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Far over the Misty Mountains cold…

Strain — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 14:26:23 +0000

…To dungeons deep and caverns old,
We must away, ere break of day,
To seek our pale enchanted gold.

-JRR Tolkien

Surface Tour – The End?

Strain — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 03:46:42 +0000

Our extra day in Whitewater used up most, if not all, of the energy I had left. Moving on to Red Mountain, which I’ve heard so many good things about, was something that my body was not ready to do. I took one lap to say I was there, then retreated to the demo tent to let my body recover from 3 weeks of constant travel and riding. The mountain was socked in anyways, so I didn’t feel too bad about not even bothering to shoot.

The plan was to demo at Red, then drive through the night back to Whistler and set up the final demo of the tour at TMC (where you can buy Surface Skis in Whistler) the next day… but the Kootenays struck again, wedging a rock into Eliel’s tire and keeping us in Ymir for an extra night.

We arrived in Whistler a day late, but the extra night in the koots let El and I make the windy drive back to the coast at a leisurely pace, and in daylight.

Note I say El and I. We left Shayne in Ymir, promising to return in a week or so to take him to Denver for SIA and then home to SLC. More on that later…

We returned to Whistler after 15 days on the road, and right on schedule the first major storm since we left rolled in. Low visibility, deep pow and alpine closures – to the trees! Exploring new hills was a blast but theres a lot to be said for knowing your favorite line like the back of your hand…

So thats that. Demo tour done… end of the line! But my adventures with Surface are far from over. A week later, I’d get back in the truck with Eliel and head back to Ymir, Whitewater and destinations south…

Surface tour – Kicking Horse (sortof) and COP

Strain — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 00:00:39 +0000

After 2 solid days riding in Revlestoke, we decided that the best way to tackle Rogers Pass was during daylight hours the next morning. I’m a big fan of drawing imaginary lines down every peak as I travel through the mountain passes of British Columbia, drooling over the innumerable pillow fields, couloirs and cliffs that provide eye candy and inspiration for the road weary shred; whether I’m behind the wheel looking at the road ahead or riding shotgun with wandering eyes, I much prefer making the trek between hills during the day.

This time, our decision to forgo travelling under the cover of darkness proved to be a poor one – we woke on Monday am to nearly half a foot of new snow blanketing the streets of Revelstoke with no indication that the storm would let up anytime soon. Great conditions for another day of riding at RMR… brutal conditions to tackle the notorious Rogers Pass. But, we were supposed to run a demo at Kicking Horse that day so we took our chances that the pass would be open when we got there. It was, but barely – the highway closed less than half an hour after we made it through.

When we finally arrived in Golden, we learned that we wouldn’t be able to run a demo due to an insurance issue, and that we’d be on the hook for lift tickets if we wanted to ski. As a bunch of broke kids with a limited budget for travel expenses, we opted out of on-hill riding and found a little cabin to jib around on for a couple hours. A quick stop in town at 180 Mountain Sports – one of the first Canadian shops to stock Surface – to tune the demo fleet and it was back on the road again. Facing technical difficulties once again with the Banff area resorts, we powered through to Calgary for a session at Canada Olympic Park.

I’m not a park shred and I don’t really enjoy shooting park photos, so I only spun a few laps with the D200 then took a turn at filming a little follow footy with a GoPro helmet cam. My back wasn’t feeling too hot or I would’ve thrown down myself. You might not know it but I actually kill it on handrails and pipe – and by it I mean myself. Yea, I have no freestyle skills to speak of… but I throw a mean slash on groomers.

Calgary’s resident Surface skier Rob Heule put together a little edit from our session. Check it:

Surface COP Slayer from rob heule on Vimeo.

As for my present whereabouts, I’m currently in Utah enjoying bluebird skies and blower pow… making the trek back to Canada tomorrow. Miss me yet? I didn’t think so. Next up, ditching the truck and going off road in the Kootenays. No, literally. You’ll see…

Surface tour – Revelstoke Mountain Resort

Strain — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 05:56:45 +0000

Having been in Whistler for the storm that hit the Okanagan in early January, there wasn’t much to do on the first leg of the Surface Skis tour aside from rip groomers and explore the park. As fun as that is, I need a little variety on the hill so the crew got me on skis for the first time in 12 or so years at Apex; not a pretty sight – all but one ski in the Surface lineup is less than 100mm underfoot. It takes a good pow day to really appreciate the fat, wide, rockered goodness that is Surface Skis (thats what the boys tell me, at least. WTF do I know, I can barely get down the hill on those things).

The last time I rode at Revelstoke Mountain Resort, conditions were similar to our jaunt through the Okanagan: great groomers but no new snow. I’ve been daydreaming about hitting revy on a pow day since they announced the new development plan a few years ago, and this time around I wouldn’t be disapointed: just in time for the Canadian Freeski Championships, RMR got a healthy dose of vitamin gnar and our crew took full advantage. It was typical weather for a Strain photoshoot – grey skies and deep snow. To the trees! I wouldn’t have it any other way…

A quick video edit of the RMR/KHMR stops from Surface rider and cinematographer Joel Whalen:

Quick Cut – Surface Demo does Revy and Golden. from Joel Whalen on Vimeo.

Up next: Shredding gnar with the car thru Rogers Pass, an urban session at Kicking Horse, and park laps in Calgary.

Prints and a quick update from the road (SIA + GoPro)

Strain — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 22:08:26 +0000

All of my recent travel has meant I haven’t had the opportunity to print any of my latest work – I think I’ve printed 3 photos that were taken since May 1, 2009. A couple months ago I ‘outsourced’ some print work to a friend, and I finally took them off his wall to take photos of my photos (it never gets old) last week.

I don’t have an integrated print ordering service (yet) but I’d be happy to provide prints of anything you fancy out of the photos from my blog or flickr. An 18×12 will run you $30, or $50 for two. Custom orders like this guy cost more based on the size – but nothing looks better than a fat canvas print hanging from your wall. To order just drop me a line.

I’m currently in Salt Lake City, Utah, taking a down day and working on some more bloggage from my Surface Demo tour. RMR / KHMR content dropping later this afternoon… Brighton shred tomorrow. We drove in from Denver/SIA early this morning – I’ll have some more stuff to say about SIA later, but for now I’d like to give a round of major props to the guys at GoPro. Someone stole the HD Hero camera that I won at the show, and the GoPro crew was good enough to replace it for me. Needless to say, I’m extremely grateful and can’t express enough how awesome it is to see a company go out of their way to help someone out. Thanks guys… can’t wait to start filming!

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Deep Winter

Strain — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 07:29:00 +0000

The first week of the new year is probably my favorite time to be around Whistler. The Christmas vacationers and New Years partiers have returned to the cities, leaving the mountains relatively quiet during a time of year noted for the intense winter storms that pummel the coast day after day. It isn’t unusual for the alpine to shut down for several days at a time as the snow piles up, forcing powder hunters into their secret forest stashes until the weather breaks and the upper mountain opens with several feet of fresh.

For 4 years now, Whistler has played host to the Deep Winter Photo Challenge, a 3 day contest that pits 5 photographers against each other for a hefty prize purse in stormy conditions that tend to be the exact opposite of ideal for photography. Sadly, I wasn’t able to attend the event itself this year, but I was shooting with some of the participating athletes in the days leading up to the contest, working through the storm on our own little Deep Winter side challenge. I’d be stoked to be one of the competitors someday… but I think I’ll wait until Jordan Manley gets sick of winning every year.

A pair of photos of skier Jake Cohn on Blackcomb Mountain in the early days of the new year. Deep.

I missed the slideshow presentation because I’m on the road, touring through interior BC with the Surface Skis crew. More about that in the next day or two – but you can keep up to date on our whereabouts and shenanigans by following my twitter. We’ll be back in Whistler on the 18th… fingers crossed we’re coming home into another storm…

Record Breaker

Strain — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 23:27:43 +0000

Voleurz rider Braden Dean pops off the injured reserve and into record breaking snow on Whistler Mountain:

As I mentioned in my Whistler Opening Weekend post, I’ve been lucky enough to be a passholder at Whistler during a time when early openings are the rule and record snowfall seems to happen on a regular basis. As a result, last season was a huge let down – although the march ‘redeption’ certainly faded memories of the slow start very quickly.

This season, however, I’ve decided (for a number of reasons) to change things up a little and spend time riding and shooting in the interior. I can’t help question now if I’m making a huge mistake; November is barely half over and Whistler has already received nearly half its average yearly snowfall, smashing the recently-set November snowfall record of 416cm. By the time December rolls around, it looks like November 2009 will be the snowiest month on record @ Whistler Blackcomb (51 more cm to go… the record should fall this weekend). Why am I leaving again?

A couple more of Braden – a little rusty on the first day of his season, but loving every minute of it:

I left Whistler last night in the middle of one of the most intense storms I’ve experienced – thick, heavy snow north of Squamish and torrential rain being driven by devastating winds to the south. We made it home just fine but it really put some perspective on just how hard this area is being hammered by storms right now. Truly incredible.

I know they say theres “no friends on a powder day” but if you ride alone, who’s going to help you break trail on a chest-deep bootpack? With a little effort we grabbed some bottomless turns for the last run of the day – you can see the stoke on everyone’s face. I was too busy snorkeling after this frame to shoot much more.

Whistler Opening Weekend

Strain — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 23:06:25 +0000

Surface skier Eliel Hindert had no problems getting up for Whistler’s opening day.

I’ve blogged a couple times now about the countdown to shred season and the feelings of anticipation and apprehension as opening day approaches. In southern BC, November weather is nothing short of chaos and often the only separation between an early opening with a deep base and rock boards well into the new year is a few degrees Celsius. Us over-eager weather watchers use every means possible to track the freezing level on the local mountains as it dances precariously back and forth across whatever ‘critical elevation’ will allow enough snow to accumulate to set the lifts back in motion for the winter.

For Whistler Blackcomb, opening day officially coincides with the Thanksgiving long weekend; not ours, unfortunately (one can dream), but our neighbours to the south. Given the hectic nature of coastal weather, that date is hardly etched in stone; adding to the anticipation of snow lovers everywhere is the prospect of the early opening. One can imagine the anxiety attacks parents would suffer if Christmas could potentially happen 3 weeks early on 2 days notice (a fitting analogy since snow bums have the approximate attention span of a 7 year old child). A solid November storm can drop a metre in less than a week and send resorts and their patrons scrambling to be ready for first chair the second enough snow is on the ground.

Whistler typically opens a week early but there are no guarantees when it comes to weather. The 05/06 season kicked off on November 4th and didn’t really let up until April 2008. I guess I was just spoiled by 3 epic seasons in a row but when Whistler opened on schedule last season I felt as if I’d been cheated out of several weeks of riding. This year started the same as any other with the up-and-down snowline dance but when the storms started rolling in cold a week and a half ago, it was pretty clear that it was game on and the lifts would be spinning “on time” this winter.

Opening day always comes with some degree of negativity. There’s always a chorus of ‘enjoy the rocks’ and ‘have fun waiting in line, sucka!’ from those who would rather hide under an umbrella in the city that get out into the mountains at the first possible opportunity. Yeah, conditions are kinda sketchy and the end of the gondola line was in the village square by the time I got my lazy ass into the queue, but thats all part of the opening day experience.

In line outside Crystal Lodge. Things moved surprisingly fast from here – I was riding by 10:15.

What lift line? All smiles from Chelsea, its opening day!

The lightboard reads green for the first time this winter:

Contrary to what the downers (read: jealous bastards that couldn’t make it up) said, conditions on the hill were brilliant with a 1 metre base providing excellent coverage through the Red and Emerald zones. The snow was light and deep with pow to be found throughout the day – despite the crazy line in the morning, it wasn’t much busier than the typical weekend. Anyone with a little local knowledge had face shots to last chair. A summer’s thirst for fresh pow turns was quenched for many a happy soul… I know I crashed early and slept sound and content on Saturday night.

Eric Poulin knows where to look to find fresh pillows.

NuuLife Cinema’s Dave Craig: half mad, all man.

Katie Hall-Leah is in the running for Miss Powder Mountain 2010 – you should go vote for her right now because she probably rips harder than you do.

Whistler’s Olympic year opening proved to be everything anyone could have hoped for, and with a further 71 cm hammering the mountain by Monday morning, it looks like it’s going to be one hell of a season – perfect redemption for a mostly forgettable winter of 08/09. If the forecast proves to be remotely accurate, Whistler will be looking at a 2 metre base by the 3rd week of November, a milestone that didn’t get hit until March last year. So, raise a glass to Ullr and hope he continues to smile upon us over a long and deep winter.

Whistler Village, Sunday morning. Hopefully this will be the waking scene to residents all winter long.

Pre-season shred

Strain — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 00:31:32 +0000

I posted a while back about the pre-season jitters that overtake the snow world as the days get shorter and the snowline drops. I know many of my friends have been dying to get back on a chairlift, whether its at Whistler this weekend (opening 2 weeks early!) or Baker (which opened today with bluebird skies and 6 feet of fresh), but I’m not the kind of person who likes to wait.

With word that storm after storm had hammered the local alpine, myself and several other hungover shreds dragged ourselves over 1000m up Blackcomb mountain at the crack of noon in search of our first pow turns of the Olympic season. We weren’t entirely disappointed – there was a good 2 feet through the terrain park, but below that coverage started to get spotty, fast. Luckily, none of us took any major board damage on the way back down to base 2… even after riding a snowbase that petered out to less than 2 inches where we finally unstrapped. Theres something about straightlining a sloppy mix of wet snow, grass, mud and rock with a crew of good friends that just feels right, ya know? Probably the worst conditions I’ve ever ridden in, but if that wasn’t fun I don’t know what is.

Park laps anyone? Taylor, Eric, Ryan, Sam, Taylor (theres 2 of em) and Steve strapping in at the shack:

Gunning up for the season:

While riding rocks may be fun, riding deep snow tends to be alot more enjoyable. With a scouting report in hand that the Elfin/Red Heather area had at least double the snowbase of Whistler and the snow continuing to fall, I busted out the snowshoes and headed out into the Squamish backcountry with a posse of skiers on Remembrance Day. We may have been an hour late, but we observed a moment of silence followed by a chorus of O Canada on top of Paul Ridge just after noon. Lest we forget.

The site of our snowy memorial ceremony:

Last year, I opened the season in the same area – here’s the post if you need a refresher. That was November 23 – snow depth, less than 2 feet. Yesterday, I probed 160cm on Paul Ridge. I don’t think we hit that last season til February or March… yeah, I’m excited.

Love the late afternoon light on this random party skinning up from a run:

Eliel Hindert warms up for a season of sending with this deep pillow line:

I love being in the backcountry hiking around and earning turns, and I’m pretty thrilled that I’ve beat most of my friends to the first day of the season, but I’m super stoked to have a chairlift doing all the work again this weekend at Whistler. See you there! I’ll be shooting photos of the opening madness…

Website changes

Strain — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:53:51 +0000

So, with a lot of help from my roomate, I’ve finally gotten around to making some changes to my site that I’ve been meaning to make for a long time. Things will continue to change here quite a bit over the next little while as we iron out all the details, but the end result will be my site being wordpress-based with an integrated gallery portfolio. Please bear with us until then!

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