Winter turned to Spring today but it officially happened for me on Friday. That was my first day out skiing in the sun and warm air. Spring brings a whole new focus and style to skiing that makes it my favourite time to slide on snow. The long days are all about cold mornings and hot afternoons. The streets in town melt and grass goes green but we chase the pow as it lingers up high and on progressively north and steeper faces. With Spring in mind, I've come up with my second attempt at 30 Thoughts for the Week.
1. I'm absolutely blown away how much ignorance there is still about backcountry safety. I was reminded in the KHMR slack country this weekend as people, with no understanding of their environment, ended up following tracks into dangerous lines. The KHMR slack country has always been host to countless, self-righteous, tirades to the unlearned followers but this used to happen on the top of Terminator peak (SuperBowl) and now these rebukes are taking place on top of T2. The difference? The OB terrain past T2 is a lot more serious than into Super Bowl.
2. I was actually offended by the stupidity of a couple locals we encountered on Friday. An older man and his under 18 year old partner were lapping the south slack country like us, but with no packs (shovel probes) and no beacons. When we mentioned it to them, they older guy said, 'Oh I ski there every day and I know it's not going to slide today. I'm not an idiot.' Actually buddy, yeah you are.
3. We laughed it off and were polite but waves of disgust came over us as we thought about that conversation on our next hike. I think if that kid or anyone in his group ever gets hurt or killed in an avalanche, because he had no protection, then there will be blood on his older friend's hands for teaching him a completely foolish approach to being in the mountains.
4. No wonder patrollers are so crusty about sucker tracks. One expert skier puts a track in to a zone he knows he can poach and tens will follow by taking comfort in the fact that there's a track.
5. Makes me think of a poach I once saw Dave Treadway do. It was burly and I hope no body followed that track (pretty sure no one did).
6. Speaking of Dave, I gotta send him some props for representing at the Red Bull Cold Rush this past week. He missed the podium by .5 of a point and won the big mountain part on day 1. It's fun to watch a close friend do well on the global scene.
7. If I'm throwing out props, I should send some to Fernie local Ross Janzen, who won Powder Magazine's Powder Cup this month for his performance both on and off the slope. The Powder guys totally got it right to reward one of skiing's biggest fans in Janzen. The guy is always ready to shred and always ready to party.
8. We caught Ross in the line of duty at the Faction booth at SIA talking us through the ski line. Make sure you watch this video to the very end. Sorry buddy, I had to. SIA seems to always be memorable for Janzen.
9. While partying hard for a month straight is probably not that advisable in terms of health, I must extend props to Ross for exercising good judgment in the mountains this week. He was (at least) two Guinesses in, on a day of hard charging, when I saw him back-off a nasty looking double cliff. Considering he probably could have done it, and the hoard of skiers who had gathered at the bottom to watch the show and who were egging him on, he showed good judgement by taking his skis off and walking out of it. Sometimes that takes more guts than going for it.
10. Heard the old saying quoted this week: 'There's no substitute for experience,' but I think 'caution' could possibly stand in it's place.
11. Big lines season is being continually delayed this season in the northern Interior, because it just keeps snowing. The reality is that there's still a lot of moisture circling in the air. I heard renowned, Golden BC, ski guide Wayne Bingham express that he can't even remember a season where you could ski so low in late March all the way to the valley bottoms without hitting sun crusts. Indeed, it's a special year.
12. I predict that sled-skiing in June will be an easy reality this year.
13. After skiing like a pussy for the last five years I'm experiencing quite a renaissance in my approach to lines this year. I think i've even upgraded my status to 'almost not skiing like a pussy.'
14. All self-deflection aside, I've been pleasantly surprised by the fact that I'm currently skiing better than in any time in recent memory. Dedication and technology are what I credit for this nice blip up on my downward slide to skiing like an old man. The dedication comes from trying to make a go of biglines.com, which is always a wild ride, but has allowed me more epic ski days this year than perhaps ever before. The technology comes from the Rocker 2's, which I, conveniently for me, haven't given back yet and will delay giving back as long as possible to my local rep.
15. Fact: the Rocker 2's are the best tight-tree, pow ski I've ever ridden. I think it's the honeycomb in the tips that cause a reduced swing weight, which makes them snap into place ultra quick. The skis come back so quickly to a neutral position after a hard turn, I feel like I'm on a mogul ski. It's also the Rocker shape of course. The 184's feel like a pair of 166's.
16. These skis are really starting to sing to me now. I've had them for 2 weeks and I'm not afraid to go full speed on groomers anymore. That quick swing weight I mentioned allows one to dump speed so quickly and get back into position to continue shredding. This is particularly helpful on nasty, whoop filled traverses.
17. Another thing I've noticed is that I can ollie in the snow now way better than I ever could before. You can load the Rocker 2's up with energy and pop off of nothing. I was watching Candide Thovex, who is pretty much a human cat, do this and now I realize that a smaller, not as cool version of Candide's ollies are possible if you have the right skis.
18. Someone who doesn't ski like an old man and is on Rocker 2's is Mark Abma. Check out this sweet clip of him at Selkirk Tangiers. This is also a good example of how fat it is this year in the interior.
19. If I didn't have walk mode on my Black Diamond Factors I wouldn't have been able to ski as hard as I did this week. I use it like a fifth buckle and undo it every gondola lap. I will never buy another pair of ski boots without walk mode, or dance mode as Eric Hjorleifson likes to joke.
20. Speaking of dance mode. James Heim posted a funny video of a guy just given'r at the GLC in Whistler on his FB page (can't link to it) It made me really want to head back to Whis for the TWSSF. The apres that week is always dangerously fun.
21. Please like the Biglines Facebook page. We need ya. Thanks. http://www.facebook.com/pages/Biglinescom/127502306616#!/pages/Biglinescom/127502306616
22. Ian 'Cheddar' Watson posted a crazy TR today of a first descent on Mt. Currie near Pemberton. That's a seriously crap your pants kind of line called the Pterodactyl Spine. Makes me nervous for Spring, as I usually find myself in scary but rad place at least once or twice every big lines season.
23. Descent and Couloir are probably the most mis-spelled words in any steep skier's writings. I'm certainly guilty of massacring the latter. Slarve may be a new one to add to the mix.
24. Been really lazy about finishing Leslie Anthony's White Planet. Some chapters flow like water (AK) and others like molasses (Iceland) but overall it's an awesome book and a perfect Christmast present. I need to take daytime hours to read his stuff cause I'm in skiing content overload these days.
25. The big shoots for most of the film companies are going down in the next few weeks and big money is getting spent. These are times when athletes can blow 5-10K on a few days in the heli and producers can blow 10-20K on Cineflex rentals. Don't have that kind of money but still want to make great shots? Check out this vid from the BMCP crew. A $300 GoPro, a $10 spool of heavy fishing line, and a good idea and you're in the game.
26. Greg Stump told me once that Drew Barrymore told him that it's not the camera that makes a great shot, it's the filmer. Nothing is as important as a good idea.
27. Deep snow also helps make shots too. Which makes me very think like we're going to be in for a treat to see the 2011 ski board movies this fall. There's got to be some epic skiing in them because just about everybody has been getting killer snow this season.
28. Deep gratitude to all the sponsors on biglines.com that keep our site up and going. Without them we wouldn't be around. Please click on their ads and choose their products if you can.
29. Even deeper gratitude to all the viewers of Biglines who have stuck with us through thick and thin. Hopefully you've liked the site a lot more this year and will keep sticking around. We've still got a lot of improvements that we'll try to tackle over the summer.
30. Play safe this Spring. Sunny weather has a way of making us bolder than we should be. This video of snowmobiler Chris Brown is pretty sobering.
