ski trip

I took my reading week break in BC last week with the goal to close out my ‘07-’08 ski season with a big bang. Four days of beautiful weather, bluebird skies, and phenomenal skiing made for a perfect end to my season. I came back to Toronto feeling a little sad to be packing away my skis so soon but I felt glad to have spent my last days on snow in such great conditions.

After skiing Silverstar with my family on Sunday and hitting up the airport to pick up my buddy Ryan’s delayed gear, we set out for Revelstoke to ski the brand-new development at Mount MacKenzie. Get to this mountain as soon as possible. Insane vertical, beautiful Rockies snow, awesome terrain, and zero lift lines make this mountain a gem. A billion dollars in planned real estate development means that it won’t stay an untouched mountain for much longer.

Late in the afternoon we hiked up to the summit of Mount MacKenzie and dropped into the North Bowl from the back side. The view from the summit was absolutely incredible that day and the North Bowl was a sweet, sweet ride.

Snow Rodeo, a top-to-bottom groomer with fun stuff on the sides, is an absolute dream to ride on. There was no one around, so I used up the whole mountain carving sweet turns with incredible views for all 1500 vertical metres. It’ll be over 1800 vertical metres next year when the new gondola from the base opens.

We set out for Golden that evening to ski the steeps at Kicking Horse. We had another two days of great weather and crystal blue skies. No fresh snow, but there was enough left over from the last dump to give us lots to play on. We had our best luck over in the Feuz Bowl after a short hike across the ridge from Stairway to Heaven.

We saw part of a rather dramatic rescue on Terminator Ridge after a boarder presumably picked the wrong blind chute and ended up clutching to a tree at the top of a sheer cliff. Seriously dude, what were you thinking?! I don’t think hanging off a helicopter on a long line harness is for me. It looked really quite terrifying.

I like the approach of having a high-speed gondola straight from the base to the summit that both Revelstoke and Kicking Horse have taken. It makes doing laps on some terrain difficult, but the amount of vertical that you can get in with one ride up the lift is hard to beat. More photos from the trip are here.

As a side note, I watched Sean Penn’s adaptation of Into the Wild while I was flying home to Toronto tonight. It’s the best film I’ve seen in a while and Eddie Vedder’s soundtrack for the film is perfect. It’s definitely worth checking out.