bike

Valhalla Powder

Posted on by Smoke

OK, back to the sports. It’s been a few days since the last update. What can I say? Barb got back from the UK on Valentines Day so I’ve been, ahhhh……busy. We also did some skiing, but it was only more of the same knee deep under grey skies so we got no pics to show for it. Just lots of vert.

Here’s a few shots of the Cat Skiing Day that I had two weeks ago. As usual, only crappy pics. The skiing was pretty good so there wasn’t much time to take shots. A bunch of Yankees, a couple of Aussies, a German, and a couple of dumb Canooks. Average of 20-30 cm ski penetration, and a bit of avalanche debris to dodge here and there. Unbelievable terrrain. If you are going to go cat skiing, go HERE.

Here’s the crew getting ready.

Some alpine terrain looking north towards Valhalla Prov. Park.

Some of the sub-alpine terrain. Too much fun.

I thought this was Droop, but it was one of the foreigners instead. Whatever.

Perfect tree skiing.

Too bad I didn’t get more pics. I guess I’ll just have to go back.

Next update…..bike pictures!!

Okanagan Pow

Posted on by Smoke

Well another epic road trip has come and gone. I’ve been away from the Kootenays FAR too long.

The problem is that they are just so far away. I like to stop at Apex, which is half way, so that I can ski in the daytime and drive at night. Tis time I was tempted to drive straight through as a buddy of mine was caught in an avalanche a few days earlier and got a bit hurt, but I figured (rightly so) that he couldn’t ski so I could catch up with him easily.

Good thing I stopped. Apex is enjoying awesome conditions this year.

This sequence is taken in just out of bounds on a small peak called Secondary, in a chute usually referred to as Mainline.

That’s Gary Vollett, former pro tour ski racer chewing it up in there.

What you don’t get to see is him bailing out. Headplants are one way to get face shots I guess. The other tracks are mine and Wendell’s.

This last shot sucks for so many reasons, and it rules because you can see how deep and floofy the snow is. What can I say? I’ve been taking bike shots all year.

Had to leave about an hour after this. Could the Kootenays be any better than this? Does it get better than this?

Fukitzpukin

Posted on by Smoke

I gotta tell the truth. I only ride bikes to fund my skiing habit. It’s nice to have a bit of snow and cold for a change. All that hot weather last summer was starting to get to me.

As you can tell from the pics, its been storming pretty much every time I get out. Yesterday we were out on Seymour in the fog for about six hours. Not bad for the backyard. Definitely heavy skiing, but there was a few turns of pow under the big trees. It’s what you make it. Anyway, no pics turned out. I’ve been getting decent video, but no good stills.

Speaking of vid, go to this cool eurotrash site that hosts action vids and check out what I’ve been doing with my spare time. You have to register, but there’s tons of stuff on there. You can find Bush Pilot related items HERE. I’ve got 3 vids up on there. Slow downloads but they’re all 5-7 minute vids.

Here’s a couple of stills from a recent day at Whistler.

We skiied the ridge in the left foreground. The classic line off of Flute.

“…..D…….A……..V….. ………. … …e . . .”

Unknown girlie dropping in below the cornice on Piccolo. She was cute, too.

I’ll be heading to the Kootenays to check out some steep, deep, and cheap all next week.

Shtay tuned.