Kootenay Roadtrip Winter Slaycation
Kootenay Mountain Culture Magazine throws on the winter tires and takes a rip around our backyard looking for new food, booze, and things to do.
By Vince Hempsall. Photos by Peter Moynes.
The taco is the new hamburger. No matter where you are in the West Kootenay region of British Columbia now, you can find an absolutely delicious taco. Deep in downtown Trail or Castlegar there are the new restaurants Taco Debacle and Tacos El Gringo respectively. The Angry Hen Brewing Company in Kaslo started serving food recently and on the menu is a “Falafel piTaco.” Hell, you can be shredding the Cracker Jack run at Red Mountain Resort and need only step three metres off the slope to grab a Spanish Chorizo at Taco Rojo!
Photographer Peter Moynes and I recently did a five-day “slaycation” mission to explore the West Kootenay winter and tacos became our primary fuel. And beer, because that’s the other great tasting thing you can find plenty of in the West Kootenay. We were tasked with finding new and alternative things to do in this region that’s already world famous for its downhill, backcountry, heli- and cat-skiing. So we travelled from Rossland and Trail to Castlegar to Nelson and Kaslo shredding snowy singletrack on fat bikes, baking in barrels, nordic skiing, bowling, and yes, we even fished. Through it all we ate like los gobernadores and drank tasty craft beer. So much craft beer. This is our report.
