Whitewater's base shop rents the $75 standard package, and we found no shop in town that does. Downtown, on Baker and Hall Streets, you rent touring kits, splitboards, demo skis and snowboards, and from mid-April Nelson rents paddleboards at the lakeside marina and e-bikes on Vernon Street.
Where do Whitewater skiers pick up their rentals?
For a regular ski or snowboard package, rent at the hill, where the walk-in Rental & Repair Shop asks $75 a day for standard gear or $95 for high performance. The Nelson shops on Baker and Hall Streets rent specialty gear instead, from The Sacred Ride's high-performance skis and splitboards to ROAM's touring kits and Gericks' Nordic and demo skis. Collect anything from town the day before you drive up.
What can you rent in Nelson between April and October?
Paddleboards, kayaks and canoes from Nelson Paddleboard & Kayak at the Prestige Lakeside marina, from $25 an hour, and Orbea e-bikes from Electric Larry Land on Vernon Street, from $100 a half day. The Nelson Cycling Club looks after more than 180 trails, the rail trail runs 48 km to Salmo, and the Kootenay Lake Ferry from Balfour is free.
Whitewater base and downtown Nelson
Whitewater's base shop is the one counter we found renting a standard package. Downtown, each shop has its own specialty, from Tribute's snowboards to ROAM's touring kits, and only The Sacred Ride takes rental bookings online.
| Shop | Adult skis, 1 day | Snowboard, 1 day | Rents | Book |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Whitewater Rental & Repair Shop
Skier Services Building at the base
|
$75 package | $75 package | Standard and high-performance ($95) packages, kids' sizes, backcountry kits ($140), repairs and tuning | Walk-in |
|
Hummingbird Lodge Nordic rentals
Hummingbird Lodge, Parking Lot 3
|
$35 Nordic package | No snowboards | Cross-country skis and boots, snowshoes ($35); half day from 12:30 pm | Walk-in only |
| Shop | Adult skis, 1 day | Snowboard, 1 day | Rents | Book |
|---|---|---|---|---|
The Sacred Ride
213B Baker Street
Closed Sundays
|
$69.95 skis only | $69.95 board only | High-performance skis and boards, boots ($69.95), splitboards ($79.95), skins, transceivers, touring packs | Book online → |
ROAM (Rivers Oceans and Mountains)
405 Hall Street
|
$120 touring kit | Not listed | Touring skis with skins ($85), boots ($25), shovel and probe, airbag packs ($60); tech bindings only | Email, allow 24 hours |
Gerick Cycle & Ski
702 Baker Street
Saturday after 2 pm runs to Monday
|
$50 demo skis, tax in | Not listed | Cross-country packages ($40, $35 a day for longer), adult downhill demo skis without boots or poles, kids' season leases | Walk-in, first come |
Tribute Boardshop
556 Baker Street
|
Ask in store | Snowboards only: Nidecker, Capita, Cardiff, Gnu, Lib Tech, Korua and Jones | Not published | |
All prices CAD and before GST, from each shop's rate page in late October 2026, except Gericks, which quotes its demo skis with tax in.
Whitewater's chairs don't run in summer, so Nelson heads down to the West Arm of Kootenay Lake and up into the trails between Morning Mountain and Mountain Station.
Marine fuel on the West Arm is at the Prestige Lakeside Resort, and on the main lake at Woodbury Resort.
Paddleboards and single kayaks at $25 an hour, $40 for two or $65 all day, and tandems or canoes at $35, $55 or $95. An evening rental from 4 pm to 11 am is $40. Spring hours are Thursday to Sunday, 1 to 6 pm.
Rates →Fishing charters, a 2-hour boat tour of the Upper West Arm, and a 3-hour tour that carries on into the main lake.
Their website →Balfour to Kootenay Bay in 35 minutes, billed by the tourism board as the longest free ferry in Canada. Two boats run in summer, and nobody takes bookings.
Ferry details →Pontoons, tri-toons, deck boats and sport boats from 9 to 5, by the half day, full day or longer. Fuel and tax are extra.
Boats and rates →Rafting, river kayak tours and kayak or paddleboard courses in Crescent Valley, about 30 minutes west. It also rents boards, kayaks, float tubes and rafts.
Their website →Kayak, canoe and paddleboard rentals, tours and lessons up the lake at Kaslo, back open in May 2027.
Their website →Orbea Wild all-mountain e-bikes at $150 for 4 hours or $200 for 8, and the lighter Kerram for the rail trail at $100 or $150. Open 8 am to 5 pm daily at 324 Vernon Street; reservations preferred.
Their website →The club looks after more than 180 trails around town, from Morning Mountain to Mountain Station.
Trail info →The old rail grade from Nelson through Ymir to Salmo, and the kind of riding Electric Larry Land rents its Kerram e-bikes for.
Route →Gericks rides on Tuesdays and runs the 10 Spot Enduro Series; The Sacred Ride rides on Wednesdays.
Gericks →Guided bike tours and hikes in summer from the same Baker Street outfit that guides ski touring in winter.
Their website →No lifts, but 13 hiking trails start at the Hummingbird Lodge & Campground, among them the Summit Trail, White Queen West Ridge and the Ymir Peak Trail, plus a 1.3 km adaptive bike trail.
Trails →Town shops or the hill
Pick by the gear. A plain package means the base shop at Whitewater, and anything for touring, splitboarding or demo days means a downtown counter.
From Baker Street up Highway 6 to the lifts
Kilometers still to drive at each stop, measured to the Whitewater base.
Nelson Kootenay Lake Tourism calls the region the cat ski capital of the world and lists five cat operations. Baldface and Retallack keep offices in town, and Baldface runs a shuttle from Nelson to its day operation.
Where the cat and heli trips start
Only White Grizzly publishes a drive time from Nelson.
Nelson sits where Highways 3A and 6 meet on the West Arm of Kootenay Lake. Spokane is the closest big airport, 240 km and about 3 hours away by Whitewater's figures; Calgary is 7 hours and Vancouver 7.5.
Runs every day the hill is open, $10 plus GST one way or $15 round trip. The first bus leaves Safeway at 8:10 am, calls at downtown and lakeside hotels, and reaches the base at 9:10. Buses come down at 2:35 and 4:20 pm.
Winter tire and chain signs on B.C. highways apply from October 1 through April 30, and Whitewater warns that the mountain passes see winter weather from October. Fit winter tires before you come. B.C. rules →
West Kootenay Regional Airport is 44 km from the hill, with daily Air Canada flights to Vancouver only. Baldface advises against it in winter because of weather cancellations, and Air Canada runs a bus when flights are canceled. Glacier Cab (250-354-1111) drives to the airport.
Last winter Kootenay Charters ran a 24-seat coach to Spokane on Wednesdays and Friday to Monday, from December 13 to April 6. It left the Prestige Lakeside at 6 am, reached Spokane by 11:30, and was back in Nelson around 7 pm.
Five lots, with HOV parking for cars carrying three or more. Accessible parking is at the front of Lot 4. Overnight backcountry parking is Lot 3 only, with your trip plan filed with Dispatch on 250-354-4944 ext. 136.
Free, 35 minutes from Balfour to Kootenay Bay, and first come, first served. The Osprey 2000 carries 80 cars all year from 6:30 am, and the smaller M.V. Balfour joins it in summer. BC Transit's North Shore bus runs from Ward Street to the Balfour terminal and carries bikes. Ferry details →
Stock up before the hill at the Kootenay Co-op, 777 Baker Street, open 8 am to 8 pm, or Ellison's Market on Front Street. The Safeway is the shuttle's first stop.
Four chairs and a handle tow climb 614 m from a 1,630 m base in the shadow of Ymir Peak, serving 119 runs on about 12 m of snow a winter, none of it man-made. Opening day for 2026-27 hasn't been announced; last season opened on December 12.
The beginner ticket covers the Silver King Chair and the Hummer Handle Tow, $84 for an adult, and 10 of the 119 runs are green. Free Mountain Tours of the green and blue terrain meet beside the rental shop steps at the northwest corner of the Day Lodge.
Thirty-four blue runs. The Raven chair, opened in 2023, added 123 acres and 14 runs, and Bonanza has been regraded so it can be groomed on about 100 cm of snow instead of 120 to 150.
Fifty-six black runs and 19 double blacks. This winter the Short Side comes inbounds, roughly 75 hectares with six new runs between Giddy Up Gully and Sproulers, and there's new glading in Tailings, Quicksilver, Monkey Trees and Jack Leg Glades.
The backcountry off the lifts has a check-in board, and there's a Transceiver Training Park by the Day Lodge. One Ride lift tickets for backcountry users go on sale in person from December 4.
6.1 km of trails from the Hummingbird Lodge in Lot 3, also reached on the Meadow Trail from the base. They're open 9 am to 3 pm, the Nordic Day Pass is free, and dogs are welcome.
Raven, which also carries the names Yutlx and Qukin, and Summit are quads, Silver King is a double, and Glory is a triple bought used from Vail that first ran on Christmas Eve 2010. With the Hummer Handle Tow, the lifts move 5,700 people an hour.
75 of 119 runs are black or double black, plus backcountry you reach from the lifts.
Around 12 m a winter, all of it natural.
Ten green runs, and the beginner ticket covers one double chair and a handle tow.
None on the mountain. The Hummingbird Lodge Cafe has the only wifi.
Our own marks for Whitewater, each out of 5.
Kids from age 3 and adults on weekly programs learn with Whitewater's Snow School. For touring past the ropes, two guiding outfits based in Nelson have AST and rescue courses dated from late November.
Lessons and multi-week programs, from Little Muckers (4 to 5) and Jokers (6 to 8) to Women on Wednesdays, Freedom Fridays and Steeps Bumps & Trees. The downtown office is on 250-354-4944.
Their website →Two hours of powder guiding around the resort with a Whitewater guide, for ages 16 and up.
Their website →AST 1 on November 28 and 29, 2026, and AST 2 from December 17 to 20 with more dates January to March, all in Nelson. Also companion rescue, ski touring and mountaineering.
Their website →ACMG-certified guides for ski touring and splitboarding, AST courses and lodge trips, guiding since 2017. Mountain Rescue courses run November 20 to 22 and December 18 to 20.
Their website →Fishing charters and lodging at Kokanee Park Marina. The tourism board says Kootenay Lake doesn't freeze, so fishing carries on all winter, when the big fish come up from the deep.
Their website →Shelley Adams, who co-owned Whitewater until 2008, wrote the Whitewater Cooks books, and the Glory Bowl and the Summit Burger are on the hill's menus. In town, most of the eating is on Baker Street and the blocks either side.
The cafe in the Day Lodge, at 5,400 ft.
The Day Lodge pub, pouring Nelson Brewing Company beer.
A lodge with a wood stove at the bottom of the Glory chair. In 2012 it was a food truck.
By the Nordic trails in Lot 3, open year-round, and the one place on the mountain with wifi.
A Nelson coffee house near Ward Street, going since 1993.
In the Adventure Hotel on Vernon Street, where the shuttle stops at 8:30 am.
On the corner of Ward and Baker.
A cafe inside what the tourism board calls Canada's oldest food co-op grocery, 777 Baker Street, 8 am to 8 pm.
153 Baker Street, open 7 am to 9 pm, and to 10 pm on Fridays and Saturdays.
616 Baker Street, 11 am to 9 pm Monday to Saturday and closed Sundays. It claims Nelson's first outdoor patio.
Steaks in the Adventure Hotel, 616 Vernon Street.
Run by Night Owl Hospitality, a Nelson company, with sister restaurants in Revelstoke and Kelowna.
Brewing at 512 Latimer Street since 1991. It's the beer at Coal Oil Johnny's too.
On Baker Street, open from noon and until 10 pm Thursday to Saturday.
The Library Lounge, Mike's Place Pub and a beer garden at 422 Vernon Street. The shuttle picks up here at 8:40 am.
November is Burger Month in Nelson, with more than 35 restaurants taking part, and April brings 14 Days of Poutine.
Before Highway 6
Whitewater has no phone signal and the shuttle runs twice a day, so plan these before you leave town.
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FAQ
Answers checked October 2026. Prices and rules change each season, so confirm with the operator before you go.
Contact UsRent a standard ski or snowboard package at Whitewater, where the Rental & Repair Shop in the Skier Services Building charges $75 a day; we found no shop in town renting one. Nelson's shops rent specialty gear. The Sacred Ride has high-performance skis, boards and splitboards, ROAM has touring kits, Gericks has cross-country packages and downhill demo skis, and Tribute rents snowboards.
Photos: Rweactcm (CC0), Masterhatch (CC BY-SA 4.0), Green slash (CC BY-SA 3.0), Kyle Pearce (CC BY-SA 2.0)
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