At the top of Red Mountain, British Columbia, 2,900 feet above us, wind-driven snow has sculpted trees into pure-white creatures out of Dr. This snow - a dusting of powder as fine as talc - made no sound at all; skiing through it was like frosting a huge cake with your feet. Today, with a population half that - a number very close to its elevation at 3,410 feet - the only remnants of the mining era are a wonderful museum on the edge of town and a still-operating smelter in Trail, six miles away on the Columbia River. While they were signing papers, another real estate agent in the office, Paula Gaul, who owns the Red Shutter Inn at the mountain, offered, out of the blue, a couple of seats the next day on her husband’s snow cat for some backcountry powder skiing. read more