Red Bull in the Baldface Shop, Final Kick to the Season, Save Big Dough at Cypress and Grouse, A Faster Way to Seymour’s Summit

Vancouver SUN Ski Guide Blogpost for April 4, 2012

Where to possibly begin with this week’s Vancouver SUN ski blog? After all, so many outrageous pictures and videos have been posted from skiing at areas all across western Canada. Here’s one with a bit of a reminder – just because a ski slope has tracks going down doesn’t mean it’s 100 percent safe. This pic was taken in the slackcountry near Lake Louise (a fantastic ski area where I skied for several years in the late 70s). Note that this avalanche slid right to the ground after dozens of skiers had gone over it. (So much for ‘ski compaction – note how tiny the skiers at the left of the picture are, for some perspective).

Though the Rocky Mountains generally have a sketchier, weakly layered snowpack, keep in mind that several CAA avalanche advisories have been posted this winter. Always go to www.avalanche.ca to get the meta-forecast for the area that you want to ski, and watch those slackcountry zones (West Bowl, above, is only a short hike from the ski area, as is Taynton Bowl at Panorama, where two skiers went missing – and thankfully were found – last weekend).

Red Bull Super Natural on NBC Gives Great Exposure to BC’s Baldface Lodge

Baldface Lodge owner Jeff Pensiero must be grinning ear to ear after last Saturday’s two hour telecast of the Red Bull Supernatural snowboard event on NBC Sports (thanks, NBC, for timing it before the NCAA hoops semi final). The actual event went down in February, but this event had truly had Mother Nature on its side and some very creatively placed camera and Contour helmet cam angles. And the home made stunts were outrageous. Can’t find the full broadcast right now, but a Contour POV edit is online. BTW Red Bull, nice April Fool’s trick featuring finger boarder Mike Schneider on Sunday.

Kicking Horse Extends Season to April 15

Also up in the Rockies, March’s epic goodness has blanketed Kicking Horse Mountain Resort, which is staying open until April 15 – one week later than planned. On slope accommodation recommendation – the Copper Horse Lodge co-owned by my good pal Gord Vizutti. Don’t miss the Lushmasters Dinner, April 7th @ 6:30pm in Corks Restaurant, located right in the hotel. Five courses paired with 5 alcoholic beverages!

Generations at Whistler-Blackcomb

Whistler-Blackcomb has dropped so many deep pow shots and videos in the past month that they’ve created a special video room to watch ‘em all. This edit is from mid-March, with over 30 cms today (April 4), I’m sure there will be more. The Generations video from Switchback Entertainment features a sentimental look at one family and their history of skiing at Whistler.

Sarah Burke Public Memorial

A Special Memorial on Tuesday, April 10^th in Whistler Village will be held to honour the life of Sarah Burke, the female slopestyle skier who tragically passed away back in January in Park City, UT. Her loss reverberated throughout the larger sports world—you can expect that there won’t be a dry eye in the house.

 Jumbo Pass Ski Resort – Two Views:

As was widely reported two weeks ago, the BC government has granted final approval for Oberto Oberti (I love that name) and Grant Costello to proceed with their long term vision for a four season, glacier skiing resort high in the Purcell Mountains near Jumbo Creek. As these two stories in Ski Canada and The Adventure Journal prove, opinion is split amongst skiers as to whether or not this is a good thing. No comment from me!

Multi-Million Dollar Investment at Mount Seymour!

OK, so I cut and pasted this, so you don’t need to go to the link! Mount Seymour is excited to announce the addition of the five million dollar state of the art Mystery Peak Express quad chairlift.  The new detachable high speed Doppelmayr lift from Austria will be installed over the summer months in time for the 2012-2013 season. The Mystery Peak Express promises to cut line-up times by more than half and will transport skiers and boarders to the top of the mountain in record time, taking just four minutes, compared to the currently-in-use lift, which takes nearly nine minutes.

Outrageous Spring Skiing Deals at Cypress, Grouse:

With a base of over 400 centimetres and sunshine in the forecast, it’s Cypress Beach time – one of the best North Shore deals going. Or… even better, purchase your new 2012/13 Gold or Silver Pass now and Ski or Ride Free for the rest of this season – sale ends April 15th! Hopefully, they’ll get that barbecue fired up at the top of the Lion’s Express; that’s a great place to hang out and feed the birds. Grouse Mountain’s super popular Y2Play pass is now 80 percent sold out.

 Winter Surf Adventure:

Yesterday was not only a fabulous day on the slopes at Big White ski area, the surf was up at Antlers Beach near Peachland, as well. Don’t believe us – check out the video!

Kruk, Kennedy Close Out VIMFF, Revelstoke’s On Sale Next Month, Oldies But Goodies from Mount Seymour

Starting to sound like a broken record, here, but the Vancouver International Mountain Film Festival truly is killing it when it comes to high quality visual and oral presentations. Last night’s Ski Night featured three filmmakers who were all in attendance. In Solitaire, Nick Waggoner of Sweetgrass Productions took us to a vast array of South American time/landscapes. Set to a terrific soundtrack that includes performance by Fleet Foxes and excerpts from Joseph Conrad’s novel Heart of Darkness. (It actually works beautifully – trust me on this one!) Definitely a movie you want to see more than once, to catch all of its nuances. Next up, Mike Douglas’s Freedom Chair (see last item, below) about sit-skier Josh Dueck, and Dendrite Studios Parallels (a winning entry in the 2011 Innervisions video festival) presented strong story-telling and visuals, respectively. The night ended up with a ‘short cut’ version of Sherpas Cinemas All.I.Can., including JP Auclair’s jib-tastic tour of Trail, BC.

The same show repeats tonight at the Denman Theatre at 7:30.

Tomorrow night’s grand finale features the first North American appearance of Jason Kruk and Hayden Kennedy, who ascended Cerro Torre in Patagonia and then – controversially – removed over 125 iron bolts that had been drilled into the rock (via a compressor, hence the name ‘Compressor Route’). Go to Outside Online, SquamishClimbing.com, and even Guardian UK for a variety of viewpoints on this event!

The Whistler Virus:

Whistler Blackcomb keeps periodically releasing these viral videos. Not sure what the tech specs are, here, but Timebender, courtesy of Switchback Entertainment, looks like it was filmed on one of those fancy Phantom still cameras which snaps images at a mind boggling 1,000 frames per second, which allows a ‘super slow-motion’ effect to many of the action shots. Powder seekers with ADD will be rewarded at about the 2:30 mark with deep snow footage that likely wasn’t shot in the past week. More snow’s on the way for this weekend, though. The time-lapse images are cool, indeed.

North Shore History Lesson:

Here’s an internet sensation, which I found out about through Sandbox Helmets founder Kevin Sansalone. Eminent snowboard photographer Scott Serfas has just released a series of photos from early snowboarding days on Vancouver’s North Shore. Serfas, who shares studio space with Endeavor snowboards and Airhole bandanas down by the old BC Sugar refinery, boasts hundreds of cover photos from the early 90s, in magazines well known (Transworld, SBC Snowboard Canada), and obscure. There’s little doubt that he’s milked those big Mount Seymour views for all he can in the past two decades of shooting up there.

Secret Stash:

Did you know that Whistler-Blackcomb offers free avalanche awareness tours? Did you know there’s even an Avalanche Awareness Centre, at the top of Solar Coaster? Well, now you do. These free half-day tours are run by the Whistler Blackcomb Ski Patrol and cover safe travel, terrain evaluation, avalanche phenomena, control measures within the ski area, avalanche safety equipment (participants can use shovels, avalanche transceiver, probes etc.) and even rescue techniques.

Revelstoke Mountain Resort – Deal of the Week

Vancouver hotelier Tom Gagliardi’s purchase of the Sutton Place flag has resulted in Revelstoke Mountain Resort’s Nelsen Lodge being re-branded as a Sutton Place Hotel. Offering the ultimate in slopeside comfort and convenience, the Sutton Place is putting on a March White Sale.  Ski and Stay Packages start at just $165.00 per person per night based on double occupancy, two night minimum. Each paying adult will receive a lift ticket to Revelstoke Mountain Resort (1 Day for each night booked), a ticket to the Turtle Creek Tube Park, and a $15.00 gift card to the Rockford wok|bar|grill. An even cheaper deal is being offered at the Sandman Revelstoke Inn, located right in the funkiest, rockin’ little town in BC!

Sit Down and Watch This One:

If you haven’t viewed Josh Dueck’s sit-ski back flip on YouTube, yet (apparently, 645,000 people have), you might have caught him being interviewed on either Canada AM or the Ellen DeGeneres show earlier this week. Salomon Freeski producer and Freedom Chair filmmaker Mike Douglas told me that “agents have been knocking, this could help set Josh up for life.” Dueck, who works as a motivational speaker, has been overwhelmed by the response to an event that only took place a couple of weeks ago. Every week, a new internet hero!

BC Ski Blog – Notes from All Over: Coldsmoke’s A’Coming, VIMFF, Zero Ceiling, etc

 

We’re well into the impressive program of films and guest speakers at the Vancouver International Mountain Film Festival, and have been some amazing presentations. On Monday night, legendary sea kayak adventurer Jon Turk enthralled the audience at Centennial Theatre with stories and images from his ski/hike/kayak circumnavigation of Ellesmere Island. Lest you believe that all adventurers are young bucks sponsored by rampaging energy drinks, Turk is in his 60s, the author of a half-dozen books, and as he said, this trip had him looking death square in the eye (Turk had to be medivac’d one day after he completed his trip). His stirring narrative was reported earlier this year in the New York Times, and he recently wrote a solemn, yet inspirational, meditation on avalanches and death after the holiday tragedy on the Duffey Lake Road that took the life of pro patroller Duncan MacDonald. You can find out more about Turk’s adventures (and buy his books) on his website. National Geographic has nominated Erik Boomer and Turk as one of their Adventurers of the Year 2012 for their Ellesmere circumnavigation.

Quick Competition Notes:

Another awesome weekend for Canadian skiers/snowboarders, led by Invermere’s prodigious Ben Thomsen, who finished second on the 2014 Winter Games course in Sochi. Canadians took home five medals in the Dew Tour action sports stop in Utah over the weekend, while closer to home, Olympic snowboard queen Maelle Ricker from Squamish abbed first place at the Mount Baker Banked Slalom competition.

VIMFF Continues – Two Ski Show Nights

“Ski Night” has proven to be so successful that this year, VIMFF will have two nights devoted to sliding (and some suffering) on snow. Nick Waggoner from Sweetgrass Productions (Signatures, Hand Cut, and VIMFF 2011 Best Ski Film: Desert River) is coming up from the USA to present their latest film, Solitaire, along with stories about making award-winning ski films utilizing simple self propulsion.

Help Whistler’s Zero Ceiling Raise $20,000 ($4500 in one week… a great start!)

It’s hard to believe that it’s been 15 years since Whistler ski pro/mountain biker Chris Winter started Zero Ceiling, an innovative programme that introduces at-risk street kids to finding a positive life working and playing in the Coast Range Mountains. Zero Ceiling has a fund-raiser happening from now until May 31^st to select ten underprivileged youth to relocate to Whistler and participate in their Work 2 Live program.  Find out more about the great work that Zero Ceiling has done on their webpage and Facebook page.

Grinding at Grouse… on Snowshoes

Hikers throughout the Lower Mainland have tackled the infamous Grouse Grind – “Mother Nature’s StairMaster” as it’s been described. But did you know there is a winter equivalent that’s not quite as physically demanding? It’s called the Snowshoe Grind, and covers a 4.2 kilometre course from the Peak Chalet to the summit of Dam Mountain and back again. You can do the Snowshoe Grind at pretty much anytime, but the Snowshoe Grind Run coming up on February 25^th offers plenty of prizes and is a great way to meet other snowshoers.

BC Nordic Photo Contest Offers Great Prizes, Courtesy Tourism Whistler and Yeti Snowshoe

The BC Nordic Marketing Society is running its annual Nuts for Nordic photo contest (no, you don’t have to be crazy to enter…). Upload your favourite (original!) photo of you, your family, or your friends enjoying Nordic activities, like cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, Nordic ski touring and backcountry skiing in British Columbia. It can be a fun, goofy photo, a loppet pic, a family snapshot, or a contemplative scenic landscape. Just show them what inspires you out there as you enjoy BC’s beautiful Nordic trails and you’re in the running for a prize!

Hit the Road to Whitewater’s Cold Smoke Festival

For six years now, the Cold Smoke Festival has been British Columbia’s premiere backcountry skiing skills festival. With competition and courses from skiers like Eric Pehota and Allison Gannett, this three day gathering of the AT and telemark tribe is definitely worth the drive over to Whitewater to partake in. Meet and ski with Kootenay ski legends like Peter Velisek, Wren McIlroy, and Ramin Sherkat. Oh, and as always, there are awesome prizes by Arc’teryx, Genuine Guide Gear, and Backcountry Access. Make sure you check out the Backcountry Olympics page…

Eye Candy of the Week: Norrona Magazine

Norrona is a premium outerwear clothing company based out of Norway, and their on-line magazine is a visual delight. My favourite story and photo essay from this month’s edition was written by Kari Medig, an award-winning photographer out of Nelson, BC. He completed the Bugaboos to Rogers Pass Traverse last spring and brought back some visually dazzling images.

 

Report from TELUS World Ski and Snowboard Festival

The TELUS World Ski and Snowboard Festival wound up today, and I attended from Thursday PM until Saturday. Caught the Pro Photographer Showdown, the invite-only “PowWow” by Origin Design (check out my blog post at MediaTent) on that event, the Metric concert on the Kokanee stage and even did some fine skiing’ over on Blackcomb on Saturday. Hard to believe that this is the 13th annual festival – I was invited to the very first one, which I wrote up (and kinda slammed) for Powder magazine in 1996. It truly bloody amazes me that there are so many people that come out for this event at such a late date in the season – truly a testament to the organizers at Watermark and the foresight of the event’s founders like Doug Perry, Skip Taylor, and Don McQuaid. After watching Jordan Manley (check out the guy’s blog) win yet another Pro Photographer Showdown, it’s perfectly obvious to me why the guy wins so consistently – he really ‘gets’ the storytelling concept of a slide show; outstanding images (of course), well-conceived music, and more than that – a flair for storytelling by ensuring that each and every image flows from the one before and leads to the one after. One thing I will say, though – Manley’s vision is pretty dark for such a joyful sport as skiing. I guess he’s spent too much time in the gloom at Whistler and on Vancouver’s North Shore shooting his subjects. I really enjoyed Christian Pondella‘s seggy as well; though I think that the constant  Red Bull logos didn’t work in his favour.

Intrawest troubles grow, Tremblant spinoff possible.

According to a story in today’s Globe & Mail, time is running out for restructuring debt at Intrawest, the resort company who owns Whistler-Blackcomb, Mont Tremblant, Copper Mountain, Steamboat Springs, Mount Stratton and several other high profile resorts. The financing deal that was patched together last fall is coming apart at the seams, and, similar in a way to CanWest – the Canadian newspaper chain – the company is hobbled by high debt, lousy payback terms, and a falling real estate market. I have followed this story for years now and always wondered why ITW’s share price lagged so badly when the company was selling tons of real estate and putting up record-breaking attendance, year after year. Fortress, which started out with a minority position in ITW, believed that new management was needed to ‘get the most out of’ Intrawest’s holdings and its potential.

ITW founder Joe Houssian, in a remarkably prescient move, sold out pretty much at the top to Fortress Capital, a private equity fund with real estate holdings but little operational experience on the resort side. Much of the real estate that is for sale by ITW at it resorts is in the nosebleed fractional market (would you believe 1/10 shares for $200K and up? You can buy a two bed and two bath outright at a place like Big White for that price. I would be surprised if ANY of the units in the At Nature’s Door complex have sold this winter – as an agent put it to me “the resale and equity market for fractionals has yet to prove itself…” Well, guess what, it’s a concept that could be done like dinner; definitely some similarities to Tamarack in ID (see earlier post). Whistler, unlike Tamarack, is hardly located in the middle of nowhere and will receive a huge publicity boost with the 2010 Winter Games next year.

I predicted that last year when the sale to Fortress occurred was that we would now see where the profitability on the operational side of Whistler Blackcomb lay since the ‘easy real estate’ had been sold. While finances of the resort itself have not been laid bare, WB must be struggling under the costs incurred by the massively expensive (yet, it must be said, very popular) Peak 2 Peak gondola, the lousy start to the season and the general malaise that has descended upon the resort. There is talk now about spinning off Mont Tremblant into a separate company and I’m sure everything but the crown jewel of WB itself is on the table to the highest bidder. The challenge is, there just aren’t any bidders left. Recreational real estate at ski areas is likely to be in the tank for a long, long time. Hats off to Mr Ebner at the Globe for reporting on this story.