Kootenay: Parks and recreation

If you only had two words to describe the Kootenay Region, you would have to say mountains and lakes. In this region, wilderness parks, a national park, a conservancy park and provincial parks offer every outdoor activity imaginable.

Wilderness Parks Valhalla
Kokanee Glacier
Conservancy Park Purcell Wilderness
National Park Kootenay National Park
Provincial Parks Arrow Lakes
Blanket Creek
Champion Lakes
Cody Caves
Goat Range
Kianuko
Kokanee Creek
Kootenay Lake
Lockhart Beach
Martha Creek
McDonald Creek
Monashee
Nancy Greene
Rosebery
Syringa Creek
West Arm

Summer Recreation

Summer recreation in the Kootenay region is a memorable experience because of the pristine beauty of each setting. The activities available include camping, canoeing, kayaking, caving, cycling, hang gliding, paragliding, horseback riding, hiking, backpacking, mountain biking, river rafting, windsurfing, fishing, golfing and sightseeing.

Golf is a popular pastime in the region, with eight courses in the western and central areas, and 12 courses in the eastern and northern areas.

Mountain biking is a huge summer sport in the Kootenay Region. The Rubberhead, a mountain bike festival held in Rossland each year, took its name from one of the hundreds of trails around the area. In fact, Rossland is known as Canada’s mountain biking capital.

Winter Recreation

Every snow sport imaginable is available in the Kootenay region. Skiing, snowboarding, snowshoeing and snowmobiling are just a few of the winter sports that draw people outdoors in this region.

There are seven ski resorts in the Kootenay Region:

  • Summit Lake Ski Area, Nakusp
  • Whitewater Ski Resort, Nelson
  • Red Mountain Resort, Rossland
  • Salmo Ski Hill, Salmo
  • Panorama Ski Resort, Invermere
  • Kimberley Resort, Kimberley
  • Alpine Ski Resort, Fernie


Helicopter skiing originated in the Kootenays, and the outdoor adventure has been perfected here. The first helicopter ski adventure on record was in 1965 in the Purcell Bugaboos. These days, heli-ski has spread across the continent, and the experience is almost routine. If you snowboard instead of ski, the term is heli-boarding or cat-boarding. If you use a machine that’s part snowmobile and part tractor to get into the mountains, it’s called cat-skiing.