Kristjan and I took the queen of the kootenays and headed up to the fort It's re-opened this year after a hiatus. It's quaint - if you like outhouse shitters and a barbecue inside a tent for a chalet. They only had the front side chair open. Backside and Farside were out of commission, so they were running the cat. This is what I imagine snowboarding in the 3rd worldish parts of Eastern Europe would be like. Kristjan is sorta dressed how I think locals there would be too. Those goggles are older than he is I think, but I guess that's the style in Bulgaria these days? :D

The next day after Red, Blair and I found our way onto a cat at Valhalla, which contained a handful of bonafide pros (albeit ski pros) and famous professional photographer Eric Berger It turns out getting those shots for the mags takes a long damn time. So, Eric would grab 2 or 3 pros and make one run, the rest of us in the cat (about 5 or 6 total including Blair and I) would make 2 or 3 runs.

Riding with a strong group makes for a lot of vert, and challenging terrain selection, where snow pack permits. This was one of the best days of the winter for me in terms of group skill level, snow conditions and terrain that we rode.

The day had a scary ending though. They say more people in the Kootenies die from tree wells than from avalanches. We'd seen some sloughing throughout the day (combination of a very strong group and the terrain we were capable of - it's been my experience that cat/heli places avoid slough like the plaque) including one fairly large slough that took out the lead guide and had him cursing as he searched for his skis. Anyhow, back to the tree wells - last run of the day was a fairly long traverse along a ridge, then a drop into rolling, mellow terrain, followed by another traverse back to a lower pickup on the cat road. Near the end, the guides told everyone to keep their speed up - and us boarders were promptly passed by just about everyone, including the TAIL GUIDE. Because of the mellow terrain, I guess he figured it was ok. Blair was my tree buddy and we'd gotten split up a bit and weren't calling each other like we should have been either. I came out onto the cat road to find both guides and most of the group. Missing was one of the ski pros and Blair. A few seconds later and the pro is yelling. The guides took off back up hill as quickly as they could in deep snow while the rest of us waited anxiously. Turns out an alder had caused Blair to lose an edge and he'd fallen into a tree well. Luckily he'd landed right side up and the treevalanche of snow that came down wasn't enough to bury his face. Also very fortunate that the pro was in the area and heard him yelling. Lessons learned - keep close to your tree buddy no matter how mellow the terrain looks! And if a tail guide tries to pass you, kick him in the nuts!

I flew into Castlegar a few days early to get prepped for the trip with Blair. He picked me up at the airport and we went straight to Red Mountain. It is consistently ranked amongst the best for tree riding in North America. I now know why. No crowds, lots of fresh snow and terrain that looks just like the cat skiing places. If I buy a condo at a mountain, it will be here.

There was tons of terrain to explore and lots of amazing snow in the trees. I can't say enough good things about this place. Both Blair and I had our own cameras, so we ended up taking quite a few pics. So much easier than trying to hand a single camera back and forth.

Freshly back from my Wiegele trip, we loaded up the van and headed to Castle Along for the trip were Connor, Derek, Neil, Craig and myself. It was the first time there for many of us. First impression was small, family style mountain - I wouldn't even call it a resort. Old fixed grip chairs, longest t-bar in the world. Lots of traverses, not many trees, and windy. We timed it pretty good. Snow was dumping and they were blasting on the backside to open up the "chutes". Sounded promising, but there's no trees back there at all. Minimal cliffs to drop, mostly just open. It was the first day they'd be open for the year, so there was some nice untracked to be had, but also lots of hidden rocks too.



Connor enjoying the fresh stuff

It's every snowboarders dream to go heli. It's been mine since I made my first turns about 16 years ago. All those snowboard videos, magazines, etc. that show the crazy stuff that you drool over. You don't find crazy stuff inbounds at a resort very often and when the good snow comes, it's tracked out pretty quick. Heli is non stop untracked powder just waiting for you to leave your mark. It's not cheap, but it is one of those things you must do at least once in your life. There's an old saying that goes something like "if you don't go this year, you'll only be one year older when you do". I'd be hounding friends for a few years to go, but it was becoming apparent if I was going to go, I would be going solo.


A year ago I weighed over 240 lbs. Life does that to you, you slowly change and don't realize it. I set a goal to get down under 200 lbs and my reward for doing so was this heli trip. I worked away at it slowly, but at the peak I was biking 6 to 7 days a week, hitting the weights 3 times a week and going to a circuit training gym another 3 times a week. I was down to 187 lbs, then I developed something that week called heli-belly. They feed you so well, you can't help but gain a few pounds - even with burning calories like crazy from riding hard all day.

On the first night, I called Peter after I'd found out they had standby spots available for $500. He was reluctant to spend the cash (even though $500/day is a smoking deal for heli) and decided to pass. I really wanted to have a friend there to share the experience with, so I paid for Peter's standby day. He came up, slept in the cabin with me, the guides snuck him some food and we had a great time riding together. Natalie probably made him sleep on the couch for a few days when he returned, but I'm sure he'll tell you it was worth it.

You always remember the first time, and although this trip wasn't perfect, I'll always remember it fondly.



Take off!