Emerald Lake

The forecast for the range was bleak. -30 temps and winds were in the future, skiing and climbing cast to the wayside in favour of a good book or libation. When Thursday night rolled around I called Jason who had been out the last few days and who could hopefully erase any question marks. I cant remember exactly what was said on that call but words like "epic runs", "thigh deep", "shredding the gnar" and "bomber stability" may have been spoken. Trepidation turned to glory as we saddled up and drove west towards mecca. For Ian and I it would be the first gnar day of the year but for the other guys it was merely icing on the gnar cake, they were on day 3 in a row....it was just too good to not go skiing. In no time we were up in the alpine and chasing the white smoke from gully to gully, soaking it all in and trying to wipe the large smiles off our shiny faces. On Saturday we went back to Emerald lake with an even bigger posse, this time to the slide path proper where knee deep powder was had by all as we lapped a beautiful alpine bowl realizing once again that the sun always shines in pow country.

The Gnar

This past few days have been filled with the delights of great skiing. Thursday found a great group heading up the trail to boom lake near Storm mountain, stoke in tow. Darren, Shannon, Jamie, Louise, Myself and the floose had a great day wandering through the newly white landscape. Friday, the floose and I shot out to bow summit like a 357 magnum and found endless powder turns, perpetual snowfall and no crowds in the land of the great white. Saturday we went to Lake Louise for the opening of the rest fo the hill.....stellar

Fitness the witness

So the last few weeks have been filled with early season ice hunting. It really makes no sense at all that we would be looking so early seeing that we have 7 months of winter ahead but for some reason, every year at this time the ice gear comes out, gets sharpened and is ready to go. Winter has a special attraction, thats for sure.
This fellow was spotted near the ice climb R&D a couple of weeks ago.J dog billing giv' n r on the rock below "coffee suckin' do nothings" we ended up trying this and another corner system to the right but both were a bit grim without a rock rack.
Approching "coffee suckin' do nuthin's", the route "auto de feu" is visible on the right. Even though we didnt climb the route, J and I had a great day out in the mountains drinking coffee, driving rally style and enjoying good comapny while trying to scratch our way up. Its great to know that winter is truly on the way and we will all be enjoying it soon.