Below me, the Purcell range of the Kootenays spreads out to the west and north. The sweeping view also includes the wide, meandering Columbia River and the town of Golden to the south, and, to the east, the Rockies and Alberta. I stare hard toward the start of the so-called “green” run—a narrow-looking path across the top of a saddle that seems to drop away around a bend in the distance—and seriously wonder whether to abort my mission. The run is called “It’s a Ten” because it’s 10 kilometres long. Those raised on eastern Canadian slopes will know that the longest runs in Ontario are nowhere near that long (about three kilometres max in Ontario; six in Quebec). Should I go back down on the gondola? Head into the Eagle’s Eye restaurant right here at the top for a hot chocolate and think about it?

In the end, my shortness of breath forces the decision: the only way I’ll get my lungs back is to get lower, so I dig in my poles and push off down the narrow slope towards who-knows-what-peril.

It turns out to be a wonderful run, and not knowing what lies around each bend is a rush. The snow is mostly groomed and really fast, and the skiing is easy, although it takes 30 minutes to get down — a quad-crusher when you’re used to much shorter runs. Once down, I catch up with Jules and heartily endorse “It’s a Ten,” and up we head together. When he sees what awaits, he looks like I’d felt—but he dares it, too, and loves it. As a reward for our bravery, we ride the gondola up once more, this time for a comfort-food lunch of burgers with truffle fries at the Eagle’s Eye, Canada’s highest-elevation restaurant.

To see this part of Canada in winter is a revelation. The route through Yoho National Park and then Glacier National Park and Rogers Pass is spectacularly beautiful, and we got lucky with highway conditions (it’s recommended that would-be road-trippers check the Drive BC website before heading out to make sure there are no road closures due to avalanches or heavy snowfall).

There’s plenty to do off the slopes, too. During our stay at Kicking Horse Mountain Resort, we venture into Golden, just 15 minutes away, to check out the popular Whitetooth Brewing (the Blower Pow IPA is a favourite) and dine on B.C. salmon paired with Okanagan wines at a bistro called — you guessed it — the Whitetooth (both are named for a local peak). We follow that up with a stroll across Canada’s longest free-standing timber-frame bridge, which spans the Kicking Horse River.

When we get to the town of Revelstoke, located a couple of hours west (and in a different time zone, Pacific) we find it’s also lively, charming, friendly—and practically buried in snow. Presided over by Mount Begbie, Revelstoke gets so much of the stuff that, for local homeowners, shovelling your roof is a thing. The average annual snowfall is close to four metres; in Toronto and Calgary, it’s around one. The other mandatory activity for locals, besides shovelling? “Everyone here skis on powder days if they can, at least in the morning,” explains ski guide Chris Pawlitsky on the way up in the gondola at Revelstoke Mountain Resort. “Work can wait until afternoon.”