Dec
28
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Hope everyone’s finding some freshies out there! All the best in the New Year!
Austin
Dec
17
Whistler/Blackcomb has made some thoughtful changes this season that should not go unnoticed. Up until this year every restaraunt had multiple garbage cans making it all too easy for people to quickly dispose of everything left on their trays after their meal. Cans and bottles that could be recycled, left over food that should be composted and paper were thrown away. Luckily they have now hired a whole team of people to take the trays to a special area and sort through them. Remember going in for water breaks and having to fill three of those tiny plastic cups to wet your tongue before tossing them in the garbage and carrying on? This year they’ve introduced large, red, reusable plastic cups to further elminate unnecessary waste. Nice work team! I’d like to give everyone a friendly reminder to be conscious of what you can do to help preserve the earth. Re use water bottles, carry cloth grocery bags and turn the water off when your brushing your teeth. Every little bit helps. For more information check out http://www.ec.gc.ca/default.asp?lang=En&n=8B2F9F48-1Af
If you look closely at the left tower you can see a whole sandwich. Enough said.
Dec
17
Yesterday as I ski’d down from Blackcomb Mountain and made my way to the base of the hill I noticed a large crowd gathered at the Fitzimmons bus loop. Firemen, police officers, paramedics and Whistler Mountain ski patrollers were on the scene. Tower four of the Excalibur Gondola broke in half and sent three gondola cabins bouncing on the cable. One of the cabins went through the corner of a bus shelter, one was left hanging above the creek and the other got lodged between a tree and a house. There were no major injuries reported and everyone was evacuated safely.
Dec
15
On Saturday a group of ten long time local skiers got together with the Coast Mountain Guides Bureau to learn about glacier safety and crevasse rescue.
Our first part of the day was spent learning what equipment/tools are necessary to carry when travelling in the backcountry and some basics regarding how a glacier moves and what signs to be on the look out for when alpine touring.
Here, Guillaume Otis, one of our guides shows us a diagram of a ski anchor system used to save someone who’s fallen inside a crevasse.
Next we all headed up Blackcomb Mountain to the Rendezvous Restaraunt where we watched a demonstration on how to to properly set up a C haul system to rescue a crevasse victim.
Here’s Kye making a chest and leg harness out of a piece of webbing. This is super important to know in case the person you’re saving isn’t wearing a harness.
Two of our three guides, Guillaume from Canada and Christoff from Chamonix, France.
Local ripper and the only snowboarder in the course, Geoff Bate listens as Christoff shows us some knot tying.
Andrew Bradley, roped in.
The third, and most fun part of our course was when we headed into the field to put our knowledge to the test. Here’s the crew at the top of the Blow Hole on Blackcomb Glacier. Time to see how well everyone was paying attention.
Guillaume waist deep in his ski anchor hole.
Matty Richard showing us his prussik.
Thanks to Guillaume, Alex and Christoff for passing along important parts of their extensive knowledge to the rest of us. Look forward to our next course together! If anyone is interested in getting a group together to take a specialized backcountry ski/snowboard course visit The Nordic Shop located next to Buffalo BIlls in Whistler Village. Backcountry safety procedures are super important for anyone wanting to take the next step in enjoying the alpine and exploring further from their resort.
Dec
11
This high pressure system left us with another clear day here in beautiful Whistler British Columbia. Callum, Kye, myself and photographer Bruce Rowles made our way up the Seventh Heaven access road as soon as we got up the the hill.
Black Tusk in the distance.
Seventh Heaven Chair. Callum and Kye hoofing it.
Almost there.
Green Lake from the our rest point.
Self portrait from the summit. Time for the oatmeal bar and water break.
We scoped our first shot from the ridge up from the Horstman Hut. Callum and I ski’d the Stupids and continued to traverse to the top of the Showcase T Bar. From there we had a short boot pack to the top of the ridge where we dropped in for our first fresh tracks of the day.
Callum up top. This is what we worked for, yeah bud.
The view into the Blackcomb Glacier from the top of the Showcase T Bar.
Here’s a look back at our traverse track. Check out how rad the line in the sun to the left is! That’s going to get hit. Look a little closer and you can see the crevasses in the ski out.
I got Callum to snap a shot of me before he dropped in. Thanks bro, nice turns!
Here’s the KPDC checking out his line.
Here’s the spine jump we hit in the Blowhole. Had a few good turns, a straight air and a flat spin 450 before skiing the road out. Check back to see Bruce’s action shots.
Top of the T Bar. Check out Callum, Kye and I in the shadows. Thought this was an interesting shot. There was some great light today but we’ll definately have to show up a bit earlier next time to take full advantage of it.
Here’s a snap shot of the full moon from the grocery store parking lot in Nesters before our trek home to Pemberton for the evening. Now it’s time to rinse/dry/repeat. Rinse of the sweat, dry out our ski boots and repeat it all again tomorrow morning! Bless.
Dec
10
The cloud layer hovered around mid mountain today keeping everyone in the valley trapped in the fog. The rest of us that were lucky enough to be in the alpine were blessed with some breathtaking views and great snow. Matty Richard, Brett Crabtree, Maxim Arsenault and I boot packed from the top of Jersey Cream chair up the Seventh Heaven road to the Blackcomb Peak. Our mission today was Husumi.
The cat road.
Acadian, Matty Richard.
The North face of Fissile. Can’t wait.
Whistler Mountain from Blackcomb.
Top of the first climb. Max and I traversed to the Blow Hole while Brett and Matty had some nice turns on the bomb tram.
Matty on his way to traverse to our final boot pack. There were a lot of open crevasses, everyone had to be aware of their line.
Blackomb Glacier.
Corona Bowl.
The final traverse to Husumi was the most consequential part of the day. The opening was a small mandatory air and there was no crashing, otherwise you’d be deep in the glacier. Check out these crevasses.
The view in from the top of our line. Spirits are high as we all drop in. Definately well worth the work for some awesome pow pow.
Here’s the view from the bottom, seconds after we ski’d. Time to race the rescue road and get some food!
Sublime day boys! Thanks for the vibe session.
Dec
7
What’s up shred bros and sistahs?? Hope everyone’s ski season has started out well. It’s hard to believe it’s December here in Whistler, there isn’t any snow on the ground! Obstacles that are usually hidden deep beneath our coastal snow pack are protruding out in all directions. While this can be somewhat dangerous, it also adds a certain entertainment factor.
Yesterday Kye, Callum, Pierrot and I made use of the two runs open on Whistler Mountain by linking together some natural features. We had a quarter pipe up top, a perfect backflip jump, a hefty fence gap, a giant snow wall perfect for presses and a roller section at the bottom that made my legs feel like rubber. Today we spun laps of Blackcomb’s Highest Level park airing off the knowls getting our 360s back.
If you haven’t already tried them, get out and ski on a pair of Rossignol S7’s! I’ll tell you the same thing I told the handful of people that commented on them at the mountain, “they’ll change your skiing, and change your life.” The reverse camber style ski is the hottest thing since cheese graders!
Shout out to everyone that still went skiing/riding today even though we woke to the sound of rain on our rooves. It’s refreshing to see so many people all sharing their love of the mountain and the sport, even with the lack of snow in this town. Let’s all send some energy to Mother Nature so she’ll grace us with some big flakes soon. I know I’m dreaming of a White Christmas!
Dec
4
This summer on June 25th I underwent my first surgery to heal my dislocating left shoulder. Needless to say having your arm pop out of it’s socket is not the most comfortable feeling in the world and the more you do it the easier it comes out. After doing my research and seeing my local doctor for a referance I decided it was time to mend my wing. Two weeks after meeting with the surgeon I travelled south to Squamish BC where Dr. Brooks-Hill performed a Bankart repair to reattach my damaged ligaments.
The reality of surgery and all that goes with it was something I couldn’t have fully anticipated. Everything from how the medication and pain killers affected me to understanding I couldn’t participate in my summer activities was hard to deal with at first. Summer was here and I’d have to “sit this one out.” I made the best of it by changing my focus from athletic activities to other satisfying ways to stay busy. My best bud/ski partner Geoff Bate had the same surgery a week before I did on the same shoulder with the same surgeon. Our idea was that together we created one useful set of arms. We’d go to the ropeswing, but instead of hurling our meat out of the trees and into the glaciel runoff water we tended to a garden and played music on the beach. The down time was especially key in learning more about the mental aspect of my sport. Visualizing, setting goals, preparing my mind for competition and learning to understand how my body works were all valuable lessons I hadn’t focused on as seriously before hurting myelf.
During the fall months I spent a great deal of time hiking around the Pemberton/Whistler area which craved my need for exploration. I also started working closely with my physioterapists to bounce back from my surgery. My goal for post op was to get in the best shape of my life. Lifting at the new gym facility at the Pemberton Community centre, along with some grueling cross country bike rides and trail runs have kept me wanting more. Now 6 months later as Whistler/Blackcomb resorts opens I’m finishing up work as a painter to get back on my sticks and charge this season!
Special shout out and thanks to Cathy Ivany at Local Motion Physiotherapy for keeping me motivated and making my stretching/workouts fun and Lisa Kudla for developing my program and teaching me how stay conditioned for my sport.
See you on the slopes!
