TatsVan Chronicles

The last seven days of my life have been unlike any other in my whole skiing experience.  I am just so thankful for all the good luck that’s come my way.  The Powder Highway has been such an amazing place to spend a winter season.

The last week, in summary:

Monday - Skied park at Panorama , BC

Tuesday - Skied some more park at Panorama, BC

Wednesday - Skied pow with RK Heli Ski , Panorama, BC

Thursday - Travel day/visited Radium Hot Springs , BC

Friday - Skied 14 runs of pow with Great Canadian Heli Skiing

Saturday - Skied Day 1 of Wrangle the Chute freeski competition at Kicking Horse, BC

Sunday - Finished 5th overall by Day 2 of Wrangle the Chute

Needless to say, I’ve been spoiled with some amazing days of pow skiing, got my jumping feet under me at the terrain park in Panorama, and joined the Canadian freeskiing revolution by skiing big mountain lines down to a step-up park jump and ditching my skis to ride a bucking bronco.  By the end of it all, it was the bucking bronco that ended up taking me out with a pulled groin.  haha

Up here in Revelstoke, BC, the Freeskiing World Tour (FWT) competition has ended and athletes are making their way down to the US for the next stop. The 2010 inaugural event here in Revy saw everything from blue skies and sun to blistering wind and snow. But, the organizers saw to it that it went off in style, and the finals were spectacular.

The much anticipated helicopter ride for the athletes to the top of the final day venue took off just as planned, and with a bit of a weather delay the athletes had a big task ahead of them. When the skies cleared enough and the fog lifted, everything went into full comp mode and the ladies started charging down the steep hill. Rocks, cliffs, chutes and big moves in hang time kept the crowd charged up as athletes delivered line upon mindfreakin’ line.

Notables of the day went to Jacqui Edgerly with her fast fluid style arcing turns down highly exposed terrain and finding the sweet air at the bottom. Julien Lopez hit his bottom air at 110km an hour and flew a million feet straight out into the stratosphere, landing close to 18m back on the snow below.

Winning runs were turned in like clockwork by Jess McMillan over the course of the weekend, with the Jackson local claiming her trophy like the true professional she is. What a great presence to have on the FWT! The ladies are definitely amping up the game, and spectators were left wondering who was who on those burly lines up in Revelstoke’s MacKenzie face.

The real treat for me this week was in watching fellow POC athlete Arne Backstrom put down some solid, consistently impressive skiing on the way to the top of the podium. He came out of the gate strong and sent it hard down terrifying terrain, all while carving turns through rocky cliffs and landing in greasy turns on each air. The game is on, and Arne has set the bar for the 2010 FWT.

Justin brought out the camera in the rare bits of sunshine during this last week, and we’ll be dropping an edit soon. It’s been storming up a bit around here in Revy, and we met up with the Trew Crew in their bright blue and purple bus to get some pow turns and check out their rippin’ athletes tearing it up. Chuck Mumford, Mike McCabe, Will Dujardin, Colter Hinchliffe, Sonja Lercher, and Craig Garbiel definitely turned some heads while flipping, spinning, slashing and laughing all around Revy’s lengthy terrain. The trewth has been spread.

With a few more days in Revy ahead, and a sweet drive up and over Roger’s Pass to Kicking Horse, a ski bum can only wonder what lay on the road to Golden…??

What a trip!

The athletes and organizers of the Freeskiing World Tour had a powder day today, choosing to use the optional weather day to wait out the surging storm. Revelstoke Mountain Resort is offering up the use of their helicopter to shuttle athletes to the landing zone (LZ) at the top of the almost 2000 vertical feet of spines, chutes, and cliffs. With everything on hold for the day, the mountain was abuzz with the whoops and yells of roving groups of freeriders dressed in baggy, bright clothes.

If you had a chance to ride the 8-seater gondola from the mid-mountain lodge today, you would probably have seen some frozen waterfall lines being sent by shredders in full-face helmets. Or snowboarders slashing some turns down a steep, powdery face. Not much sun out, so most folks were taking advantage of their low-light goggle lenses to battle the drab greybird day full of indistinguishable clouds. With all the gladed, steep tree skiing on the main aspect of Revelstoke’s frontside, poor-visibility is not an issue.

To wrap up our day, some friends and I ate some good burgers at Nomad’s and finished it all up with a hot tub session.  The yoga from the other night can still be felt in my muscles, but the hot tub definitely helps.  Tomorrow, the comp wraps up; I’m hoping to get some interviews with fellow POC athlete Arne Backstrom , while he sits in third place going into an epic finals.