This week it was the turn of the skiers to go into the backcountry. After meeting our guides, Todd, Jessie and Tim, we headed out to Bow Summit.
Gearing up at the base with skis, skins, avalanche equipment and most importantly, lunch, we split into three groups and headed upwards – a long, long way upwards! An hour after skinning through the trees we popped out above the tree line and made our first descent through the fresh, powder snow – wow! Just a shame we seemed to ski down so quickly, before we knew it
we were hiking back up again.
That evening we resided in Mosquito Creek Hostel a very quaint cabin in the woods. With no TV or music we had to make our own entertainment which involved board games, charades and finally a relax in the sauna (with a cool down in the snow!)
Warning – to anyone who knows Lizzy, don’t ever challenge her to a game of Trivia Pursuit – you will lose!
The next day we awoke to fresh snow and a beautiful blue sky day. This time we skinned straight from the hostel up to the mountain behind. It seemed to be hours before we reached the top and made our first decent but it was more than worth it. Some of the guys even said it was better than heliskiing in terms of quality of snow and terrain and the views were just spectacular.
After the long trek up, half of the group decided to return to the hostel and the other half chose to do another run.
Later that afternoon fifteen weary people returned to Banff for a rest before level two exams started.
By Gemma Hardwick
Another whirlwind of a NONSTOP week has passed us by. . .
Monday took those who managed to get out of bed after Ross’s party, backcountry boarding. The team of two spent the day hiking and making fresh trax.
On Tuesday we said goodbye to Colin, hope that collar bone gets better soon.
By Thursday four boarders had their CASI Race coach to add to their endless list of qualifications.
On Thursday evening we went to Pass Powderkeg for a spot of night boarding. The hour long journey took us across the Alberta border and past the world’s biggest truck. We also persuaded one of the skiers to come and give boarding a go, (a dark icy slope being the ideal place to learn)!! After a few runs most of us discovered we were more interested in drinking than boarding and headed to the bar.
This weekend 50 of us NONSTOPers headed to Big Mountain, Whitefish, USA. Customs made for an interesting experience but luckily we were all allowed through.
After exploring the ski hill all afternoon, we went for a night out on the town. However being 6 months off 21 I spent the evening in the hotel sipping beer with the other under-agers. Everyone else told us they had a great night of drinking, dancing and drunken mischief. There were a lot of fuzzy heads in the morning!
By Phil
Equipped with snow shoes, poles, backpacks, shovels and transceivers we met our guides and were given a brief review of avalanche safety – we had previously received a two day course in avalanche training. Riding in the backcountry can be quite different to a resort and the risk of avalanche significantly higher. We hiked uphill for about 2-3 hours and then experienced fresh tracks by boarding back down to alpine (tree) level. We then hiked back uphill for another two hours and then finally back to Rampart Creek Hostel, our accommodation for the night.
The hostel was a very
basic cabin in the middle of no where with no running water and electricity that only came on after dark!
The second day was spent in the same area but on the adjacent mountain. We hiked for about four hours and then descended through the open powder bowls and into the trees below. The trees proved a little tight in places especially as we had poles and snow shoes attached to our packs.
All in all a great weekend with some fantastic powder conditions!
Also this week was Canadian five pin bowling at the Banff Springs Hotel.
Twenty competitive seasonaires tried their hand at Bingo bowling, a fun variation on the ten pin version. Some of the guys found it a little frustrating as the aim wasn’t to get a strike every time but to get rid of numbers on a bingo card my knocking down certain pins tactics were definately needed!
READ WEEK 10
By Rich & James (big red)
The Duck On Inn Outsiders Perspective
Monday week 9, lessons as usual today with the AMP group preparing for the park and pipe course that starts the next day.
Tuesday was the first day of the park and pipe course and everyone was stoked about doing some freestyle and relaxing from the CSIA level 1. First day on a new pair of skiis for Rich and a bit of a slow start. We did some switch skiing in the morning and after lunch we hit up the rails (in Menno’s case with his back and head).
Wednesday, good mood all round. Hit the jumps in the morning and Chris our course conductor showed of his “mad skills”. We were super stoked after lunch and progressed into grabs and spinning skills. Was awesome!
Last day bit rusty after a crazy week. Started demos in the morning working on other peoples faults. In the afternoon everyone landed a switch 180 over a small gap. It was excellent! Started to worry about our final result as we were going to the Griz bar.
Luckily we all passed!
On Saturday, we had a trip to Big Mountain in America and we had a killer time in the half pipe and park using my fresh skills. The highlight of the week was stomping a big rail and then skiing on to the next rail to find James (headband) unconscious on the ground with a bleeding face. To this day he still doesn’t remember what happened, (but that might be down to his drinking problem!)
Peace out!
READ WEEK 10
by John Mcardle
Situation Report for DPZF (Deep Powder Zone Fernie)
This weeks Training started with Back Country Boarding with NONSTOP’s own Dave “Pathfinder” Richards. Dave issued the teams with snowshoes, avalanche equipment and a sense of adventure then took them forth to Lost Boys Pass. A great days boarding with lots hard climbs in the backcountry.
The following three days saw most of the teams training in CASI Level 2, carving and advanced sliding turns proving most tricky. At the same time a team was attending CASI level 1 assessment and Thursday produced another batch of Level 1 instructors for the NONSTOP crew.
This good news gave us the opportunity for some R+R in the form of an evenings Curling. The massively complex game of curling was quickly mastered by the NONSTOP crew so watch out in the next winter Olympics.
Friday was a great powder day so to shake off the cobwebs a circuit of hikes to snake ridge in search of fresh tracks was launched. Powder hunting took up most of the day and most enjoyable it was too.
So the weekend was upon us and it promised to be one to remember.
The evening’s entertainment was dished out in splendid techno colour and backcombed hair with 80’s night at Eschwigs. Multiple prizes were won by the gang including best 80’s outfit, best dancer and best-dressed couple.
The end of the week saw Cat Boarding in the backcountry. I’m not sure I could do justice to the days fantastic conditions and the chosen location.
Morale was at an all time high when the final preparations were put to the Jib Fest party.
Assembled as follows:
2 x rails with drop inns
1 x igloo
1 x snow skate boarder cross
5 x DJ’s
Floodlights
The party rocked well into the night with awesome tricks being pulled into the small hours.
An excellent night ended an excellent week and proved Fernie was the choice location.
Situation Report ends.
P.S. I also watched Jarhead this week
READ WEEK 9
Tom | March 26th, 2006
