www.skibanff.com
With the word “extreme” being the most bastardized catch phrase in the ski industry, it’s nice to see the Ski Patrol at Sunshine Village deliver such a legitimate example. You need to bring your beacon, probe, shovel and a partner to access the Dive. But you also need to bring a good sense of judgment. Because without the latter, you’ll likely end up getting hurt.

I’m not sure if I forgot my head, or whether it was experiencing a momentary malfunction, but I opened the Dive by tomahawking over a sharky rockband at the entrance (please refer to the video). Luckily, I cashed in another one of my “Get Out of Jail Free” cards and escaped only with a f$%#ed up finger and a slight case of whiplash.

Enough about my own idiocy, I should really be talking about the conditions available in the Dive. The wind got there before we did, so the middle of the cirque was blown into smooth, but edgeable, conditions. The protected flanks on the skier’s left, however, served up some boot deep hero pow.

Like anything in the Rockies this time of year, you still have to exercise the technique that local skiers are all too familiar with. Just unweight yourself and hope for the best. Don’t worry though--with snow forecasted throughout the coming week, the airs, straightlines and deep slashes will soon be less of a bad idea than they were for us.

The Dive may have been our prize for the day, but no matter where we went on the mountain, we ended up pounding knuckles and flashing shit-eating grins. We warmed up our early season rubber legs with some 24-karat corduroy off the Angel and Great Divide chairlifts. You don’t usually spend the summer yearning for groomers, but these were the stuff that dreams are made of.

We were also lucky enough to get a preview of the pow off Goat’s Eye. As of yet, sending the public through the bones up top is not an option. But for people like us who have a complete disregard for the structural integrity of their gear, the riding below treeline is well worth the blown edges and core shots. The lift is set to open on Thursday, so free your schedule and sink an edge or two in the one of the best Novembers the Rockies have ever seen.



Thanks to Mike Moynihan for going above and beyond the call of duty and thanks also to Troy and the rest of the mountain crew for getting the Shine shred ready for the season.