Back In Calgary

 

I was night skiing at COP when I got a call from Rob. He wanted to go set up an urban and do some filming with the 403media boys. Even though I had been skiing for a few hours it sounded like a good time.

I showed up to the spot. It was the back alley behind a strip mall with a small amount of super granulated snow that was less then ideal for building with. Though, once Rob, Nik and Mark showed up we all worked a little magic and made it work. The set-up was short and at a weird angle to the rail with a "Banshee Bungee" providing the momentum. To be honest at first glance I wasn't sure it would work, but after Rob took the first run up you could tell it was going to be super smooth.

The left footers, Rob, Nik and myself went first. We each got to the end and manged to ski out the hip landing. Mark went last, but being a right footer it proved to be pretty challenging. He made it to the end a couple times but just could not get off the rail and took a couple hard slams and had to stop with out getting it.

Once we were all done skiing it was the usual tear down; trash the jump and landing, then take down the lights and pack up.



(In this picture is me, pretty sure it's a frame stolen from footy that Mark was shooting)

College Street

For my last day in Tbay I wanted to line up one more hand rail. After talking with Andy, and Tyler we decided on the College St down rail. With the spot decided on, I tossed my gear and some shovels into my truck and started driving. I made it about 80 percent of the way to the rail only to realized I had forgotten my jacket back at the houses. Not usually too big of a deal, it kind of was this time as I was planning on leaving for Calgary after the session. 

After an hour of back tracking I finally got to the rail and started to set up. Andy showed up about 20 mins after me and we got the jump together pretty quickly. Tyler showed up next just in time to help with the in-run. In our in run making process I got out voted 2-1 into making a shorter but easier to build in-run (I wanted it longer for speed to be able to trick on). The shorter in-run did end up biting us in the ass though.With the in-run built we shaped everything to perfection (funny enough, and this goes out to COP, the best shaped features I hit all year where built by either myself or my friends). We then threw on some salt to firms things up and like it was perfectly timed our film/photo crew showed up. 

After letting the snow firm up for 30 minutes, D Man and Kyle were in place for pictures. It was time to hit this thing. I went first doing a couple warm up hits and coming off early to the side. Tyler, with the flowing hair of an 80's dare devil joined me a couple of hits in. He had to lip on (putting the tails of your skis over the rail first) which is why I'm going to take the time now to give him a little extra praise. Andy jumped in soon after Ty and right after he did I greased the rail to the end for my first time. I have to say, riding that thing out was not easy. The rail is so steep you might as well just "bomb drop" to the street below from 20 feet in the air. When Andy got to the end for his first time his legs buckled and he went right to his back, when he got up he said, "you need some strong legs for the landing". Andy finally got it to his feet though, and with a few good hits and a bunch of shots there was just Ty. We rooted him on, but the fact of getting on lip slide at such low speeds to such a steep rail coupled with numerous hard crashes proved to be just a little too much and he ended up leaving with out getting the rail but with the "Big Cojones" award for the day.

With that last rail under my belt and being way behind schedule I said my good-byes and was back on the road to Calgary.

(This is a photo of me, the shot was taken by Dman) 

SJAM Urban

I finally managed to get Tyler and Andy to come hit a hand rail on my second last day back in Thunder Bay. It was a good time sliding on some snow with those guys again. We picked the old stomping ground spot, SJAM, for a warm up. For those of you who don't know "SJAM" is a closed down school with a nice and mellow down bar on the backside. This rail is the proving ground for urban in TBay. It's the first urban most people hit and if you want to start to be considered good locally, you've hit it with the stairs open.

I had made the jump the night before, but, we still had some initial problems. Basically the space didn't allow for me to park my truck the way I wanted to for the drop-in ramp I made. Andy and I dinked around for about 45 minutes trying to get it to work, knowing that it would give us the speed to get technical on the rail. But, we just couldn't get the drop in ramp to work. Then Tyler skate-skied into the rail so we gave up and started to pull-whip. It ended up being a really sick time and a nice warm up to urban rails.

(In the picture above Andy and Tyler just threw me into the rail. Damien is the large black lump on the stairs filming)

Surfing Again!

For this surf day Jaakko and Tyler stayed back leaving room in the truck for Andy (the president of AGON clothing). This time the surf was a bit of a gamble. The forecast for the incoming swell kept getting pushed further and further back. We were worried, it would be too darkby the time the waves came, but we figure the only way to find out for sure was to make the drive and wait.

We made our way out to Terrace Bay for around noon'ish hoping to meet the waves, but there was only just enough to make a wake boarder complain at the first beach. The second beach was worse. We got back on the highway and tried to make our way down to the third beach. This time I don't think the wake boarders would have complained much; it was glass. Down on our luck we decided to go back to the 1st beach and wait for the swell to roll in like Matthew Mcconaughey in the movie "Surfer Dude". We took our time and suited up slowly. Sure enough the swell started to build and after 2 hours of waiting, there was finally some ridable waves.

The swell ended up just being perfect for our long boards; shoulder height and nice and pushy. Nicole, Andy, Mike and I just kept catching nice ride after nice ride. I worked on my backhand drop ins (heel side), trying to get them solid for bigger short board days. There weren't too many notable things that are worth mentioning because, the whole surf session was notable. It was just a relaxed session, everyone catching waves, everyone having fun, you can't ask for more then that.

(In this picute is me just in some mush)

Mountain Sledding In Ontario?

I forget exactly which day this was, but after it snowed 30 or so centimeters I had to show I was a man of my word. Originally I had no intention of sledding on the closed down ski hills while I was back in Tbay. There wasn't enough snow, not even a base when I got there (if you can't tell from the pic it was lean). But i did say I would go out if we got 20 to 30 and I did.

I met Ryan Jones just up the dirt road from the old Candy Mountain, 1 of 3 closed down ski hills in T Bay. We dropped the sleds off our trucks, fired them up and went looking for a way in. There isn't a staging area here and the bottom of the hill is now fenced off as it is a private residence, so we ended up bush whacking through this pseudo trail we found off the side of the road. The trail ended up leading to the old slightly over grown ski trails and we were able to crack the throttle. We bombed around trying not to hit rocks as impossible as it was. There aren't really any highlights, just a good over all time bombing around, doing some hill climbs and descents on our sleds that used to challenge me on skis once upon a time. Jones ended up bending his A arm on a rock and I'm pretty sure one of mine is a little tweak now.

(In this picture is my sled chilling near the "peak" of Candy Mountain)

Boxing Day Lake Superior Surf Mission

After getting home from an extremely long drive on Christmas Day, and having a family dinner, at which I consumed a more than a few beverages, I went to bed with surfing on my mind. It was a short sleep. About 5 hours, but I had to get up early and get fully unpacked before Mike and I went to meet  Jaakko and Zegil at a Tim's just off the highway. So, at 5:30 in the morning I was out unloading my uber packed truck and re-packing it with just as much surf gear. I immediately ran into a problem with my unpacking though, as soon as I looked out side there was my sled sitting nicely in the back of my pick up. Well there was no way in hell I was pushing it behind my house, leaving me with the only other option of starting it up that early in the morning, next door neighbours sleeping and all. I quietly pushed it out of the box and turned it around to face the right direction. Then came the moment of truth, I timidly pulled the handle to start it up (about as timidly as you can start something up that sounds like it's going to end the world), jumped on to it and gassed it behind the house. Luckily no one woke up, including Pauly (my dad). After that it was off to Tim's where we met Jaakko, and found out Zegil slept in because he was hoping we were kidding about surfing and wanted a ride from his house.

Once we picked the "broski supreme" known affectionately as "Ty" (aka Zegil), we took off on the 200 km drive NE to Terrace Bay. We caught up and joked around the whole way. The drive was nice and scenic with the usual amazing views of Lake Superior that you get driving that particular highway. Once we got to Terrace it was a quick check on the beaches to find out which one to assault and then it was wet suit time. It was so nice to get back in the water and the waves were big enough for my short board which meant I got to finally use my Go Pro surfing. Once in the water I gave a few pointers to Zegil and Mike then paddled out with them in tow. The waves were actually really weird, most of the big sets were closing out on the sand bar, so they were super hard to ride. Had they been smaller they wouldn't have closed out and had they been bigger they would have broken deeper. Jaakko and I waited way out past the break for those elusive waves that would come in every 15 to 20 (at least it felt like it) or so minutes. At times Jaakko would wait in this zen like state so far out it seemed like he was looking for rogues. After catching 4 waves in about an hour I decided it was time to go where the fun was. I paddled in grabbed a long board and went and joined Ty, Mike, Nichole and Michel (the latter of the two came into join us Michel fresh off a plane from the UK) who were playing in a sheltered smaller area. Jaakko soon followed suit and the next couple hours was awesome! We had lots of fun. We all got some nice rides, with Mike and Tyler being surprisingly good for how many times they've been out. We also all had some funny bails including; Ty and I finding ourselves in the impact zone of the biggest waves of the day, Mike getting thrown to the bottom of some waves from the top and lawn darting the sandbar, and my personal favorite Ty pulling off the hood on his wet suit only to have a wave give him the worst case of brain freeze ever.

Eventually our arms got tired and it was time to leave. And just in time for us to get out of our wet wet suits (the worst part of winter surfing) the temps dropped and the wind picked up. Nothing feels better on your wet man parts then a 30-40 kph wind an outside air temp of -5.  It was arduous. All packed up we left and drove back to T Bay



(In this picture is the world ending above me while I try to duck dive that "biggest" wave of the day that caught Ty and I off guard)

My Semi Annual Migration

Satureday, December 24 th at about 4:00 PM I left Calgary, to head back to my homeland of Thunder Bay. I was originally going to leave on the Friday but stuff happened and I left late as usual. The first part of the drive was super uneventful minus one gas station apparently didn't want sell me gas. Driving through the prairies is agonizingly boring (wish I could just teleport through them) and surprisingly I managed to make it to with in 3 1/2 hours of Thunder Bay before I had to take my first nap on the 21 hour drive. It was once I got to the Ontario/Manitoba boarder that conditions got crappy, and the drive got sketchy. It was a mix of snow, ice and moose, that made driving extremely difficult and led to my having to pull over for some sleep. I managed to make it back to Thunder Bay around 4ish Christmas Day and was able to open some presents.


In this picture is my truck packed with awesome things I own. 

Getting The Sled Out

On the first weekend of December, with a couple of cold days and some snow, winter was looking good for at least that week. So, I changed my spark plugs, drained out my old gas and loaded my snowmobile into my truck. Both Saturday and Sunday I went out to Cateract Creek about an hour from my house. It was good to get out! I hit some natural jumps, practiced some carving in minimal snow and even got to ride a little powder (thought there was pretty much no base). It was a good weekend and I tried to get out again the next week but by then the winter we were meant to have this year moved in, and started a long drought with warm temperatures.


In this pic is my sled covered in some snow.

30 Hours Of Driving, 16 Hours Of Surfing, 3.5 Days

The day of the trip actually started the night before. At 1:30 am I was woken up by the cops calling my roomate looking for me to tell me my truck was broken into. I came outside to see that someone had sprayed sunscreen all over my truck, and to find out all my camera gear as well as all the footage was stolen. I was up until 4:30 filling out a police report, needless to say not the best preperation for the up coming 15 hour drive I was supposed to do. When I woke the next day I was seriously bummed out, and didn't even feel like going, even though I knew I would make me feel better. To make matters worse Audrey had a super hard exam and was down and out just like me, but we both ended up getting pissed off at our situation and just saying "F**k it", and we left.

It was 6:00 pm on the Friday, and Audrey and I finally started our drive her parents brand new CRV (they were super nice letting us take it) packed to the gillds with surf gear. Almost right away the drive started sucking. As soon as we hit the mountains it was snowing (the fall made the winter look like it was going to be epic what happend?), dark and windy. Audrey drove until we hit the Can/Us border, and after we were cleared I switched. The driving dragged on not hitting divided highway (the I 90) for another few hours and three states (Montana, Idaho and Washignton). Once we hit I 90 the driving was alot better and Audrey took over one more time getting us to Snoqualamie Pass, where we had to pass out until the gas station opened in the morning. After waking up and getting gas I took us the rest of the way to Westport, Wa.

We pulled up to the ocean and got out of the car to run excietedly down to the water. Suddenly we weren't tired or sore from having driven 15 hours through the night. The waves were bigger then predicted, about 6 to 9 feet instead of 2 to 3. We jumped back into the car, rushed to the hotel, checked in, tossed on the wet suits and drove back to one of the beaches. With the other two spots there not working we went to surf the beach break there. With it being our first day in awhile I actually kinda wished it had been smaller, just to get back into the swing of things. It was a rough go, neither of us had the arms to beat the directly incoming swell, so we stayed close to the peer and ducked bigger waves waiting to catch the small ones that would sneak through into shallower water. We got some nice waves and I finally was able to drop in heel side! After surfing we went for a walk around the marina watching a group of guys fish off the docks while sea lions tried to eat the fish off their lines, followed freshly caught fish at a local restraunt.

The next day was BIG. 16 feet big according to the surf report. It was crazy, I've never seen waves that big. We started our day off by just watching. It was awesome to watch some of the good surfers surf the epic point break right out side our hotel. After about an hour of that we jumped in the car and spent several hours driving from spot to spot to see if there was anything we would be able to surf. We finally decided on the miles of mush that was the beach break that day. It was super fun and we were able to get some really nice reform. It basically consisted of waiting in chest deep water for an opening, then paddling super hard while eyeing up a place to turn around and with out a stop in paddling turn and grab the wave. It was pretty tiring but, we didn't even feel it. I managed to catch some really nice relatively long rides and Audrey looked like she'd been surfing for a couple years even though she has less than 15 days under her belt. After a few hours Audrey took a pretty decent wave on the head and lost a contact. That coupled with hunger and tiredness, we decided to call it and jumped out of the water. Once out of our suits we jumped into the car and went for lunch and to check out the local surf shops. After lunch we went back to the hotel and I couldn't help but jump over the rock wall and look at the point break. It had settled down a little bit and even though it looked like there was a strong current I figured I could jump in and grab a few waves. I ran back to the room, grabbed my board and suited up. Upon getting in the water, I got my first taste of how strong that current really was. At waist deep it was knocking me off my feet and feircly trying to pull me into the rock wall of the jetty. It was one of the strongest currents I have surfed in, it felt like a fast moving river. Now most people who aren't experts, who's arms are burnt out and who rarely get to surf anymore may have decided to not try and paddle out, but because I'm me and I would like to think I'm pretty awesome I did anyways. I paddled as hard as I could, stopping only to duck dive the fairly large waves coming in. I could tell I was not gaining much ground and I was fully in the current. I started to get this feeling that I was in trouble, so I stopped paddling to check where I was, and to my horror I was about 20 feet from getting pounded into the rock wall of the jetty! Quickly I spotted a wave I was in semi position for and managed to grab it and get the heck out of there. After a few more failed attempts to get out at that spot, I threw in the towel and Audrey and I went for dinner and some more exploring of the town.      

The next morning I jumped into my wet suit and went and surfed the now much more tame point break. It was sick, there was no wind the waves were glassy and the current was almost gone. Audrey slept in a little bit then packed the car for us. It was getting time to go, so I quickly surfed a few more "I'm not going to be able to surf for 6 more months" waves, then got out to make the arduous drive back. The drive home was not very exciting other then getting stopped for construction for 3 hours and breifly by the police for a warning about a potential traffic violation. We got home at 3 am and I had work at 6. It was a lot of driving for a small amount of surf but it was a totally awesome roadie!


In the picture above I'm getting ready to enter the water to surf the point break at the edge of out hotel parking lot. Audrey took the picture from a rock.

Starting to post again!

So it has been awhile since I have posted and now it is time to start again.

Right after I last posted my truck was broken into and all my camera gear and associated media was stolen, which really sucked. Some time has passed and I have acquired some new camera gear and I rounded up some media, so I will now begin posting where I last left off.

Air Bag Is Here

COP's Airbag is finally here. It was super fun and Ryan, Rob and I really lucked out with a mid plus 20 day at the end of September. The only challenge we had to over come was the super sketchy snow flex in run that would just grab your edges the whole way into the jump. After a few runs from the practice area we started to drop from the main drop in. Ryan quickly put up the stakes with a front flip and I answered back, then did this beauty lincon lui kang grab!

My Other Wife

I may not get a lot of pictures of her and I but we've spent quite a bit of time together during the summer. Hitched in 2001. Here I am grabbing her bum in a superman seat grab, hopefully my first wife (skiing) won't get jealous.

Birthday Skiing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That's right 26 exclamation marks! One for each year...man I'm getting old, but that never seems to stop the fun. On this particular day (some would say the greatest day in history) I woke up at the crack of 9 am, which is extremely early as far as birthdays go. I had a plan... an ambitious plan. I was going to ski, river surf and mountain bike all in the same day. As much as I would like to tell you I completed my plan I can't, because the skiing was just to much fun and took all of my time.

We started off this adventure by driving to Highwood Pass, a now favorite spot of mine. This is how it unfolded. (The altitudes are approximate).

7306 ft:   

In the parking lot and pumped. Audrey and I could see snow higher up in the mountain.

7330 ft:   

Unable to contain ourselves, we run to two patches of snow slightly above the parking lot and slide down on our butts a few times.

7306 ft:    

We return to the parking lot and continue to pack. People in the parking lot going for day hikes wonder what we are doing with skis and stop to ask us in amazement.

7400 ft:   

I start noticing the altitude. Passing hikers continue to ask us about our journey.

8100 ft:    

We start to enter the alpine, and we can see several larger snow patches higher up but are slightly discouraged but the lack of snow but continue to press on believing in better areas over a distant ridge.

8400 ft:    

Audrey and I are amazed to see a 300 pound plus lady on her way down the mountain. We spend the next 20 mins entertaining various ways she could have got to that altitude.

8700 ft:   

We make it to our first decent snow patch and slide down on our asses with a super stoked kid that asked if he could slide too. After debating whether or not to stay there and build a jump or make it over the ridge in front of us we opt for the ridge.

9000-9500 ft:

Pay dirt and by dirt I mean snow! There were several large patches of snow sheltered on 3 sides from the sun. We were pumped and started jumping in to our boots and skis. The first patch we skied was fairly long and mellow ending in a sweet roll down slash drop section. We took turns taking pictures and runs. On one of the the runs with Audrey set up to take a picture of me grabbing some air over the drop at the bottom, I took the air narrowly missing a mini crevasse that dropped 8 feet below the snow into an under water pond. We investigated the hole for a bit, climbing in and throwing rocks into the water to see how deep it was. After that little warm up we headed for a steeper and longer patch. At over 9000 feet, hiking the 300 plus vert snow patch was a lung and leg burner but it was so worth it. The length and pitch allowed for some serious speed and sick turns. On our second or third a group of people making it to the last ridge we hiked over stood and watched us, cheering us while we ripped July lines. After a few more runs and with the altitude and hike wearing on us we decided to head down.

7306 ft:

We made it back down the mountain fairly quick even with a stop to drink some glacier water from a water fall. Once back in the parking lot we slowly packed our stuff away and with time and tiredness in mind we made the decision to cancel the other activities and head home for a much needed relax session.

River And Surfing...Together?

So in my desperate attempt to go surfing in this arid land locked province I currently reside in I have resorted to river surfing. It's not too bad, the glacial water is the temperature I'm used to from lake superior, you can stand and carve and even get mini head wetters. It's a lot like riding on a flow rider except when you fall you usually have to deal with some fast moving rapids down stream.

This particular day was at the Red Deer River about 2 hours north west of Calgary. The flow was pretty high and it was also my first camping trip for the summer.

In this picture is Steve Wallace, I will add some of me on the front page when I get the hang of it more!

Last Day At Sunshine

(PICTURE COMING SOON)

On Monday of the May long weekend, Ryan and I headed up to Sunshine for one last day of resort skiing. We left a little late that morning, not because we slept in, but in a calculated move we decided to shoot for an 11 am arrival. The late start was in hopes to miss all the early morning ice and possibly score some free tickets.

The drive out proved uneventful, and with tickets in hand, and beer tucked away (had to sneak it through security at the goni) we jumped on the gondi. Once up top we stopped and watch slush cup (the last day water skimming event) to cheer and laugh at the people trying to make the big drop and decently long skim across the pond. After that it was time to head to the park. Park laps in the spring time at Shine are sweet. This is not because the park is any decent but because to get to the park from the closest chair you have to straight line most of the Resorts usable vert. That coupled with spring moguls and a "see who can straight line all the way there" competition and you have a thigh burning, adrenalin filled ride to the park. Nothing gets that heart pumping faster then knowing your legs are about to give out any second while your doubling and tripling waist high moguls all the while dodging slow moving tourists.

The day was super fun and I had an awesome time but, unfortunately after a good two hours of riding I was sent back to the truck early to drink my beer with a bunch of snow on my knee. After hitting a jump switch and getting caught up in a rut on the take off, I landed a little back seat on a mogul in the landing. Innocent enough, but I got a sharp pain shooting through my knee. It would later turn out to keep me from doing anything too fun for about a month or so until I was able to start downhill biking a month later and river surfing around the same time.

I Finally Did It; The Ghost Ride!

I've always wanted to part ways with my snowmobile, ghost riding it to the bottom while I chased it on my skis! Well on April 30th it happened. After a somewhat late start to the morning Steve and I made our way to Kananakis to what we new would be a warm and snowy welcome.

When we got to Cataract Creek we could see the fresh snow that had fallen over the last 24 to 36 hours and there was lots of it. We dropped our sleds into the vacant parking lot and got suited up. Due to the fact no one was there we were able to rip up to the alpine at 50-80 kph floating over 30 plus cm of fresh whit stuff. After playing around the alpine on the sled for an hour or so I found a nice tree-less area and strapped into my skis. Then sitting side sattle on my sled and facing the slope, I put the throttle to the bar. Bouncing around all over the place and getting my skis caught periodically in the track I barely made it to half of my projected turn around spot. My first dismount equally as bad resulted in an immediate fall. I took 3 or 4 tries and almost getting run over a couple times but I started getting the hang of it and before long I was doing non stop laps; high mark up, dismount ski down, catch up to the sled, get back on and repeat.

It was an awesome day, until the end when trying to take a short cut back I rolled my sled from almost the top of a ridge down to the apron. My gear was scattered all over the slope and I was in the middle of an avy area so I was on my own to clean up. Once everything was collected my sled mysteriously wouldn't start for over half an hour, it finally did and it was time to go with one more obstacle to go. As we go lower in elevation the days sun had melted most of the last 3 km of trail resulting in us turning our sleds into temporary dirt bikes. It worked great but we had to constantly shut the machines down to let them cool. It was 8 o'clock when we finally got out of there, 4 hours later then we were supposed to. I'd like to say thanks to my wonderful girl friend Audrey in this case as it wasn't until 9 that I was in cell phone range and we had plans at 630. Sorry cutie.

In this picture is me side satle skis on heading up the hill.

Honorary Mention: Steve Wallace

Steve Wallace dropping a decent size cliff on his sled. A feat made harder as he had to high mark up and over it with his 600 pinned and barely having enough power!

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!

Last Weekend At COP

Everything comes to an end, and as a skier you have to get used to the closing of ski hills as the season nears it's finish. COP was the first to go. With their base at it's highest all season and their claim of being non-profit, you would think they would let the good times roll. They did however open back up for a "bonus" weekend in which we had as much fun as possible in two slush filled days of awesomeness!

In this picture is Audrey conveying that slush time fun a la spread eagle.

85 Cent Pow Day at Norquay

On April 7th, Ryan and I headed to Norquay Ski Resort with no idea of what the conditions would be like. We mainly thought we would be riding and trying to get some footage in their sub par terrain park.  Outside it looked less than ideal and had it not been 85 cents to ski for the day I probably would have slept in then tried to light up little kids online on "Bioshock 2" (a PS3 Game).

We took off for the hill not to excited for the conditions, but still stoked to ski. Only a few kilometers out we noticed this nice hole in the clouds bathing Norquay in sunlight. We had also noticed more and more snow on the trees the closer we got! Once parked it was a no brainer, we grabbed our pow sticks and headed to the lift with notions of face shots. My favorite spot on the mountain was closed due to avy risk but with us being from Ontario we knew how to bush wack. Punching through trees that looked too tight to ski through we would often find big openings that were a treat to ski. Some of these openings were probably untouched all year! It turned out to be a sick day and I got more than my 85 cents worth of skiing in!

In the shot above I'm skiing a pillow line we noticed from the chair lift.