Joffre Lakes

I spent the weekend splitboarding around the Joffre Lakes. The first day was an early with Jonaven and his hounds exploring a pillow zone. The weather was forecast to deteriorate during the day so we planned a route in the trees to avoid flat light in the alpine. The sun stayed out all day and we were in the shade. Always fun to explore a new zone though. Marcos the dog got the line of the day. Sunday was forecast to be clouding over and precip starting in the afternoon so I didn't really plan anything. Of course I slept in and the morning was dawned clear. A few calls were made and I was on the trail with Dave B. and Vanessa before noon. We followed the same route up, but took a different line down. The skies did finally cloud over by the time we dropped in, but the run we chose still had good definition. Glad to be out there again riding new terrain with old friends.

Crystals on the trees around the middle lake.

The rock that shouldn't be there.

Marcos tries to figure it out..

View of the Rohr chute (2nd from left) we did last time we were up the Duffey.

Turtle & Marcos give chase.

Sunday late start with Dave & Vanessa.

Final bootback to the top.

Dave B riding the white.

Liquor Lake

AL Clark's POV camera from the GT memorial noboard race. Check out Jonas' parking spot at the end - wow.

My mom's on Sympatico!

The first webisode of "The Real 2010" is up over at Sympatico.ca. Whistler Creek Productions is producing a series of these during the Vancouver Olympics in February. I helped out with this one (as did my mom), but I'll be out of town for most of Feb. and won't be involved very much with it past this. Part of me wishes I was going to be around for the games, but a bigger part of me is glad I'll be somewhere else. Mom's stoked to be there though.

Check it out here.

GT 2010

This past weekend Trout Lake played host to the 5th Annual Greg Todds Memorial. It's a gathering of Greg's friends and family to remember our buddy and play in the snow together. It's also one of the few snow "events" of the season where you can get a little recharge for your soul. The fastest time of the day went to Young Dave and Skye Sheele won the "Asian Canadian Downhill". Somehow I wound up with the "Hard Charger Award" for trying to find some untracked snow down a stack of pillows up top. After a day of racing in the clearcut it was back to town for a fundraising auction and a whole bunch of good times at the town hall in Trout Lake.

This year's edition was, uh... challenging.

Gary Van Os keeping it all in order.

Stu Andrews loves the mic. All day long.

Young Dave keeping it real.

Gary "Tuttle" Hall and Al Clark.

Tuttle drawing the heats.

Colin Adair & Devun Walsh made it out too.

Hardingham as usual.

Taylor Pearcey with hugs for everyone.

Terje and a slew of shreds were all in the race.

Young Dave does it again.

Al Clark threading the trees.

No caption could do this photo justice.

Noah taking it a little further.

Young Dave accepts his cup .

Skye Sheele takes the Asian Canadian Downhill for 2010.

B getting used to the Hard Charger.

Me and the some Trout Lake bros. Al Clark, Mark Friesen and Skye Sheele.

Gigi took the helmet for some laps.

B checks out Super Dave's Tucker.

Jonas Guinn found his own parking spot... don't ask.

Stu reminding everyone why we're all there. G.T.!!!

See you in T.L. next year.

Video from Transworld

A Day on the Duffey

Ryland Bell and Chris Edmands are here in B.C. shooting footage for the Deeper project. Last week Dave B. and I joined them for a daytrip off the Duffey Lake Road. Skies were clear all morning. Temperatures were around -5c and the wind was calm. Perfect. We skinned up through the forest to Rohr Ridge and got a few shots in the sun before the clouds moved in from the west. After a bite to eat it was time to decide on a run to the valley. There are a series of south facing avalanche paths that drop over 2000 feet straight down to the highway below. The snow on that aspect is often sun and wind affected, but on this day conditions were perfect for a leg burning shot to the road. I have driven past the bottom of these chutes for years on my way to or from B.C.'s interior. It was satisfying to be at the bottom looking up at our tracks instead of catching a glimpse of someone else's from a car window.

Sunny skies all morning. The view south out to the east end of the Pemberton Valley.

Ryland Bell doing a few short laps for the cameras.

A changing sky for the afternoon.

Goose?

The run to the road. Pow all the way down.

Ryland, Chris and Dave. Stoked on the Duffey.

Ryland pours a Barenjager to celebrate.