east aspect of Mt Mackie in the Background.

We think that we will also open a seventh mountain this year. But will keep you posted on how it goes.

Kieren in Rogers Pass

2009-04-22T19:07:00.000-07:00

Spent yesterday in Rogers Pass - was a great experience. The objective was to see some new terrain and do some training for my final ski guide exams. I caught up with Rob Elliot - a Local of Revelstoke and a great guide who works with Big Red Cats. Here are some Photo's of some of our turns.

Jen McGoldrick in the Pow

2009-04-04T12:12:00.000-07:00

Will Pursell caught this great shot of RipCurl athlete Jen McGoldrick catching some air (it was a very soft landing), during a bluebird powder day at Big Red Cats, March 2009.

Jen McGoldrick Enjoys the View at Big Red Cats

2009-04-04T12:10:00.000-07:00

This photo of RipCurl athlete Jen McGoldrick shows some of the lovely views and fresh snow at Big Red Cats. Jen came out with photographer Will Pursell in early March - the next photo will show Jen in action, but I really liked the scenery in this shot..

Cat skiing getting cheaper for US guests

2008-11-22T22:08:00.000-08:00

With the C$ dollar falling so against the US$ in the last few months - Cat skiing has gotten about 20% cheaper over this time - 1USD=about C$1.25 at present. So all those people from the US Book now!

Ready for winter

2008-11-22T21:58:00.000-08:00

Has been snowing on and off for the last few days - but only about 10cm of new snow in the Big Red Cats area. We have been preparing for the winter. Richard and Kauri are working on the last cat installing new seats and some sound insulation. This will make the ride more comfortable.

Our guide training is set for the 22nd and 23rd of December Our 1st day of operation will be the 25th of December this year. What a great christmas present - going cat skiing for the day!

I have lots to do before the winter starts. I have attached a picture of some snow Ghosts from last winter - Hopefully this is what the trees will look like in a couple of weeks.....

Kieren

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15-20cm of new snow in the cat ski area

2008-11-05T08:09:00.000-08:00

The 1st really decent snowfall of the winter are shown on the Photo's attached that I took this morning on the 5th of Nov,- It snowed all the way down to about 1000 meters. The forecast is looking good for the next few weeks.

Kieren 1 250 362 2271

More snow falling today - Calgary ski show

2008-11-03T23:09:00.000-08:00

Snow falling in the mountains today. Cleared tonight. We are heading to the Calgary ski show this week-end so do not forget to come and try to win the great tranciever Race.

CAA Operations level 2 Course - Canmore

2008-10-28T20:50:00.000-07:00

Hi folks - I just complete the Module 1 of the CAA level 2 course in Canmore. This was a very good course and has given me lots of ideas of how to make Big Red Cats better. Much of the module 1 is focused on people issues.

One of the helpful ideas to come out of the course is Reason's model. This basically says that there are layers in any organisation where Latent or active failures can occur. A bad result happens when the failures are able to get through the many layers of the safety system. The analogy that is used is slices of Swiss Cheese - The holes in the cheese are the potential weakness or failures. When the Holes in the cheese all line up you have a failure. So before anything happen you want to plug as many holes as possible. So our strategy for the year is to work on our safety management system. We have more training planned than ever before. Also 6 of our guides are working on further guide certification this winter. Also we will redo all our run maps. We are also working on a very detailed avalanche Atlas for the organisation. We will also put in place a number of new procedures and protocols.

Another concept for the Level 2 course was the concept of a High Reliable organisation (HRO) some examples of HRO are some parts of the Milatary, some surgical teams. We would like Big Red Cats to be a HRO. To help make this happen we are planning a revision of our safety management system. Essentially we want to be an organisation where nothing slips though the cracks. This is going to take a few years to get there with lots of training.

Went out and an buoilt another 900 meters of snowcat road today. This will futher improve acccess to about 8 runs. The weather looks good until the week-end so we will keep cutting whilst we can.

Kieren

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5 cm of new snowovernight

2008-10-21T19:10:00.000-07:00

1) Yes folks it has been snowing again. Yesterday the 20th of octobeer it snowed between 5-10cm above 1600meters. The snow is light and Powdery - and is not breaking down with the sun anymore. There was also snow on the Hiways above Rossland this morning - so its really feeling like winter..

2) We installed our new Oil water separator last week. We are really pleased with this as it will catch any oil or Hydraulic Fluid that may escape from our cats. I picked this up in Vanvouver 2 weeks ago - it weighs nearly 4000 pounds and is made out of concrete.

3) We also installed a new double walled fuel tank a few weeks ago at our shed - we go this tank and accessories from ARG services these guys were great and will also be coming Cat skiing with us this winter.

4) Despite the snow that we had this week and last the Bush campaign continues. Today we gladed an amazing run at the Bottom of Pluto North. At the end of last week we Gladed 2 runs at the bottom of the Jumbo Bloc (see picture attached of the Jumbo Bloc).

Kieren
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4

Snowing every day

2008-10-09T21:42:00.000-07:00

It has snowed a trace - everyday this week. Today in the mountains the temperature never got above Freezing.

Kauri and I spent 2 days cutting the new Freeze road. This will open up 6-8 new runs. 2 of the runs will be really awesome with some open 40 degree slopes. The other runs will be solid.

However the really cool side benefit will be the new runs on the west face of Mackie. There are alot of runs (at least 8-10) that we have never skied beacuse we never had a pick up road on the North side of the mackie West face. We will be able to ski and explore these runs now with the new Freeze road. The turn aroun time for these runs this winter is going to be really Long - But with the time that we are saving on many of the other new roads that we have built - we will still have enough time to ski and explore this area. We are calling this area the Anti-Freeze beacuse it is across the valley from the Freeze. The Anti freeze is characterised by steepness. It is really steep all the way across. It is mostly good Glade and Tree skiing with good spacing. Runs are from about 2100 meters down to 1600 meters.

Today we cut some new runs in the Jumbo block (the area looks like an elephant) this will create about 4 new good runs The runs are about 1500 vertical feet on a West aspect. They link a series of big Glades into a Jumbo Cut Block.

Tommorrow we are heading for 3rd Bowl to create another new run. We will keep going until there is to much snow.

Kieren
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Great new ski run Cut today 26th Sept.

2008-09-26T17:20:00.001-07:00

This new run is just to the skiers right of Sullies (named by John Sullivan) run. The new Run starts at 2170m with a NW aspect. The finish Elevation is 1760 meters so run length is 400 meters vertical or about 1400 vertical ft. If anyone would like to name it - come on out and ski it.

The new run cuts through the trees on the lookers right side of the Photo that is attached

Kieren
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Another new 2km of snowcat road built today.

2008-09-24T17:21:00.000-07:00

I think that this is our record in one day. Normally we do about 400 meters per day. The snowcat roads that we built today will save 8-10 minutes on the ride up on the runs on south crowe - so do this twice - and with the time that we save with the new roads - we will have enough time for another run. The Picture attached shows in yellow the new road.

Snowed Lightly this morning and by late afternoon it was sunny.

Kieren

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1st Powder Skiing of the season at BRC

2008-09-23T17:59:00.000-07:00

It snowed 5-6cm last night - so here are some photo of me skiing this morning with my chainsaw gear on - We are still stuck into our glading program.

The snow was quite lite with some surface Hoar on top. I would say that the skiing was pretty good for the 22nd of September. You may notice that I am skiing an old pair of my slalom ski's Vintage 1992 skinny and pretty straight.

Hey WINTER IS COMING WHOO HOOOO...

Kieren

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Glacier Skill training on the awesome Glacier - in the Northern Monashees

2008-09-21T16:57:00.000-07:00

21st September

I Just Finished a week of Glacier skills training with the Canadian Ski Guide Association up near Blue River. We Climbed to the top of Awesome Peak over 10,000 ft and walking over an increbible Glacier.

(The Picture attached show some view of some of the peaks around our base camp - just under the toe of the Awesome Glacier)

We Also Climbed Benny's peak - I was neveous using Crampon's and ice Axe seriously for the 1st time - But once we go the hang of it it was great. We got also to the very peak doing some Mixed climbing on a number of sections. Once at the peak there was a good 4,000-5,000 ft almost vertical drop on once side

We also made an attempt on Mt Albreda but did not reach the top as the approach was much longer than we had estimated.

We spent a number of days working on rope skills Practicing working knots through Crevasse Rescue systems and Generally trying out diffecult problems.

A few nights we slept out in the stars and got snow and rain, and thunder and Lightning.

The instructors, Bob, Eric, and Erin did a great job. This was a terrific experience and a great course. I am now hoping to get up to more more Glaciers before the winter starts.

Kieren

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Kieren "Making It Big In The Snow World" - SMH

2008-09-18T23:45:00.000-07:00

The "Little Miss Snow It All" ski blog on the Sydney Morning Herald website mentions Kieren as one of 8 Aussies making it big in the snow world, and features his picture.

Big Red Cats - Goes to venus

2008-09-18T23:05:00.000-07:00

5th new skiing and riding mountain opened in 4 years

Big Red Cats today announced the opening of its 5th mountain for skiing and riding, which will add about 20 new advanced to expert runs.

In addition to the new “Mt Venus”, Big Red Cats has also opened another 20-30 runs on adjacent Mt Neptune, Pluto, and Mackie for this winter, with the addition of 20km of new snowcat roads and extensive glading.

This opens Big Red Cats’ 5th Mountain in 4 years - a new mountain with 2,000 skiable acres (about the size of Aspen Mountain) each year.

Big Red Cats president Kieren Gaul said “building out on Mt Venus is crazy – we had to hike in for 2.5 hours each morning run the chain saw for 5-6 hours – and then hike out again for another 2.5 hours. But we are stoked to be able to offer the new terrain to our guests.”

Gaul also said that this fall that they are “glading about 50 runs, which will make the skiing at Big Red Cats that much more fun and safe”.

Gaul said “I am really happy – the numbers now say it all; 5 mountains, 4 snowcats, 250 runs. Big Red Cats has really come of age and now offers some of the best cat skiing and riding on the planets” (3 of their mountain are named after planets, Neptune, Pluto, and Venus)” “Another sure sign that we have grown up is that we have been inundated this fall with resumes of guides that want to work with us”

Big Red Cats is based in Rossland BC, just north of legendary Red Mountain BC, long known for its outstanding tree skiing. Big Red Cats operates in the same range as Red but has about 5 times the area.

Big Red Cats will be commencing its 4th season in 2008/2009 and is one of the largest cat skiing operations in the world, running up to 3 passenger cats per day with guests. Big Red Cats is the only cat skiing operation in BC to offer separate expert, advanced, and intermediate snowcats.

The picture - above shows the view looking back from Mt Venus - to Mt Mackie.

Cat Skiing Has Begun with one Snow Dump After Another

2006-11-27T20:57:00.000-08:00

As I gaze out my window, I see at least 2 feet of fresh snow balancing on the balcony rail (how does it DO that? Not much wind round these parts). and the streetlight illuminates a huge dumping of snow as it plops straight onto my driveway. Does the prospect of shoveling get me down? Heck, no, I'm in the snow business!
On 28 Nov, we already have about 1.5 metres of snow in our cat skiing area - enough that we can start operating! It is really nice, light, Kootenay Powder too. The only problem is that it is falling so fast that we're working hard just to keep our snow roads open! Worse problems I could definitely have.
Looks like we'll even break even this year, which is great for our second year of operation, though we're still trying to drive volume with specials like "Teens Half Price" to bring the families in.
Above is a photo of our snowcat on 23 Nov (BEFORE the last two snowstorms!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v7CyY8FGoJo also - here's a video that one of our friends from SkiVT sent us about their catskiing trip last year.

I like this catskiing photo

2006-10-04T17:01:00.000-07:00

"Send the next one down.." Kieren, pictured with Craig Lessels and Doug Warbrick's back, guiding a group of skiers above the "Kootenay Ocean" (the clouds in the background). Thanks to Craig for sending in the photo.

Thinking Outside the Box

2006-09-01T14:10:00.000-07:00

Thinking outside the box (box shown above)...
That's what we're up to now, as the summer comes to a close, the kids head to school, and we concentrate more on fixing up our snowcat roads and improving the terrain, heading off to the ski shows, and taking bookings. We spent the last couple of months in Sydney, as Kieren was able to pick up a consulting job doing treasury finance, which was his previous career. Of course, we did make a trip to Thredbo as well, sponsored a couple of races, and did some marketing.
New specials this year include teens with a parent coming for half price, so hopefully that will inspire a bit of family bonding and allow some people to come out who might not have been able to pull it off otherwise. Besides that, we have some early season and multi-day discounts that still make us one of the cheapest (though fantastic) catskiing operators around. As we're located at Red Resort, it should be easy for people to add one or two days of fresh tracks to their holiday.
We've launched a new website, www.bigredcatskiing.com, as well as the original www.bigredcats.com , and for anyone looking for the full list of all the catski operations, it is published on www.cat-ski.com .
We're watching the Southern Oscillation Index, hoping it won't be a strong El Nino year, as that brings fewer people to the resort. However, even in the bad year two years ago, we still had snow up in our area, as the elevation was higher than most ski resorts in BC. It's just that it sometimes puts people off of booking. Now that we have 2 snowcats, and a third for road-building, we really need those bookings.
Must run, smells like it's time to change the baby...

The Perfect Season to Start a Snowcat Operation

2006-02-05T10:38:00.000-08:00

As I sit here in my home office watching my neighbour dig a ramp up the snow cliff we call our snowbank and highmark his snowmobile to get it back into his yard, I realize how lucky we were to start our catskiing business this year of all years. (My neighbour flew high into the air, and lawn-darted into the middle of the yard... they have the shovels out again).
We have so much snow (245cm base today at the study plot, but some spots are deeper), the foot penetration is 75cm today, and the base is solid and relatively safe. We've had an average of about 10cm most days, and very few days without any at all. A bit of a crust on Christmas and on Bobby Burns Day, but mostly just good deep snow. Had we started last year, it could have been a disaster, with the 6-week drought we had last season... but we didn't, we started this year, and it's going really well.
Starting on 27 December, we ran one cat most days, and Richard's been keeping the cats purring along exceptionally well. With the luxury of the second cat to cannibalize from time to time, we managed to get every customer who booked out for their ski day (except for Christmas and Boxing Day, which we refunded due to a dangerous rain crust). During that process, we've learned, for example to always have a selection of extra hydraulic hoses and fluid on hand. Now that we're running two cats for most of February, being prepared for the inevitable hose ruptures is paramount. The big 2-cat mechanic shed is coming in really handy, I can't imagine going without, or without Richard, who is a miracle worker with those machines.
We've also been lucky to start this season, as we've been a marketing partner with Red Resort, and they're on a huge marketing push at the moment. With journalists from Powder, Ski Canada, Skiing, Ski Press, and SKI Germany coming through, as long as we are running a good operation, it has to be helpful. Feedback so far is that it is a good operation. From Red it's easy to get to, inexpensive for day trips, organized, lots of runs, and great snow and nice gladed skiing. No glaciers or super-steep open chutes, but a well-run and fun day, and people say they'll be back. So far we've sold about 950 seats for the season, which is far more than we'd expected, and the best thing is that most of those people seem to be having a great time.
The photo above was taken by Zargon Studios on 17 January, for more photos check out the gallery at www.bigredcats.com.

December starting well

2005-12-04T17:52:00.000-08:00

The above photo is of the Red Resort management team checking out our area - if you look closely you can see the pistes of Red behind their heads.
Red Mountain opened on the 2nd of December, and I'd highly recommend checking out the Opening Day video that they have on their website http://www.redresort.com/today/video/ - it was an epic day, and the best opening in years. They'll have all of the lifts running on Friday 9 Dec, which should be another incredible powderfest. Yes, we are in the same mountain range as Red, and the terrain is quite similar (ours just has fewer tracks on it).
Back at Big Red Cats, we're taking our time and making sure that it'll be safe, as it's our inaugural season. Roddy McGowan, the supervisory guide, shows up on Friday the 9th, followed by lots of terrain and snow pack assessments and avalanche risk evaluation with avalanche expert Larry Stanier. Our training days for our volunteer tailguides are the 15 & 16th of Dec, Keith Robine is running a recreational avalanche course (CAA certified RAC) on the 16-18th, Kieren is doing some marketing at the Warren Miller show in Seattle on the 17th, and our first day of operation is the 20th! So, it'll be a busy couple of weeks, and then the Christmas rush is on. The best thing is that there's lots of early snow, we've got our snow roads built to the summit, and I think we're on track for a great opening.

Winter is here

2005-11-11T21:25:00.000-08:00

Above photo is of Keith Robine, who will be running a Canadian Avalanche Association Recreational Avalanche Course in our territory on the 16-18 Dec. We'll drop the group up at the top, and they'll learn to assess avalanche hazards, dig snow pits, and use avalanche transceivers before ski-touring back down to the highway.
They've been up there ski-touring in knee to hip-deep powder, exploring new territory as they punch the snow roads up the mountain.
Neither El Nino nor La Nina, this year the jet stream should stay right on top of us and send us dump after dump of powder.
Talk about strange weather today - a warm and sunny Remembrance Day. I spent 7 years in the military doing those parades, and every single year there was stiff cold winds and sleet, and fingers frozen to rifles and swords. Glad that's behind me. Far better things to be doing in cold weather!
The last couple of warm days have consolidated the snowpack, and now it's cooling down and snowing again, so we should have fresh powder over a firm base. How good is that?

Huge Snow Dump

2005-11-03T12:01:00.000-08:00

The snow has arrived, and suddenly the traffic on our website has tripled. Nothing like the weather-lady talking about "big systems" to make our minds turn to fresh powder - and we've got it!
Here's a picture taken from the front of my house yesterday. Bear in mind that our house is at 1200 metres, but the catski area goes from 1500-2200 metres, so there is more snow up there (it snows continuously up there, when it switches to rain down here at the base of Red). In fact, it's hip-deep in some spots, but it still doesn't have a strong base covering the weeds and stumps etc. BUT - that is what this snowfall will do! Seeing as we're not scheduled to start operating until Dec 20th, we should be nice and deep by then! Richard will have to start grooming the snow roads shortly - so thankfully, the snowcat is purring and our roads are all cut!
And it's still snowing!
Kieren will be in the Whitewater booth at the Portland Ski Show this weekend, and you can pick up info at the Chicago Show from the Red Resort booth this weekend. Anyone to make contact at a ski show and make a booking before Dec 15th enters a draw for a free pair of Rossignal B4 Bandit fat skis! (Your odds of winning are even better if you enter a group and put your name in 12 times...)

Big Red Cats - Snowcat Skiing Specials

2005-09-16T09:14:00.000-07:00

You can check out www.bigredcats.com to see the Opening Day "Ladies First" special for only $150 per person, and get free fat ski rental if you book before the end of October. There are also some combo packages including catskiing, lifted skiing at Red Resort and Whitewater, and lodging at the Red Shutter Inn www.redshutter.ca at Red Mountain. Check out some of the lines we made on the backside of Mount Crowe last year - on March 30th! We have 18,500 acres and run separate trips for intermediates who need some powder coaching, for advanced skiers who are comfortable in powder, and for experts who want to maximize their steeps and cumulative vertical.

Big Red Cats - Up and Running this Season!

2005-09-16T08:52:00.000-07:00

It's official! Red Mountain and Rossland will have a snowcat skiing operation in its backyard this winter - Big Red Cats! Named after "Big Red", the housecat at the Red Shutter Inn, and of course, implying nearness to Red Resort (15 minutes UP the highway) and the fact that the terrain is large (18,500 skiable acres - over 50 "runs" - some are half a mile wide).
The two Pisten Bully 280D's came from Gus at Mount Bailey, and are in getting a fresh coating of red paint while Richard the driver/mechanic puts the new tracks together. Hopefully we can convince some of Gus' old clients to follow the cats up north to BC as well.
A bit of a blizzard on September 9th got us all excited about the season, but it's melted off now. They say that when it's a good huckleberry year, it's a good snow year, and I'll tell you what - it's a bumper year for the huckles! (Incidentally, last year was a bad berry year and the Northwest had a terrible snow year as well, so this saying just might have some truth to it).
Our peak rates are only C$299 (US$249), and off-peak is less. Best of all will be our Opening Day, only $150 each for Local Ladies. We expect it to be sometime around December 20th, but will happen as soon as it is safe enough to run the first tour. Will post photos when we have them!