Saturday, July 9, 2011

Good Friday Was A Good Friday!



It was 7 am on Good Friday and my alarm was buzzing. I had already slept in an extra hour and thought Steve might leave for the planned mountain exploration day with out me. With that in mind I jumped out of bed, got dressed and ran out of my room to start packing, only to realize Steve was still in bed having celebrated a little too hard the night before. Finally by around 9 o'clock Steve and I were on our way to explore an area of Kananaskis called Cataract Creek. We were looking for some alpine terrain with sledding and sled skiing potential.

It couldn't have been a nicer day, it was blue bird, plus 2 at the staging area and tons of fresh snow kicking around. We had also acquired a 3 riding partner who had come by himself and asked to tag along. Once suited up we started to hammer out the roughly 25 km of trail to get into the alpine. The trail was arduous, being about 20 km of huge whoops, having two water crossings and a couple narrow side hills on steep slopes.

Coming in was awesome and we knew we had found an awesome spot. It was like entering a giant amphitheater, with the long meadow floor and mountain peaks surrounding you 270 degrees. The powder that day was deep and untouched by the warmer temperatures below. We spent the next 4 or so hours high marking and jumping our sleds of every cliff and natural jump in sight. So, highlights were a natural hip we jumped until the landing was bombed out and Steve dropping a cliff for about 30 feet. We barely stopped for beers or lunch we were having such a Good Friday.

In this picture is me laying down a carve!