Carolyn & Shandy

Happy times in Pemberton!

Slightly Obsessed

I spent some time in this zone off the Duffey last year. This little nugget has been in the back of my mind ever since. I went out a few days back to see what the snow was like without any huge expectations. The snow was all time. This alley has me slightly obsessed.

One more from Feb.

I did a couple laps above Joffre Lakes yesterday in the afternoon. I had been there 2 days prior and found some pretty firm snow on the top half. Well that's now covered with up to a foot of blower pow. Forgot my goggles (?!) and lost my sunnies. Ouch - my eyeball!

This looked promising

If you've ever been to the 2nd Lake you'll recognize this little porker.

A river runs...

A little bit of light had me hurrying without goggles.

This looked like...

...this 2 days before.

Run #1 from below.

Run #1 drop in.

That was fun - better get another.

It started nuking on the way back up.

Run #2 looked like...

...this 2 days before.

It's been nice to drop back into touring for a second.

Snow on the Duffey

It's starting...

Operation Golden Eagle on ESPN

Jesse Huffman's blurb about his brother's movie (Operation Golden Eagle) is up over at ESPN. They used a couple of my pics in the piece. Click on the grab below to check it out.

Meager Slide

A great shot from Bonny Makarewicz showing the bottom of the slide path. This is looking east with the Lilloet River on the left and Meager Creek on the right. Check out the forest that's no longer there on the opposite slope of the Meager Valley! You can see more shots over at Dave's Landslide Blog with some good explanations of what happened. More shots here. Wow.

Operation Golden Eagle

Last week I spent a few hot and dusty days in Pemberton helping shoot scenes for a short film that Lukas Huffman is directing. Lukas has been going to school in New York learning all about the ins and outs of making films. He brought in Whistler Creek Productions to shoot it so it was pretty much a bunch of friends working together. It was good to see some faces I haven't seen in a while and see some camera rigs I hadn't seen up close before. Watch for Operation Golden Eagle at a filmfest near you.

Car chase!

Christian, Lukas & Shin eyeball the remote heli rig.

Action!

Stu keeping the whole thing moving. Lukas "directing."

Gabe tweaks the car mount while Shin stands in.

Kearns makes a rare appearance on the mainland.

Oops.

Pemberton Welcomes the H.S.T.

Found this on the BikeCo blog.

More here.

Surf & Snow

Scott Rowley just cruised through Pemberton on his way to Revelstoke from Vancouver Island. He's been bouncing back and forth between surf and snow all season, scoring wherever he goes.

We did a quick tour off the Duffey on a day that didn't hold much promise and found good snow in this little corner of the zone. I got to try out Jonaven's new Jones splitboard "The Solution" and can say it's definitely a nice ride. Here's a little clip of my first turns on Jones' new product.

Winter Returns to Pemberton

What a strange snow season we're having here in B.C. Most of February felt more like April. Bike trails were being ridden, the valley was green and it felt as though winter was finished. Then the temps dropped and low pressure systems in the gulf started spinning. March has brought a welcome return to winter (at least on the top half of the mountains).

Last weekend we stayed overnight in a cabin off the Duffey Lake Road. Dan Milner (over from France to take some photos) and I trekked into the shelter Friday night towing crazy carpets. Jonaven & his dogs (from here on known as Johnny 2 Dogs) and Dave B. met us there early Saturday morning and we were off to the fresh powder.

Full load. Thanks for the pic Dan.

Dave B's stack before...

...and after.

Lunchtime in the trees.

Dognap.

Touring up to...

the upper playground.

We spent two days shooting footage in the storm for "Deeper." Snow stability was less than bomber, but we were still able to get some decent shots on smaller terrain. All in all it was a great two days in the snow.

Olympics

The Olympics just wrapped up today with Canada winning the gold medal in Men's Hockey versus the U.S.A. What a way to finish! My brother was at the game through some good fortune (and witchcraft I'm pretty sure.) He's the luckiest guy on the planet I know on this day. He got to witness in person one of the most exciting hockey games of all time. I watched from Pemberton in a room full of old and new friends from both sides of the border (and a Swede.) After the game we visited another home full of new and old friends where we watched the closing ceremonies and shared a fantastic meal.

All in all it was a wonderful Sunday where I got to reflect on the Olympics I had been dreading. I had some pretty big reservations about the games coming to town over the last few years. A big inconvenience was how I perceived it for the most part. Then, when it finally hit two weeks ago and was on... it all worked. Obviously there were bugs to work out at first and things to streamline, but once the whole operation started to chug along it was hard to hate on it. I always thought I'd be out of town during the games, but found myself at home the last 2 weeks. I never went to any of the events, but spent some time in Whistler enjoying the whole atmosphere of the thing and catching up with visiting friends. It was a party. And a good one. The press seemed to focus on the negatives at the start of it all (and it was bit of a rocky ride). When the Canadians started climbing the podium to accept medals everyone got behind them, including me. I had lots of friends and family directly involved with the games. I haven't been able to get any of their reviews yet, but I'm pretty sure no one has any regrets. I'm just so glad we won that game!

Dirksen & Deeper

Josh Dirksen has been hanging with us in Pemberton. He made his way up here after the Mt. Baker Banked Slalom to do some touring and shooting with me for Deeper. We've been battling the clouds until the last few days. Finally some sunshine. Stoked to finally work with Dirksen.

Mt Slalok

We've been touring around the Joffre Lakes this week quite a bit shooting footage for Deeper. The skies finally cleared yesterday and we got a good look at a line we've been eyeballing for a while now - Mt. Slalok. Jonaven & Ryan Daly joined forces (as they've been known to do) to tour up around the Matier Glacier and then up the back of Slalok. Ryan was dealing with some bronchial issues that ended up cutting his climb short about halfway up. Bummer, because there was a ton of snow left to shred after Jonaven dropped the line. About 5 hours from the Upper Joffre Lake to the top and about 2 minutes back down to the lake. Windy all morning, but it eased up right when we needed it to. Check out Jonaven's pics here.

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.