2011/2012 Canadian Rockies Roll Call and StokeThread...

[Westslope]

Absolute amateur hour on Larch

Paradise open yet? That's my favorite for amateur hour. I mean, all the hacks ride up the chair, see the terrain below them and then for some reason decide, yep I'm a gonna side slip the shit outta that!

It would be great if Fortress got back up and running but I really can't figure out how it would happen. I thought the main reason they pulled the pin in 04 was lack of skier visits? As far as I know Lake Lousy and Scumshine are pretty much sitting on minimal skier visit growth over the last decade (it's also possible I'm talking out of my ass) so I have a hard time figuring out who would invest in them.

On a side note, this is the first I have heard that the bridge was fixed! Fishing back on at Fortress lake next summer!

[grinch]

Well I got plenty of time for skiing, just not a lot of strength for it. I think I took as much catching my breath as I did actually skiing. Waiting for the EI medical claim to go through as my bank account slowly dwindles away.

As for Fortress; people have skinned up there. I'm not really sure if the new owners mind or not, I'm not aware of the legalities of what the use of the land are. This fall I biked up the road for a solitary hike and at the end of the day the workers passed me as I was just getting back to the car. They just drove past without question, I'm not sure if anyone cares in the winter. There are signs all over informing the public about a cat ski operation in the works, for Dec. 2013 if I recall. It'll be awhile.

nice one Pete. 15 weeks of no hassle then milk the reg benifits for the spring. when your up to it we'll have to do a gimp day at the pass

[theshredder]

And Lamothe! I noticed that you hit that big drop off wawa.. Good work.

Added: I've never hucked that particular drop because I've seen better skiers than me eat shit on it. Those other drops between continental and standish are sweet too though.

Actually I did hit that drop but not where it was really really big, which is where it looks like you hit from. You hit it at the highest part right?

[Lamothe]

And Lamothe! I noticed that you hit that big drop off wawa.. Good work.

Added: I've never hucked that particular drop because I've seen better skiers than me eat shit on it. Those other drops between continental and standish are sweet too though.

Actually I did hit that drop but not where it was really really big, which is where it looks like you hit from. You hit it at the highest part right?

I think it was but i could be wrong. Its my first season at sunshine so still learning where everything is. The good part about that drop was the second cliff right after the one in the photo. biting it on the first one = gnar front flip of the second

[Sentinel]

Since T2C is temporarily not able to post any pics or vid I'll throw a bunch in on his behalf. Me and Backscratcher were out in the Pass the last couple days and things were rather good. I didn't snap alot of photos but and am sure if this is even going to work but lets give it a try shall we.

[Alex.C]

I think the Naskiska Ridgetop weather station may have blown away:



Edit: nevermind, it showed some valid new data just after I made this post.

Still #$#@$@# windy in the alpine though..

[Joe Strummer]

Well I got plenty of time for skiing, just not a lot of strength for it. .

Hhmmmm this might work out ok.
I might actually be able to keep up with you now

[grinch]

^^^ my thoughts exactly. dudes got 3 lungs i'm sure

[mntlion]

alex: where did you get the data from?

[Alex.C]

mtnlion:

Its just from the EC page: http://www.weatheroffice.gc.ca/city/..._metric_e.html

More Info->Past 24 Hours

[theshredder]

mtnlion:

Its just from the EC page: http://www.weatheroffice.gc.ca/city/..._metric_e.html

More Info->Past 24 Hours

Speaking of environment Canada. A snowfall warning is out for the parks.

[JD May]

Does anyone know of a shop in Calgary or Banff that will mount my narrow-brake FKS bindings for me? Some shops have a policy against bending them. I think I asked this earlier but it's now time to actually get it done.

The brakes are more than long enough, I've seen them bent out to 130mm and I only need them to about 107mm. Hell, I've myself bent a pair to fit a 115mm waist in the past. Does anyone know who to get to do this locally? And actually get it done properly - that is, bend them straight then bend them back, not just spread them past the sidewalls?

[time2clmb]

Well...doesn't look like i'm missing any back country gnar lines...avy conditions have been consistently shite. Hopefully no ones does anything stupid when the blue comes out after all this snow stops falling. Haven't really heard of any major incidents up this side of the border yet.

[Shadam]

setinel has over 100 posts ...
so he's no longer a jong.

I'll see all you trend setters while waiting for first gondy on the 2nd.

[eldereldo]

Bridge might be 'fixed', but road is still closed off with barricades and chains. Fortress's issue is that it still gets enough snow to be a good touring area, but it doesn't get enough to be a ski area. It always got hammered by wind, but now the snow has moved back into the mountains enough that it doesn't get enough to get by without snowmaking. And the infrastructure is basically worn out, or trashed. So the only thing you have is a road. You would need to rebuild or replace every piece of equipment at the place. No one is going to sink 50million into somewhere you can't build real estate. My buddy talked to SRD about alternate uses, but they insisted that it had to be run as a public ski hill. So unless they have come to their senses, rumors about private ski clubs, cat ski operations, etc are off the mark, although from what I have seen, and heard, it is pretty much a private ski club for then lease holders since they are allowed to use snowmobiles to access the area.

[Sentinel]

s
etinel has over 100 posts ...
so he's no longer a jong.

I'll see all you trend setters while waiting for first gondy on the 2nd.

And it only took me 3 years.

[time2clmb]

Jeesus christ man...if you skied as much as you posted you'd finally get that elusive 100th day in Nice pics BTW, thanks for posting them.

[CSG]

Well...doesn't look like i'm missing any back country gnar lines...avy conditions have been consistently shite. Hopefully no ones does anything stupid when the blue comes out after all this snow stops falling. Haven't really heard of any major incidents up this side of the border yet.

Things are pretty dicey now, especially with the constant loading.

But:This is a much, much better snowpack than we had, say, Jan 1 last year. Last week's gift plus tomorrow's fun plus more mid week plus continued mild temperatures are the ingredients for a strong midpack. Keep it chill now, and reap the rewards later. Probably even soon.

[time2clmb]

Yup, it can snow as much as it wants and i'm going to be the last person to complain of storm snow avy cycles. There's always safe options to ski. Nothing wrong with skiing storms at a resort either.

[Westslope]

^^ Everything Eldorado points out makes perfect sense. Now that I think about every year for the last 4-5 seasons they were open it seemed like they got steadily less snow. Feel sorry for whoever chumped up the cash for those condos at the base area.

Too bad the access is still closed. I miss fishing back there.

[Dr.Evil]

Anyone ski Fernie today?

[Huckin eh?]

This an official call out to Huckin eh?

Oh no, the interwebs are comin to git me.

Surely the man is surfing those toons all over Lake Lousy.

Sadly no. Whilst the toons are waxed up and ready to go, I am currently fighting the curse of the Emperor of Time2clmbistan

has it he has already toured rogers pass.

Yes, some tasty faceshots were had last week on Grizzly shoulder.

[Eldo]

Anyone ski Fernie today?

Check out Craig's. (the original, not that list guy.)

I was thinking of hitting Fernie tomorrow, which true to form means it is now supposed to rain. So probably won't bother.

[Oarhead]

Spent friday and sat at the lake. Synopsis:
SUMMIT: WHitehorn 1 opened today. Sweet snow on some gnarly rocks but still good skiing. Headwall was skiing way better than it had any right to be. THey were only letting people across teh WC course on TV breaks (every 15 racesrs) so traffic was low on the frontside once WH1 opened. About 90% of WH2 ripped out to rock. Naturally. Heard rumors that people were heading out to west bowl. Talk about russian roulette.
PARADISE: Is spinning but only to bring you back to the top. Cornice bowl ripped out naturally this week. Spread into ER5 and took the whole damn slope to rock. Ran out to hells kitchen trees. Rocket has never seen that happen in 23 years of working avy crew. ER7 ripped to ground naturally. It ran to the lake. 2/3 shoulder and ER3 ripped out to ground and ran most of the distance. Swedes, Bankhead etc, same thing. FLight chutes are getting some nice spindrift. CHeck it out.
GONDY & PTARMIGAN: running. Lots of good skiing in the trees although today had a ton of people so that is that most likely. Ptarmigan trees were killer yesterday morning.
LARCH: as Powslut pointed out, Lynx was running nice.
Nice to see the lake in good shape so early but... Lots of people ducking ropes into pretty stupid spots. Things are sliding super easy so be careful about the choices you make.
Mid season is looking good since we don't have a rain crust for once, just facets instead of both. Hopefully the new storm cycle starts to reset some of the good terrain. I would love to see 5 able to be open again for sustained periods of time again.

[Dr.Evil]

Check out Craig's. (the original, not that list guy.)

I was thinking of hitting Fernie tomorrow, which true to form means it is now supposed to rain. So probably won't bother.

Sounds like things are decent there. I think Whitepass will be the place to ski next Friday!