Things That Make Me Happy

Well, now that winter is near its end and I have rejoined the work force, it would seem like a very good time to think of things that make me happy. It will help me get through the summer.

Slushee park sessions at sunshine when its plus 20 'C with a good crew of friends!

Making money to pay off Visa (minus the work part).

New boards for next season! RC 112's! I will throw on a pair of dynafit's to keep the weight down and in the end the whole package will weigh as much as my Armada ARV's and Freerides (current setup=14 pounds, new setup=13pounds). The only difference is I will be getting 44mm more width and 3mm of rockered epicness!

Seeing your buddy Matty G., who is always at the cutting end of fashion rocking a pair of sunglasses that are exact replicas of the Vuarnet sunglasses your dad's been wearing for 20+ years, that he refuses to get rid of because he is just waiting for the style to come back (which it has!).  Oh, and his 5 brothers are in the same boat!

Next years ice tools!

And G-Man Cookies. (although I have yet to try them they look delicious!)

Kickin-it at the Horse

A day of rest then it was back to skiing. I ended up spending another week in Golden, surfing Marks couch and ripping laps. It was a good week with a good mix of conditions, friends and styles. I finally got a chance to share some powder with fellow ski cellar tech, Jay and also catch a few turns with a fellow red head, Wes. To my luck we got a great mid week dump and continued to get awesome turns a few days after. We had a bit of bad luck on the last run of the weekend, and maybe the season at KHo. Some how Wes, who weights 140 pounds managed to snap my S6's on a pow landing! Now I am just hoping for a warrenty and I am thankful I have all summer to sort it out!

Weighing in at 140 pounds, Wes "ski destroyer" Harris (its not his first pair, and probably not his last).

Wes moving into the good stuff.

Wes sending.

The end of my S6's.

Gone in a fit of glory!

Smiles before we realized the damage, and before realizing he had to ski to the bottom on one ski!

 Fingers crossed for the warranty!

Planning a ski cut across a loaded slope.

Mark in the 'Pencil', back side of Rudy's.

Good stuff!

The possibilities at KHo are endless!

In this palace is a very special futon.

My home away from... my home in my truck??

Dog Tooth Dashin'

After a few days of good skiing and with nothing else to do on an Easter weekend, I decided to sign up for the annual Dog Tooth Dash ski mountaineering race at Kicking Horse. If your not sure what the whole ski mountaineering thing is about just watch the two videos I have linked from http://goldenskimo.wordpress.com/. I wasn't sure what to expect so I safely signed up for the recreational category, an 8km course with 800m of elevation gain. I was also worried about the fact that my skis weight 14 pounds, thats alot when you find out that the super fast guys boots, skis, skins and bindings weigh less then one of my skis! When I crossed the rec course finish line I still felt good and told the course marshal that I was going to try the pro course, 4 more km's and 600 more meters of elevation gain. In the end I was feeling like shit, but it scored me the hero award and a nice set of BD climbing skins. It was also alot of fun, and something I would like to do again.

Check out the video's, this first one is pretty sweet and it has a few shots of me, #202. The second video gives a good idea of the course.

Holy Cow, its Ski Season Again!

30+cm's at Kicking Horse! WTF! Pack the truck and get the hell out there! Just when I thought it was all over and I was about to throw in the towel on skiing, BAM! Late season storm. Being slow of the mark I missed the first few days of the dump and when I got there the resort was pritty skied out. But Kho has some amazing slack country and Mark had a few days off. Just when I thought it was over I was getting fresh tracks, down sweet lines, in 30+cms of amazing pow. I will let the photo's do the talking.

 One ridge over and its fresh tracks.

Fresh tracks in the Christmas chute.

Great snow.

This is what I saw most of the day.

Alot of digging and hard work to bust through the cornice.

Pays off in the end!

Mark enjoying the fruits of our labour.

Re-enactment of my "turn of the year".

The goods of Ozone.

Smiles all around!

When the snow is this good, its easy to convince Joel to forget about school!

Why not enjoy both?

Why choose one over the other? Why not mix it up and enjoy whatever comes your way? Last weekend was a real mixed bag of seasons, rock, ice, ice, rock, and ice. We started the extra long weekend off with a massive hike up to Batann, a climbing craig way above Canmore that collects the sun and offers good early season climbing at hard grades. I am suprised that this area sees so much traffic considering how lazy most sport climbers are! The following day I was able to convince Ben to jump back into winter and check out Professors Falls just south of Banff. It felt good to swing some tools again and the climb got be pumped to head into the Ghost for a weekend of adventure. Whenever you head into the Ghost you never know what your going to get. On this particular trip we spent two days in the south ghost, ice climbing, rock climbing, chainsawing, 4x4ing, drinking and enjoying the wild. When we pulled into the south Ghost on Saturday we weren't sure what to do, both Dre and I were a little unmotivated but we figured we would give something a try and see how it went. The high for the day was plus 15 with clear skies. This really limits you to shaded north facing ice climbs that don't see any sun. Despite the warm weather it was full on winter on Wicked Wanda and after climbing this sweet line we headed back into summer to join Ben and Ian on the south side of the canyon for some rock climbing. Ice and rock in one day! A brief visit from Ben Edwards and White Lightning (his truck) after climbing got us cracking beers, firing up chain saws and lighting fires. A lazy start to Sunday morning followed for obvious reasons. Dre and I decided to head back into winter to check out the ice climbs Joker and Hidden Dragon and Ben and Ian headed into summer to check out some more rock. Hurrican force winds made the day feel epic, and constant spindrift (blowing snow) made me feel like I was climbing in January. It was gloves hats and hoods until we stepped back into the sun. Then it was back to tee shirts and shorts, crazy! I feel like it was my final weekend of ice, but the way things have been going, you never know.

 The eyes of Bataan.

Ben approaching Professor Falls, when rain and snow overnight crush your rock climbing hopes its great to have options!

Approaching Wicked Wanda, great pose!

 A Great shot by Chris Noss, one of the party who were on the ice when we arrived.

Wet, cold...

And windy!!

Dre looking into the jaws of the beast.

From ice to rock. You can see Wicked Wanda in the background.

Dre is happy to flirt with both seasons.

Dre doing what she does best!

Ben getting friendly with the arete.

Ghost phone booth.

When in the Ghost, this type of stuff tends to happen.

Lazy Sunday.

Massive dust clouds kicked up by the wind. 

Dre getting cooled down after a hot hike in the sun.