Skipress Canada Vol 24 No 2

HOT IN CHILE: 08’s SIZZLING STYLES

Hot Spots T H E T R AV E L I S S U E

Vol.23 No.2 No.1 skipressworld.com Canada FREE Vol.24 CanadaPost PostPublication PublicationNumber Number41336012 41336012

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CONTENTS | VOL.24 NO.2 SKIPRESSWORLD.COM

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DEPARTMENTS

TRAVEL 2010

06 EDITORIAL: Culture… Meet Skiing

42 SWITZERLAND — Skiing the Top of Europe

08 SNOLIFE

46 HEAVENLY — Bluebird Jackpot

What do you get when you cross art, music, film, fine wine and fine food with skiing? All things good, Lori muses.

The time has never been better to cash in as a ski bum, watch a ski flick, or spend the night in a luxe Vail hotel. Need to know how? We’ve got the goods in Snolife.

14 PARK HITS

It’s all over but the hangover for Montreal’s International Freeski Film Festival (IF3).

But Ski Press was there and brings you the remnants of this wild party.

16 ALPINE TIP

Headed west? Get lucky and you’ll be skiing powder. Resident ski pro John Gillies offers some deep stuff tips, including skiing really fast.... Yessss!

18 TEAM ALPINE

Crazy Canuckdom rises again, this time with an Olympic-bound, rebel-yell Canadian Ski Cross Team. Buckle up, says Peter Oliver, it’s gonna be a rollercoaster ride.

20 TEAM FREESTYLE

Alexandre Bilodeau is a sweetheart in and out of the moguls. Will he be our next Jean-Luc Brassard? Let’s hope so.

24 MOUNTAIN GIRL

Planes, trains… and yes, even lifts transport you into Switzerland’s stunning Jungfrau region near the very top of Europe.

Heavenly’s first half is in California, it’s second in Nevada. Which skis better?

Lori Knowles skis the mountain with the split personality.

50 RED MOUNTAIN — Go Good or Go Bad

2009 Canadian Freeskiing champ Dane Tudor knowingly quipped “Go good or go bad!” before dropping into one of the world’s gnarliest ski competitions at Red Mountain. Dave Fonda listened in on Tudor’s — and his comrades’ — stories from the ledge.

54 BLUE MOUNTAIN — Blue or Bust

Ski writer and new mom Sue Lebrecht tells a tale of family fun — and salvation — earned on a ski trip to Blue Mountain.

DEEP 30 LOST IN BC

Investigator G.D. Maxwell went in deep to get the story on Gilles Blackburn, Marie-Josée Fortin and their nightmare last March in the BC backcountry.

Here’s how the scene played out…

Mountain Girl contemplates varying après-ski styles. Curious to know which style is yours? Grab a beer and pull up a stool…

GEAR

58 ICON

22 GOGGLES — Lookee here… 2010’s best peeps.

27 SKIS — Missed our Ski Test edition? Here’s the round-up of Best Buys in skis.

34 SKIWEAR — The latest from the glittery annals of celebrity ski fashion.

Andrea Mead Lawrence made the US Olympic team at the age of 14, won two gold medals at 19, and competed in her third Olympic Games just four months after giving birth to her third child. Jules Older writes a tribute to this spirited skier.

On the cover: Alexander Klun catches Andrea Binning in the sunlight at Lenzerheide, Swizterland. See our story on Switzerland on page 42.

This page: Kevin Klein captures Jeremy Bensen skiing North Maggies Peak above beautiful Lake Tahoe following a huge Sierra dump. See our story on Lake Tahoe on page 46

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Photo: courtesy of SLCC

EDITORIAL | EDITORIAL EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Lori Knowles // lori@skipressmag.com CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Eve Boissonnault, Dave Fonda, David-Olivier Gascon, John Gillies, Claudine Hébert, Beth Jahnigen Pappas, Peter Kray, Sue Lebrecht, G.D. Maxwell, Jules Older, Peter Oliver.

PHOTOGRAPHERS Marc Archambault, Dan Carr, Oskar Enander, John Evely, Dave Fonda, André Fortin, Henri Georgi, Leisa Gibson, Tristan Greszko, Andrea Hamlin, Brad Kasselman, Kevin Klein, Alexander Klun, Guillaume Le Guillou, Doug Lepage, Flip McCririck, Gillian Morgan, Mike Ridewood, Félix Rioux, Christof Sonderegger, Matt Stauble.

ILLUSTRATION: [NEF]GRAFIK/nefgrafik.com

PRODUCTION

Photo: Brad Kasselman/coastphoto.com

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Marie-Claude Lalancette // marieclaude@studiosep7.com ACCOUNT MANAGER

Geneviève Boisclair geneviève@studiosep7.com

OPERATIONS MANAGER

Stéfan De Gagné stefan@skipressmag.com

PHOTO MANAGER

David-Olivier Gascon david@skipressmag.com

ADVERTISERS SERVICE COORDINATOR

Martine Bélanger martineb@lexismedia.ca

GRAPHIC DESIGN

LEXIS MEDIA

PUBLISHING & MARKETING PRESIDENT/CEO Jean-Marc Blais // jmblais@skipressmag.com VP EDITORIAL CONTENT

CULTURE… MEET SKIING The words ski and culture don’t link together quite as effortlessly as powder and shots… yet. But someday they might. Ski resorts I’ve visited lately are striving to connect art, history, film, music, good food and good wine with skiing. In my mind, that can only lead to good things.

Case in point: on a recent visit to Whistler, I was stirred by an impromptu visit to its Squamish Lil'wat Cultural Centre (SLCC) — a new and strikingly beautiful cedar-and-glass structure across the road from the Fairmont and the Four Seasons.

Why I’d mistaken it for a library until then I’m embarrassed to say. The banging drums and the women in First Nations ceremonial garb dancing at the building’s entrance ought to have clued me in. But in winter I’m usually under my own pressure to score first tracks, beat the gondola crowds, or meet a friend at the Roundhouse to consider a slow wander through a museum. I suspect many other skiers do the same, and that’s a shame.

This centre was built in time for the Olympics to land in Whistler in 2010. It’s an opportunity for Whistler visitors and Olympic watchers to realize the connection the Lil’wat and Squamish First Nations have to Whistler. Squamish territory is to the south and Lil’wat territory is to the north; the two meet at Whistler, and have peacefully shared the land long before they shared it with skiers.

The SLCC is a hugely open space filled with the

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art, clothing, transportation and tools these two nations have used for centuries. There’s a massive hand-carved cedar canoe dugout from a single tree, ceremonial masks, weavings… and yes, totems.

There’s a traditional Squamish longhouse and a Lil’wat pit house. Gigantic, hand-carved cedar spindles whirl overhead. All of this is encased in a fantastically beautiful glass-and-cedar building, with Whistler’s colossal trees and peaks as a backdrop.

For the first time I was intrigued by the history of Whistler’s land. I’ve visited Whistler probably 50 times in my own lifetime, what have I been thinking? Wait… I haven’t been thinking, I’ve simply been skiing.

And that’s okay, too. The release one gets from being high in the alpine, skiing trees, scoring powder shots… it’s all good. And it’s true, skiing itself has its own absorbing culture. But to discover someone else’s culture through skiing? Well, that’s pretty cool.

I’m glad this sport is growing… culturally. It can only lead to good things.

ACCOUNTANT

Peter Kray peter@skipressmag.com France Massé admin@skipressmag.com

SALES VP BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT

ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER, FRENCH CANADIAN EDITION/SALES Canada & US

Harry deHaas (905) 471-9276 harry@skipressmag.com Alexandre Beauregard (514) 270-0997 alex@skipressmag.com

INTERNET TECHNICAL SUPPORT

Patrick Leith patrick@solutionsgecko.com

CIRCULATION CIRCULATION MANAGER

Marc Allard marc@skipressmag.com

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Ski Press is published four times a year in Canada by Ski Press World Inc, in English and French, Ski Press is also published in the United States. Visit skipressworld.com to read all these editions online.

Ski Press proudly supports the global snowsports community including CSIA, NSIA, SIA and ISPO, among others. To partner with us, contact jmblais@skipressmag.com. Stay connected to the globla snow community on the web, visit skipressworld.com daily.

PRINTER Solisco

DISTRIBUTION Annette Alain, Gallant Distribution Systems Inc, Kanada Tours, Impact! Brochure Systems, Chris Ryan, PeakSide 2000, Gold Distribbution.

ISSN 1490-7755 Canada Post publication number (41336012) Copyright © 2009 Ski Press World Inc. All rights reserved.

COMMENTS? lori@skipressmag.com Twitter: LoriExploring Facebook: SkiPressWorld

While Ski Press World takes all possible precautions to ensure factual accuracy in its pages, it is not responsible for errors in the information published. Suggested retail prices printed in the magazine are subject to change without notice.

This magazine can be recycled. Please recycle where it is possible.

THE TRAVEL ISSUE 2010

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SNOLIFE |

The time has never been better to be a slacker.

Two contests launched this fall to search for the quintessential ski bum.

Photo: Henry Georgi

In BC’s Powder Highway Ultimate Ski Bum contest, competitors have been submitting 90-second videos explaining why they deserve the competition’s ultimate prize: three months of free and unlimited skiing at BC’s Powder Highway resorts — including Red, Whitewater, Revelstoke, Panorama and Fernie — plus free heli and catskiing at hotspots like Island Lake Lodge and RK Heli-Ski, as well as free hotel accommodation and free use of an SUV. powderhighway.com

WATCH IT:

BC’s Sun Peaks Resort is running its own version: I Want To Be The Snow Bum. The prize: an all-inclusive stay at Sun Peaks for the entire 2009/2010 season which includes hotel digs, a season’s pass and VIP passes to resort events. To win, ski bums the world over have been submitting 60-second videos showcasing why they’re up to this considerable challenge! snowbumcanada.com

Re:Session Teton Gravity Research

SKI FLICKS 2010

IN BRIEF…

Photo: Flip McCririck

Ski movie makers have something in common for 2010: a commitment to create something more memorable than just a bunch of faceshot flicks of young yahoos surfing straightlines.

Check it out for yourself. Here’s a quick hit list for the best teasers on the internet right now.

Flight School: Swift.Silent.Deep. The history of the Jackson Hole Air Force. swiftsilentdeep.com Soul Sonata: Signatures. Sweetgrass Productions’ latest soft slide into the snow cinè. sweetgrass-productions.com The Blockbuster: Re:Session. TGR gets the gang together for one of the year’s best films. tetongravity.com/re_session/ Snowboard Seminar: Black Winter. The gang at Standard Films gets ready to shred the sport’s transition.

Standardfilmsblackwintermovie.com The Classic: And, for a quick glimpse into the everlasting genius of Shane McConkey, get your hands on a copy of Matchstick Productions’ classic ski movie, Claim. — PETER KRAY

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Great Canadian Heli-Skiing has partnered with Kicking Horse and Chatter Creek to organize ski packages that combine resort skiing with heli- and catskiing…

The new Kookaburra Lodge will open at Sun Peaks this Fall with affordable residential apartments for rent for skiers on extended vacations…

John “Johno” McBride, who coached US Ski Team athletes to Olympic and World Cup medals for more than a decade, has been added to the coaching staff of Canada’s men’s alpine ski team…

JACKSON’S APP FOR THAT Wyoming’s Jackson Hole Mountain Resort is the first to jump into Apple’s app world with JH Tapped, a GPS iPhone app. JH Tapped uses GPS to locate the skier on the Jackson Hole trail map and log his runs and vertical. It also provides current weather and snow conditions, resort webcam views, and real-time lift status information. For a free preview, visit the iPhone App Store.

BODE IS BACK Bode Miller is back and ready to race the World Cup again — as a member of the US Ski Team. “I had no intention of coming back three months ago,” Miller says, “but after some conversations with (US Head Coach) Sasha Rearick and realizing that everyone is on the same page and excited about moving forward, I realized that this is definitely something that I want to do.” The world speculated Miller would retire from competition after abruptly abandoning the World Cup tour in March 2009. Miller, always unpredictable, changed his mind over the summer. “I can kind of sympathize with Bret Favre,” Miller says, referring to the star quarterback who has twice retired before returning to the NFL. “When you dedicate your entire life to a sport and then decide to walk away, you realize that there’s a big hole you have left to fill.”

Photo: US Ski Team

YOUR TIME IS NOW

Photo: Tristan Greszko/HMR

SKI BUMS:

BY LORI KNOWLES

MORE SKI NEWS AT: skipressworld.com

THE TRAVEL ISSUE 2010

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Canadian Retailers:

Outside The Arrabelle Photos: courtesy of Vail Resorts Inc.

SNOLIFE |

ONTARIO Blue Mountain Resorts s #OLLINGWOOD Greg Christies Ski & Cycle s #HELSEA 1C Mount Kirby Skis & Boards s /SHAWA Tommy & Lefebvre s /TTAWA Racer Sportif s /AKVILLE Ski Pro Shop s 3T #ATHERINES

Inside The Arrabelle

Racer Sportif s 4ORONTO Sign of the Skier s 4ORONTO Sporting Life s 4ORONTO

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BRITISH COLUMBIA Valhalla Pure Outfitters s +AMLOOPS Hillsound Equipment s 6ANCOUVER Valhalla Pure Outfitters s 6ANCOUVER Swiss Sports Haus s 7EST 6ANCOUVER O Canada Trading Company s 7HISTLER McCoos Too s 7HISTLER

INN STYLE ARRABELLE AT VAIL SQUARE, VAIL, CO Spend a night at the Arrabelle at Vail Square and you’ll convince yourself money is absolutely no object. From its canopy beds and marble bathrooms to its Old Europe charm and private butler service, the Arrabelle has a way of convincing you the good life belongs to every skier.

Owner RockResorts — proprietor of Aspen’s famed Hotel Jerome — knows how to do ski country luxury. Case in point: this 36-room hotel is situated only steps from the lifts. Even so, there’s

a bevy of handsome ski valets ready to transport your skis‌ even buckle up your boots. Your butler ďŹ lls your evening bath while offering tips on Vail’s best powder hits. And the Deep Forest Rain Massage at Arrabelle’s spa is more than simply organic.

Best of all, the Arrabelle’s rooftop hot tub — situated beneath a quintessential Vail clock tower — is kept at exactly the right temperature. — LK arrabelle.rockresorts.com

Icycle Sport s 7HITEHORSE

Brunelle Sport s "EAUPRE Boutique de Ski Fresch s "ROMONT Intersport s "ROMONT Atmosphère s #HICOUTIMI Intersport s 'ASPE Pied Sportif s -AGOG Sports Experts s #ENTRE &AIRVIEW -ONTR�AL 3PORTS %XPERTS s RUE 3TE #ATHERINE -ONTR�AL

SCANDINAVE SPAS DEBUT AT WHISTLER Whistler will follow Tremblant and Blue Mountain’s lead this winter with the debut of its own Scandinave Spa Whistler.

Situated on Lost Lake, about 1.5 km outside of Whistler Village, the spa incorporates a series of multi-temperature outdoor pools, saunas, steam baths and waterfalls designed to open pores, stimulate blood circulation and release toxins, then cool the body quickly to strengthen the immune system. It’s the ultimate in skier-friendly hydrotherapy. scandinave.com

Scandinave Spa Whistler

Photo: courtesy of Le Scandinave Spa

QUEBEC Bernard Trottier Sports s 'REENFIELD 0ARK s ,AVAL s 0OINTE #LAIRE

Boutique Mont Saint-Sauveur s -ONT 3AINT 3AUVEUR Tremblant s -ONT 4REMBLANT Boutique Daniel Lachance s -ONT 4REMBLANT Intersport s -ONT 4REMBLANT GagnĂŠ VĂŠlo Ski s 1UĂ?BEC Accroski s 2EPENTIGNY Intersport s 3TE !GATHE DES -ONTS

Photo: Leisa Gibson/Courtesy of Vail Resorts

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FULLY LOADED: KAT SKIING AT KEYSTONE

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Keystone Resort in Colorado’s Summit County has an approachable cat experience called Keystone Adventure Tours (KAT). For a fraction of the cost of heli-skiing or even regular cat skiing, skiers spend a day riding up to 1,000 acres of powder-ďŹ lled backcountry — all starting just steps from the ski area’s main gondola.

From of the top of Keystone’s main lift, cats transport you into the local backcountry — ďŹ ve trackless bowls beyond the ski area’s main terrain. All ďŹ ve are within Keystone’s resort boundary but do not have lift access. The snowcats spend the day climbing to the ridges of these trackless bowls, about 12,000 feet above sea level, to runs with all-American names like Patriot, Midnight Ride and Revolution Beware. KAT’s clever guides — mostly Keystone ski patrol — have given their rental powder boards fun names like Fender Bender, Beer Googles and Fully Loaded. keystoneresort.com.

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SNOLIFE |

TRENDS FOR MOM & KIDS Bogs for Kids

»

First came Crocs, now here come Bogs… neoprene footwear for kids, 100% waterproof and warm down to -30 ° C. Check out the polka dot designs and cute pink umbrellas… bogsfootwear.ca

Julbo’s Rough n’ Tumble Sunglasses Kid-friendly sunglasses from Julbo feature flexible materials designed to fit tiny faces and to endure rough-housing without breaking. Best part: the frame will not stick to long hair… perfect for pony-tailed Skier Girls. julbousa.com

Fun-To-Wear Eyewear

»

The kids’ EGK line of goggles from Electric stop the fog, the cold and dreaded helmet slide for kids who ride. Kid-fun graphics include Comic Script graphics. electricvisual.com

Spyder-Man Cool Spyder’s Mini Pillage Suit is ideal for boys killin’ it in the park.

Mom likes the suit’s built-in Small-to-Tall technology which includes easy-to-let-down hems that allow for that winter growth spurt. spyder.com

»

And Just for Mom… Some Wild Roses

»

Wild Roses is a new brand of women’s ski clothing made for women, by women. The line is clean, innovative, fresh and just plain funky… boutiqueaventure.ca Wildcat Mask Touring Jacket

Holly Pant

OUR BAD

So large and comprehensive is our annual Ski Press Ski Test (Vol. 24. No.1 2010) that even we sometimes have a hard time keeping track of the numbers. We claimed a total of 1,114 tests, but we were wrong; the actual number was 4,051. Our apologies for the error.

Here are corrections to Dynastar pricing that appeared in the 2009 Ski Test (Ski Press, Vol.24 No.1) Groomed Carve High-Performance – Men’s Dynastar Omeglass TI $998 with PX12 Fluid Groomed Carve Performance – Men’s Dynastar Contact Groove TI $949 with NX12 Fluid Groomed Cruise High-Performance – Men’s Dynastar Speed Course TI $779 (without bindings) Ski Press regrets the errors.

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THE TRAVEL ISSUE 2010

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PARK HITS |

BY DAVID-OLIVIER GASCON

THE INTERNATIONAL FREESKI FILM FESTIVAL

FREESKI NIGHTS UNDER CINEMA LIGHTS Photos : Matt Stauble/mattstaublephoto.com

Montreal’s International Freeski Film Festival (IF3), already in its third year, premiered a dozen freeski films in September, seven of which were amateur productions. The mood was festive and energetic; the audience mostly freeskiers and adrenaline junkies.

The films entered were very good — some got your heart pumping, others made you learn something. One thing is for sure, once the credits rolled, all the spectators wanted to do was ski…

» A large crowd gathered at the Cinéma Impérial on Rue Bleury in Montréal to view the season’s best freeski films.

»

» Quebec freeskiers Alexis Godbout and Kaya Turski (centre) at the Newschoolers Awards.

»

(From left to right) Skiers JP Auclair, Sean Petit and Mike Douglas with JF Durocher, one of IF3’s founding members.

Renowned production company Poor Boyz won several prizes, including best pro film for Every Day Is A Saturday.

»

Tatsuya Tayagaki, one of the big names in Japanese freeskiing, attended the Newschoolers Awards at the Théâtre Telus on Rue Saint-Denis.

» The outdoor screening of Transition, starring Simon Dumont, kicked off a fun IF3 weekend in Old Montréal.

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THE TRAVEL ISSUE 2010

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ALPINE TIP |

Photo: André Fortin/Skier: John Gillies

BY JOHN GILLIES

BROUGHT TO YOU BY

SURFIN’ SAFARI! Picture this: You’re on a ski holiday. You’re looking out your hotel window at a half metre of fresh snow and it’s still dumping. You’re a good skier. You don’t ski much powder at home, but you’re itching to get out there to try it… so you go for it. Two hours later you’re sweating, your heart is hammering, and your quads are burning as you flop turn by turn down the mountain.

How could something this fun be so much work?

Here are three ways to improve your powder experience.

Ski faster than you want to… You need momentum to blast through drifts and to get your skis planing instead of diving. It’s counter-intuitive to go faster in difficult conditions, but it’s essential in powder to overcome the resistance of the snow.

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Don’t let your feet drag behind… If your body gets ahead of your feet it’s called a nose-dive. But sitting back is a bad idea because it’s tiring and inefficient. Instead, use your feet to help you float. Push them ahead as needed to greet the resistance in the snow. Find the right angle so your skis don’t dive. Push your feet into bumps or other surprises hiding beneath the snow.

Surfin’ safari… Snow is water — it can hold you up. You just have to have enough momentum to get your skis surfing. Then you can start to surf in long arcs to control your speed. Powder skiing can be the ultimate ski experience but it takes momentum and agile feet to stay afloat and surfin’!

11/13/09 1:31:05 PM

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TEAM | ALPINE REPORT

Photo: John Evely, Courtesy of Canadian Ski Cross Team

BY PETER OLIVER

CRAZY CROSS As ski cross rides a collision course toward its inaugural appearance in the Olympic spotlight, the spirit of Crazy Canuckdom may be rising from the ashes. In a sport that is something like a rollercoaster ride without tracks — with elbows, poles, skis, and bodies trying maniacally to occupy the same space at the same time — no one handles the crazies better than the Canadian Ski Cross Team.

Here’s a team with at least three guys — 2009 X Games champion Stanley Hayer, Chris Del Bosco, who won last year’s World Cup race on the Olympic course at Cypress Mountain, and World Championship medalist and World Cup winner Davey Barr — on the short list of Olympic medal favourites.

They’re all big, strong guys particularly adept at the key tactic of ski cross : muscling to the front of the pack immediately after the start.

But it is a peculiar congregation, in many cases with only marginal connections to Canada. Hayer is full-on Canadian, although in the past, thanks to his parents’ heritage, he has raced under the Czech flag. The team’s coach, Eric Archer, is an American and so is its chief ski technician.

Perhaps the most curious story, however, about the team’s non-Canadian makeup is Del Bosco’s. Born in Vail, Colorado, where he currently lives, Del Bosco earned the right to a Canadian passport only by way of his father’s background. The elder Del Bosco was a junior hockey star in Ontario recruited to play college hockey in Colorado, where he eventually relocated before Chris was born.

18

But if Del Bosco’s ties to Canada are a bit threadbare, his ties to US ski racing were essentially severed by youthful indiscretions. As a highly promising Alpine racer, he was also an abuser of pot and alcohol. A positive drug test in 2000 — for THC, the active ingredient in marijuana — led to a two-year FIS sanction, and the 17-year-old Del Bosco was effectively blacklisted from U.S. racing.

The initial reaction was anything but contrition. His attitude? “Screw you guys,” Del Bosco now says. “I was young and didn’t understand the magnitude of the situation. I thought I knew better than everyone else.” Like the metaphorical ski-cross rollercoaster, Del Bosco’s life had gone off the rails. He continued drinking and smoking, taking “five or six years to figure things out.”

“No one handles the crazies better than the Canadian Ski Cross Team.”

In 2006, however, Canadian Ski Cross President Cam Bailey approached Del Bosco. The Canadians were among the first in the ski-cross world to develop a national-team structure — similar to the Alpine team — and Bailey was willing to take a chance on Del Bosco. The two had shared goals, an Olympic medal chief among them.

Bailey would have no regrets. Del Bosco diligently put in the hard work, adding close to 30 pounds of muscle in intensive workouts in the gym. He soon became one of the best in the world, entering this season second in the World Cup rankings.

If Del Bosco is able to raise his hands in Olympic glory, however, it will not be his most important achievement. “My biggest priority in life now is sobriety,” he says. Sober and crazy? On this mixed-up Canadian ski cross team, it makes perfect sense.

THE TRAVEL ISSUE 2010

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TEAM | FREESTYLE

BY CLAUDINE HÉBERT

Alexandre Bilodeau training on the glacier at Blackcomb last June.

Photos: Mike Ridewood, CFSA

Alexandre, anticipating a victory at the Olympic Games next February, trains at the gym alongside his teammates.

ALEXANDRE BILODEAU: FROM WORLD CHAMPION TO OLYMPIC CHAMPION? Claudine Hébert says we may be on the eve of crowning a new Olympic King of Moguls.

Current mogul champion of the world, Canadian Alexandre Bilodeau’s performance last season bears an uncanny resemblance to the unprecedented take-off of a Jean-Luc Brassard in the pre-Olympic year of 1993. Do you remember Brassard? Do you remember his rocketed rise in 1993? And do you remember what followed? In 1994, Brassard, competing in his second Olympics, took home the gold — and many a girl’s heart — from Lillehammer. Bilodeau, now 22, hopes to do exactly the same in 2010.

If Bilodeau is wary of the 14 other mogulists in his class (particularly of his teammates, Vincent Marquis and Pierre-Alexandre Rousseau), he is twice as aware of his chances at a medal. As well as being one of the fastest on the hill, he is the only mogulist capable of perfectly executing the double full and the cork 1080 in a single run — the two most difficult jumps in the sport. As he says: “I’m a fairly accomplished skier.” Bilodeau, by the way, has been refining his natural talent since the age of seven.

Still, Alexandre and his coach, Dominic Gauthier, are uncertain of what their strategy will be for Vancouver 2010. Spectacular jumps are not as

20

advantageous as they were two years ago. Judges now give more points for overall speed than for the complexity of jumps. A fast pace with simple jumps may well be enough to make it onto the Olympic podium.

“In reality, everything depends on the unpredictable conditions on Vancouver’s Cypress Mountain,” says Bilodeau, who won a World Cup there last winter. “It’s a perfect mogul run, and can be skied at top speed.

But about 80% of the time you can’t see anything!” If the competition is in the clouds, he says, there’s no chance to pull out the big jumps, which are Alexandre’s specialty.

Of course, unforeseen circumstances could always spoil Bilodeau’s plans for gold, too. His misadventure last June is a good example. While training on a glacier in Whistler, the mogulist fell on an approach, resulting in a dislocated left collarbone. It is an injury that Alexandre is happy to have recovered from.

Added to this were the many demands coming from all sides throughout the summer from the media and his sponsors. Alexandre Bilodeau is now eager to move onto the next step: taking considerable space to concentrate exclusively on his training. An important season is waiting, and he could be the world’s next King of Moguls.

THE TRAVEL ISSUE 2010

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The Olympic Mountain

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THE TRAVEL ISSUE 2010

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MOUNTAIN GIRL |

BY BETH JAHNIGEN PAPPAS

APRÈS STYLES OF THE RICH & FAMOUS, THE POOR & UNKNOWN AND EVERYONE IN BETWEEN. Curious as to which one you are? Grab a beer and pull up a bar stool while Mountain Girl explains…

It doesn’t take a keen sense of observation to notice that skiers have distinctly different styles when it comes to getting down the mountain. Some are tight and wiggly; some are wide and steezy. Others look like they are just chasing chickens around an imaginary chicken coop.

These differences don’t get any less obvious when the lifts stop turning.

In fact, there are some extremely distinct (and entertaining) après-ski styles to be observed while hanging at your favourite post-powder haunts.

EARLY BIRDS. These people are all around over-achievers. First ones on the lift in the morning, first tracks on a powder day, first to place their order at Happy Hour and first to bed to start fresh the next day.

TRADITIONALISTS. Like their name implies, traditionalists keep things real by dutifully singing along to bad renditions of Jimmy Buffet and John Denver songs while ordering rounds of shot skis and donning the same Dale of Norway sweaters they’ve worn since 1972.

HIGH ROLLERS. No, that is not pleather or faux fur they are wearing…it’s the real deal. So is the bottle of Dom Perignon they are passing around like a cheap joint at a Grateful Dead concert.

LE PETITE APRÈS-ERS. These skinny bitches just don’t get it and frankly, neither do I. They drink white wine spritzers and shun staples like nachos, chicken wings and poutine. Celery sticks are their forté.

WEEKEND WARRIORS. They live by the motto: Go big or go home. And they really should take their own advice and just go home because they usually start with après and end up closing down the bar with their ski boots still on their feet and goggles still on their heads.

Illustration by nefgrafik.com

GROUPIES. They don’t ski, but they sure look like they do. Also, known as Ski Bunnies, these non-skiing après skiers can, and should, be your best friend because they save your spot at the bar while you take your last few runs of the day.

DIRT BALLERS. True to their reputation, these die hard skiers can’t bare to waste a cent on a non-ski related activity, but refuse to let a good powder day go uncelebrated.

These are the people sitting on their tailgate in the parking lot with a cooler of Kokanee and a bag of peanuts.

So which apres style are you? If you can't remember, its either been way too long since you've done it or you are really good at it.

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THE TRAVEL ISSUE 2010

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11/13/09 10:39:06 AM

E]fÄk Kca L]kl *()( No time to test every single new ski on the market for 2010? Relax. We’ve done it for you. In Ski Press’ annual Ski Test, our pros choose 2010’s Best Buys. From Groomers to Freeride, here’s a round-up of their final scores.

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XXXL (W/B)

HIGH-PERFORMANCE (MSA)

?JGGE=< ;9JN= PERFORMANCE (MSA)

BLIZZARD G-Force Sonic IQ ROSSIGNOL Radical R8S VIST Super Front Two DYNASTAR Contact Groove TI NORDICA Dobermann Spitfire Pro ATOMIC VF 75 ELAN SL WF HEAD Super Shape VÖLKL TigerShark 10ft FISCHER Viron 8.8 SALOMON Equipe 24 Series

91.44 91.28 88.27 87.99 87.92 87.61 87.53 87.38 86.44 84.53 83.93

?JGGE=< ;JMAK=

HIGH PERFORMANCE (MSA)

ATOMIC D2 Race GS FISCHER RC4 Worldcup RC Pro DYNASTAR Speed Course Ti ROSSIGNOL Classic 70Ti VÖLKL TigerShark 11ft HEAD SuperShape Speed BLIZZARD G-Force Supersonic IQ ELAN Speedwave 14 NORDICA Speedmachine Mach 4 Power SALOMON Powerline 2V VIST The Super Front One KÄSTLE RX

90.71 90.65 89.94 89.48 88.76 88.61 87.47 86.37 86.13 84.05 80.38 78.33

Marc-André Nadeau

9DD%L=JJ9AF D9J?= PERFORMANCE (MSA)

9DD%L=JJ9AF E=<AME HIGH-PERFORMANCE (MSA) SALOMON XW Tornado Ti Powertrak VIST Cross-Over Two ATOMIC Blackeye Ti ELAN Magfire 78ti ROSSIGNOL Classic 80Ti VÖLKL Unlimited AC30 DYNASTAR Contact 4X4 NORDICA Nitrous Ti BLIZZARD Magnum 8.1 IQ Max HEAD Peak 78 FISCHER Heat 76

83.99 83.38 82.65 81.26 80.82 80.71 80.64 80.44 78.93 75.92 75.77

9DD%L=JJ9AF E=<AME PERFORMANCE (MSA)

FISCHER Watea 78 VÖLKL Unlimited AC20 ATOMIC Smoke Ti SALOMON Tornado BLIZZARD Magnum 7.6 IQ ROSSIGNOL Avenger 82 Carbon ELAN Magfire 74 NORDICA Igniter Ti VIST Cross Over One DYNASTAR Sultan 80

86.15 82.88 82.56 82.03 81.68 80.90 80.65 80.60 78.78 75.66

?JGGE=< ;JMAK= PERFORMANCE (MSA) VIST Super Mountain One BLIZZARD G-Force PRO IQ DYNASTAR Contact Cross TI MOVEMENT Yaka NORDICA Dobermann Spitfire VÖLKL Unlimited AC 10 FISCHER Progressor 8+ ELAN Speedwave 12 ROSSIGNOL Avenger 72 SALOMON Equipe 24 Hours HEAD Icon 80 ATOMIC Drive Titan KÄSTLE MX 70

9DD%L=JJ9AF D9J?= 90.29 89.07 88.42 87.63 87.46 86.79 86.77 85.26 84.64 83.98 82.72 82.54 77.70

HIGH PERFORMANCE (MSA) ROSSIGNOL Avenger 82Ti ATOMIC Crimson Ti VIST Cross Over Three VÖLKL Unlimited AC50 ELAN Magfire 82Xti BLIZZARD Magnum 8.7 IQ Max FISCHER Watea 84 DYNASTAR Sultan 85 NORDICA Jet Fuel Ti HEAD Peak 82 SALOMON XW Fury KÄSTLE FX 84

For all the test scores, more winning skis and the Ski Finder, logon skipressworld.com

26_CA_Section2.indd 27

83.60 81.88 81.59 81.18 81.04 80.13 79.66 79.65 78.80 78.27 77.91 76.94

ATOMIC VF 82 ELAN Magfire 78 SALOMON XW Storm VÖLKL Bridge NORDICA Jet Fuel CA BLIZZARD Titan Cronus IQ-Max

86.19 84.63 82.13 79.94 79.59 78.71

KÄSTLE MX 108 NORDICA Girish ELAN 1010 DYNASTAR Pro Rider XXL VÖLKL Katana BLIZZARD Titan Argos IQ Max ATOMIC Blog SALOMON Czar HEAD Jimi MOVEMENT Goliath FISCHER Watea 114 ROSSIGNOL Phantom RC112 4FRNT EHP SCOTT P4 ZAG H112 COREUPT Guerlain

89.56 88.95 86.69 86.44 85.92 84.48 83.67 81.86 81.19 80.93 80.82 80.57 80.46 78.91 77.15 76.46

Chris Lennon

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XL (W/B)

KÄSTLE MX 88 VÖLKL Mantra ELAN 888 BLIZZARD Titan Atlas IQ Max ROSSIGNOL Phantom SC87 HEAD Peak 88 ATOMIC Savage Ti DYNASTAR 6th Sense Distorter NORDICA Helldiver Ti SALOMON Lord FISCHER Watea 94 SCOTT Mission 4FRNT MSP ZAG Big MOVEMENT Source

90.64 87.75 85.78 85.66 85.23 83.18 82.99 82.70 82.26 82.08 81.94 81.29 81.05 77.58 77.13

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XXL (W/B)

NORDICA Enforcer KÄSTLE MX 98 VÖLKL Gotama FISCHER Watea 101 DYNASTAR Legend Pro Rider BLIZZARD The Answer IQ-Max ROSSIGNOL Phantom SC97 HEAD John SCOTT Crusade SALOMON Shogun COREUPT Candide BC MOVEMENT Sluff 4FRNT VCT turbo ATOMIC Coax ELAN Pogo Sticks ZAG Heli Gold

89.21 88.16 86.77 86.27 84.66 84.46 84.00 83.84 82.16 82.15 81.01 78.62 78.47 78.30 76.75 76.06

Photo: Gillian Morgan

92.08 91.25 90.40 89.93 88.82 88.22 88.09 88.01 86.64 86.56 85.10

Photo: Marc Archambault

DYNASTAR Omeglass TI ATOMIC D2 Race SL ELAN SLX ROSSIGNOL Radical 9S WC VÖLKL RaceTiger SL Racing BLIZZARD SLR Magnesium IQ FISCHER RC 4 Worldcup SC Pro SALOMON Powertrak Powerline 3V NORDICA Dobermann SL Pro HEAD i.SL VIST Super Front Three

THE TRAVEL ISSUE 2010

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11/13/09 10:39:58 AM

Women’s Ski Test 2010 Who has time to test new skis? We do. Ski Press and a vibrant team of women tested new skis on the market for 2010. Our Best Buys are below, ranked by category and their final scores. Need more help? Try our online Ski Finder at skipressworld.com.

Groomed Carve

Freeride

HIGH-PERFORMANCE (MSA)

XXL (W/B) 92.26 91.71 91.47 90.30 89.53 88.55 85.69 84.24

PERFORMANCE (MSA)

ws DYNASTAR Exclusive Pro ws VIST Super Front Two Lady FISCHER Viron 8.8 ROSSIGNOL Radical R8S ATOMIC VF 75w ws NORDICA Dobermann Spitfire Pro HEAD Super Shape SALOMON Equipe 24 Series ws BLIZZARD Viva Sonic IQ ELAN Speed Magic ws VÖLKL Attiva Fuego ws ROXY Joyrider ws

91.93 89.92 89.30 88.64 88.43 88.02 87.67 86.95 86.08 85.56 84.30 80.45

Groomed Cruise

HIGH PERFORMANCE (MSA) FISCHER RC4 Worldcup RC Pro VÖLKL TigerShark 11ft BLIZZARD G-Force Supersonic IQ ATOMIC D2 Race GS NORDICA Speedmachine Mach 3 ws DYNASTAR Exclusive Elite HEAD Power One ws ROSSIGNOL Attraxion 12 ws KÄSTLE RX ELAN Wave Magic ws

90.92 90.11 89.50 89.43 87.54 84.93 84.47 83.90 83.68 82.09

Groomed Cruise

PERFORMANCE (MSA) FISCHER Progressor 8+ BLIZZARD Viva G-Three IQ ws ws VIST Super Moutain One Lady VÖLKL Attiva Estrella ws DYNASTAR Contact Groove ROSSIGNOL Attraxion 6 ws ATOMIC Cloud 9 ws HEAD Icon 80 ws NORDICA Firefox ROXY Bliss ws SALOMON Equipe 24 Hours ELAN Black Magic ws MOVEMENT Silk ws KÄSTLE MX 70

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THE TRAVEL ISSUE 2010

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92.81 89.89 89.36 88.49 88.48 87.62 86.35 85.90 84.16 82.83 81.92 81.20 80.00 77.31

Sara Girard

Freeride

XXXL (W/B) HEAD Jimi SALOMON Czar ATOMIC Blog ELAN Deep Spice ws 4FRNT EHP ROXY Mumbo Jumbo ws FISCHER Watea 114 SCOTT P4 BLIZZARD Titan Argos IQ Max

All-Terrain Medium

HIGH-PERFORMANCE (MSA)

ws NORDICA Victory ELAN Pure Magic ws ws HEAD Great One DYNASTAR Contact 4X4 SALOMON Origins Diamond ws ws ATOMIC Seventh Heaven 79 BLIZZARD Viva Magnum 8.1 IQ Max ROSSIGNOL Classic 80 Ti VÖLKL Attiva Tierra ws

86.26 85.15 82.95 82.89 82.75 81.32 ws 79.76 79.27 79.00

PERFORMANCE (MSA)

HEAD Every One ws ws FISCHER Koa 78 My Style ROSSIGNOL Attraxion Echo ws ELAN Magfire 74 SALOMON Origins Opal ws ws VÖLKL Attiva Sol BLIZZARD Viva Magnum 7.6 IQ ws NORDICA Drive ws ATOMIC Seventh Heaven 76 ws DYNASTAR Exclusive Legend ws VIST Cross Over Lady ws

86.15 85.41 83.54 81.93 81.81 81.32 81.27 80.05 78.72 78.08 77.50

All-Terrain Large

HIGH PERFORMANCE (MSA)

ws

86.57 85.49 84.36 81.40 81.06 80.77 80.71 80.37 77.75

All-Terrain Large PERFORMANCE (MSA)

All-Terrain Medium

ELAN Magfire 82Xti NORDICA Jet Fuel Ti VÖLKL Attiva Aurora ws HEAD Wild One ws ATOMIC Elysian ws FISCHER Koa 84 My Style ws SALOMON XW Fury DYNASTAR Exclusive Legend Eden

ws

91.31 87.39 86.34 84.95 83.88 82.72 82.69 82.61 81.58 80.48 79.06 76.80

87.40 83.31 81.24 80.41 78.47 77.06 76.40 75.91

SALOMON XW Storm NORDICA Conquer ws ELAN Magfire 78 ATOMIC VF 82 BLIZZARD Titan EOS IQ-Max VÖLKL Cosmo ws

ws

86.28 84.17 82.80 82.39 77.59 76.74

Freeride XL (W/B)

KÄSTLE MX 88 ws VÖLKL Aura HEAD Peak 88 ws ROSSIGNOL Voodoo BC90 NORDICA Helldiver CA DYNASTAR 6th Sense Distorter ATOMIC Savage Ti ws SCOTT Rosa ws ELAN Free Spice BLIZZARD Titan Atlas IQ-Max ws 4FRNT Madonna ws ZAG Lady Gold FISCHER Watea 94 ws ROXY Shazam ws SALOMON Lady

88.96 86.46 85.98 84.41 84.21 84.04 83.92 82.82 82.57 82.31 78.93 78.39 77.62 75.92 75.89

Marie-Claude Larivée

Photo: Gillian Morgan

Groomed Carve

KÄSTLE MX 98 NORDICA Nemesis ws ROSSIGNOL Voodoo Pro BC110 DYNASTAR 6th Sense Big SCOTT Crusade HEAD John VÖLKL Kiku SALOMON Geisha ws FISCHER Watea 101 ELAN Mimi Spice ws ws ATOMIC Heaven n'Hell MOVEMENT Sluff

Photo: Marc Archambault

VÖLKL RaceTiger SL Racing BLIZZARD SLR Magnesium IQ ATOMIC Race Ti SL ROSSIGNOL Radical 9S WC HEAD i.SL NORDICA Dobermann SL Pro FISCHER RC 4 Worldcup SC Pro ELAN SLX

c skis: ws Women-Specifi Made especially for women

SKI PRESS SKI TEST SITES:

For all the test scores, more winning skis and the Ski Finder, logon skipressworld.com

11/13/09 10:40:31 AM

DESIGNED FOR WOMEN BY WOMEN http://wstudio.elanskis.com

Women’s Specific technologies enabling: - Easy turning - Superb edge hold - Reduced weight Wave Magic FUSION

Black Magic FUSION

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Photo: Guillaume Le Guillou/Location: La Grave

DEEP

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GILLES BLACKBURN AND MARIE-JOSÉE FORTIN SKIED OUT OF BOUNDS LAST WINTER; GILLES SURVIVED, MARIE-JOSÉE DIDN’T. NOW THERE’S A LAWSUIT. MAX REVIEWS THE STORY… SO FAR.

BY G.D. MAXWELL

To err is human, to forgive divine. To parse liability? Well, that’s best left to solicitors, courts and time.

On February 15, 2009, Gilles Blackburn and his wife, Marie-Josée Fortin, skied at Kicking Horse Resort in Golden, BC. In a quest for untracked powder, the couple ducked the boundary ropes and skied into Canyon Creek, backcountry terrain bordering the resort.

There’s no way to tell the story of what happened next without first stating a blunt truth. The couple breached every rule of backcountry travel possible, starting with the first: If you don’t know where you’re going, don’t go.

They didn’t know where they were headed, didn’t know Canyon Creek was a no-way-out box canyon, didn’t tell anybody they were heading into the backcountry, never checked with ski patrol, didn’t take a cell phone, food, water, extra clothes or emergency shelter, and when they finally realized they were lost and in need of rescue, didn’t stay within sight of the SOS they stamped into the snow.

The only thing they had going for them was a slim bit of luck. The temperatures over the next 10 days were moderate, frequently just a few degrees below freezing with occasional dips to -11 C overnight.

Two days later, on February 17, Purcell Helicopter Skiing Ltd. called Kicking Horse to report seeing an SOS stamped into the snow in Canyon Creek, skiers’ tracks and other signs people may be lost back there. Exactly what happened next will be for the courts to decide but the call set into a motion a series in interrelated assumptions, miscommunication and human error that ended in tragedy and triumph.

The mountain’s safety manager, a member of Golden and District Search and Rescue, was heading to Canmore the next day. He took the information and passed the sighting on to the safety supervisor, also a SAR member. Following the resort’s ‘missing skier protocol’, they initiated a search of the day-skier, surface parking lots for abandoned cars, checked the rental shops for unreturned equipment, and told the groomers to be on the lookout for skiers coming in late from the backcountry.

They didn’t call the RCMP; they say they told Purcell to call. Purcell, believing the lost skiers had clearly come from Kicking Horse, expected ski patrol would search the area and find them. They didn’t call the RCMP either.

But at some point, perhaps because the limited search for abandoned cars and unreturned skis failed to turn up any clues, the Kicking Horse employees/ SAR volunteers concluded no one was missing, the SOS wasn’t fresh and no further investigation was warranted. That human assumption influenced subsequent decisions.

Four days later, on February 21, the Purcell heliskiing company, having seen new tracks, signs and SOSs in Canyon Creek, called 911, relaying the information on to the Golden detachment of the RCMP. The RCMP contacted SAR and were informed that SAR knew about the tracks and signs but that no skiers were missing from Kicking Horse and the tracks were not fresh. Purcell has said they were adamant in talking to the RCMP, that despite SAR’s contention, the tracks were in fact fresh.

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DUCKING THE ROPES AND LIVING TO TELL THE TALE If you go: 1. Know where you’re going. Tracks in the snow could lead to trouble.

2. Let someone know you’re going and arrange to check in with them when you’re expected to return. No check-in, they call for help.

3. Ask Ski Patrol about conditions; they’ve monitored them all season.

4. Gear up: transceiver, probe, shovel — at a minimum — and a working knowledge of how to use each tool.

5. Just in case: food, emergency shelter, fire starter, first-aid, cell phone.

montrealgazette.com

7. Terrain is your friend and enemy. If a line seems sketchy, choose one less steep and less likely to slide.

The RCMP decided not to search, citing the following reasons: SAR told them the tracks were old; no people had been sighted by Purcell in Canyon Creek; SAR recommended against initiating a search; Kicking Horse reported no missing skiers after having conducted their protocol; no hotels reported missing guests; and, there was no report of missing persons in the Golden area.

The next day, Marie- Josée Fortin, age 44, froze to death in Canyon Creek.

The day after that, February 23rd, Golden RCMP were notified by Montreal police that Gilles Blackburn and his wife were missing and believed to be in the area.

The RCMP searched for the couple’s rental car, unsuccessfully.

On February 24th, Gilles Blackburn was ready to die himself. Grieving the death of his wife, remourseful at the decisions he’d made, starving and exhausted, he has said he’d decided to simply give up and die. He couldn’t understand how no one had spotted his SOSs and why no searchers had shown up.

True, he hadn’t stayed near the first SOS. Believing he and his wife stood a better chance of survival, they’d kept moving downhill, closer to water and more directly under the flight path of the helicopters he’d seen with maddening regularity. The two granola bars in their pockets were long gone and there was scant nutrition in the foliage they nibbled. But the thought of his dead wife, his living children and a spark of will left to survive made him get up and try one more time.

The weather was changing for the worse. Rudi Gertsch, owner of Purcell, had a chopper full of skiers and fuel and a nagging feeling he couldn’t shake.

He couldn’t understand why there hadn’t been a search mounted. He was still convinced there was someone in Canyon Creek. On route to dropping off his guests, he told the pilot to make one last sweep, low and slow.

That’s when he spotted Gilles. Waving frantically.

Unable to set the fully-loaded chopper down, he radioed the coordinates into the RCMP. An hour later, Gilles Blackburn was in hospital at Golden; Marie-Josée was in the morgue.

8. Select routes the least skilled member of your party can handle. You’re not strong enough to carry anyone out but yourself.

9. Check the weather before you go.

10. Give yourself plenty of time to get back for après.

Photo: © Oskar Enander/Location: Haines, Alaska

6. Take an avalanche course. Ignorance kills.

When the story hit the press, the outrage was instantaneous. Two days later, when a spokesperson for the RCMP apologized for not initiating a search sooner, that outrage grew. The spectacle of an apologetic RCMP and a chagrinedlooking spokesperson for SAR trying to deflect criticism by saying their hands were tied until the RCMP ordered a search, fanned the flames.

But not all the heat was directed at them. There was plenty of mean-spirited venom directed at Gilles Blackburn: It was his own fault. He ought to man-up and take the consequences of his stupid actions. People who go into the backcountry don’t deserve to be rescued.

As inevitably as spring follows winter, lawsuits were filed over the case in June. Kicking Horse, Golden SAR and the RCMP are named as defendants. The flames burn higher.

All named defendants deny any liability or breach of their duty to care. They deny any negligence. They claim Gilles Blackburn was the author of his own misfortune and is fully liable for the consequences of his own negligence.

The SAR community, largely volunteers, reacted with outrage and indignation: outrage at one of their number being sued, indignation that the province of BC denied any responsibility for providing liability insurance for SAR chapters.

While Golden SAR did have insurance, one estimate suggested 35% of SAR chapters didn’t carry any. Many chapters temporarily suspended or threatened to suspend their services. The province responded in August by providing funds to cover rescue societies’ liability.

It’ll likely take years for the legal dust to settle. In the meantime, emotions stay high in mountain communities throughout BC. And while questions have been asked and some lessons learned, one thing remains constant: People will traverse BC’s backcountry and some will make grievous errors of judgment and need to be rescued. But perhaps some — on both sides of the rescue equation — will heed the early lessons offered by this spectacular misadventure.

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THE GIRISH

LORDOF THE MOUNTAIN

Featured: The Girish ski and the Hot Rod PRO 125 boot

nordicacanada.com

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If you’re wondering what to wear this season, here’s a tip: find out what this sport’s top athletes are wearing.

From Canadian sweethearts Sarah Burke and Marie-France Roy to newcomer Kevin Rolland, freeriders know their skiwear style, sporting lines that are both fabulous and functional. BY EVE BOISSONNAULT

CELEBRITY STYLE 56_DossierMode.indd 34

N O L newcomer Kevin Rolland join American R O S S IG Austin Ross and

Canadians l. From Left: Team Rossigno ack, both from Lyndsey Dyer on and pants in Bl us itr C in et ck ja : er On Lyndsey Dy l s collection. sh, Gemini Shel Rossignol’s Venu et in Orange Fla ck ja n ow l. lyd Rossigno : Lynx Po S3 skis, all from On Austin Ross llow ring gloves and Sp G ol Blue and Ye TS Po , in mp t He ha l ea Id , pants in us itr C in nd: Aries jacket On Kevin Rolla l. no the ig ss m Ro a Young wears and S3 skis fro ski coach Meliss rd bi ow Sn : nd In the backgrou s and S6 skis. et, Star ski pant Supernova jack

11/13/09 11:49:03 AM

Photo : Blake Jorgensen

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SEN H E L LAYmericHaAn skNier Chris Davenpourrt ite

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Winter Wonderland.

Engadin St. Moritz.

Allegra and welcome to a winter wonderland of stunning contrasts and incredible diversity. The sun-blessed Upper Engadin is the largest winter sports region in Switzerland with 217 sublime miles of slopes, 118 panoramic miles of cross-country ski trails, 93 idyllic miles of winter walking paths and a wealth of culture and tradition. Thanks to its high altitude and dry climate, Engadin St. Moritz is a snow reliable region famous for its champagne powder.

Valais - Matterhorn Region.

A stupendous mountain world with fantastic ski slopes. A vacation resort for all tastes: down-to-earth and elegant, carefree, child friendly and car-free, cosy and natural. Switzerland’s highest ski slopes guarantee memorable vacations, snow reliability and pure skiing fun. Venture forwards on untouched slopes or trace your own tracks back along a coat of freshly fallen powdery snow. Such natural and invigorating excitement is only experienced in Valais!

Interlaken/Jungfrau Region.

The classic winter sports area around the Eiger, Mönch and the Lauberhorn has much to offer to its guests. Glide down snowy slopes, explore the winter footpaths, race down the toboggan runs, relax in one of the wellness oasis or enjoy local specialties on a sun-terrace: in the Interlaken / Jungfrau area with Grindelwald, Wengen and Mürren the winter belongs to you.

For more information on Switzerland contact MySwitzerland.com For booking contact 1-866-648 7757 or www.thevacationstation.com

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Photo : Roxy

ROXY

Ontarioâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s own Sa rah Burke wears a Roxy Wagon made of recycl jacket ed materials an d a Turbo hat in also from Roxy.

Scarlet,

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O RM A N C Ei Alpine PE A K PE RFedt sports a new Hel

Photo : Christoffer Sjรถstrรถm

Swede Henrik Windst e. jacket by Peak Performanc

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11/13/09 11:54:15 AM

SKIING TOP OF EUROPE THE

BY LORI KNOWLES

Catching a cog train to some of Europe's highest ski slopes in the Jungfrau Region of Switzerland, Lori Knowles discovers hot dogging' is more like Swiss Dawg-in!'

We’re climbing steadily into the all-white world of the Jungfrau, Switzerland’s highest mountain… the one the Swiss proudly call the Top of Europe. Our cog train bites its track steadily, one tooth after another, starting in Grindelwald at 1,034 metres, wending its way slowly past the treacherous, climber-unfriendly Eiger, chugging through miles of darkened tunnel, then finally halting at its destination: Jungfraujoch, the highest railway station in Europe. Elevation? An impossible 3,454 metres.

Dizzy and disoriented, we climb stairs, suck on air that is not there, lean heavily against a solid steel door and burst outside into the blinding white.

The wind is howling at such an all-out fury it’s impossible to be still. We’re blown from one striking view point to the next on this high-alpine deck, the ski slopes of Switzerland’s Jungfrau Region below us: Kleine Scheidegg, Schilthorn, Wengen, Mürren — all names we recognize from years of watching ski racing’s World Cup. All at once the steel door bursts open and three shirtless kids come raging out into the wind and cold. They speak no English. Some American joker has taught them “SWISS DAWG! SWISS DAWG!” which they screech over and over as they run wild with the wind.

Their mother, oblivious of the white blotches growing on their backs and stomachs, thinks the scene is hilarious, and snaps madly with her digital.

The tourists — mostly Bollywood fans here because Bollywood has made the Swiss Alps famous — are elated by the kids’ daring. They too fumble

'

'

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Photo: courtesy of Switzerland Tourism/Christof Sonderegger

Cable car to the peak of the Schilthorn (2970 m) in the Bernese Oberland. The towering triplets Eiger, Moench and Jungfrau form the backdrop.

The train starts its steady ascent to the top of Europe.

From this viewpoint, it’s obvious our skis have lots of exploring to do.

The Jungfrau Region cradles nearly 300 kilometres of ski trail, spread across a picture-perfect, quintessentially Swiss set of alps. The runs — mostly wide-open intermediate fare — are accessed by an intricate system of gondolas, cable cars, chairlifts and trains. It’s a system so broad it takes at least three days to fully explore it.

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Photo: Lori Knowles

in the wind and cold with their mini cameras.

We skiers watch at first, then raise the zippers of our jackets as high as they can go, lean into the wind, and gaze dreamily at the fields of perfect piste below. Today, all of us are Swiss Dawgs, feeling on top of the world here at the Top of Europe.

11/13/09 11:03:15 AM

Photos: Lori Knowles Photo: Lori Knowles

WHERE TO STAY Romantikhotel Schweizerhof A quintessentially Swiss hotel nestled in the trees on the outskirts of snowy Grindelwald. hotel-schweizerhof.com

WHERE TO EAT Breakfast Catch a cable car up the Schiltorn to Piz Gloria, a 360-degree revolving restaurant built in 1969 for James Bond’s On Her Majesty’s Secret Service starring George Lazenby. A Bond-worthy breakfast is served with a view of more than 200 peaks.

(For a YouTube glimpse of Piz Gloria in the movie’s trailer, visit: youtube.com/ watch?v=1183eKrdy5o)

From our bird’s eye view at Jungfraujoch, we can see the Jungfrau Region is divided into three main ski zones. Grindelwald First (First means Peak), is anchored by the perfectly Swiss village of Grindelwald. Wengen and Kleine Scheidegg are spread grandly below the Eiger — the Swiss climbing mountain made famous

by Clint Eastwood’s 1975 The Eiger Sanction. And Mürren/ Schilthorn, notorious as the backdrop for James Bond’s 007 action when he was On Her Majesty’s Secret Service.

Also from a view this high, one can see how tiny villages dot the snowscape — all mid-mountain, no-car communities filled with winding cobblestone streets, ski shops and Swiss wooden farm houses called alphüttes. Most popular are the cozy restaurants that serve hearty fondue, raclette and rösti — cheesy meals filled with ample doses of potatoes and meat.

And from here in the highest railway station in Europe, if we look closely enough, we can also trace the train tracks snaking up through the ski slopes — something odd, and very un-North American. The tracks follow the ridges and valleys all the way from Grindelwald, Interlaken, Bern… even Zurich. A skier has no need for a car in this region — Swiss trains are seamless. And often, depending on its type, one train pass is all you’ll need to access the ski trains and lifts.

In our case, an hour is all we need on this perch at Jungfraujoch to convince us we need to ski this broad and intriguing region.

With our feet itching to snap into our skis, we leave the wild boys and Bollywood fans behind, catch a cog train to a seemingly endless slope, and start our exploration on skis of the Top of Europe.

FoMoInfo: myswitzerland.com

Lunch Enjoy lunch at any alpine hut (alphütte) perched at the side of a ski run. Don’t miss the rösti — fried potatoes, cheese, sausage and sometimes egg. It’s the food of ski champions!

Dinner The Rancher Bar is an easy winter walk (no car access) from the centre of Grindelwald.

Snowshoes are available if it’s snowing!

Inside the low-ceiling cabin the fires are warm, and the tables are topped with candles and red-and-white checked table cloths. * Try: Zopf — a Swiss sweet bread * Don’t miss: Hobelkäse — Swiss alpine cheese made over open fires and aged for three years in alpine huts (alphüttes).

WHAT TO DO Our Swiss Miss rides her Velogemel.

When you’re not skiing, try a velogemel — a Swiss snow bike you can ride down Kleine Scheidegg.

HOW TO GET THERE Train is the only way (quick, comfy and convenient) to travel Switzerland. raileurope.com

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JACKPOT

BLUEBIRD 46

BY LORI KNOWLES

C alifornia day dreamin’ or Nevada nightlife?

With a state line running straight through it, Lake Tahoe’s Heavenly has both.

Lori Knowles discovers the fun in skiing a mountain with a split personality.

The view through the window of the gondola plays out like a loop of high-def fi lm on an HD screen. The lake and sky, both sapphire blue, are waveless and cloudless. The mountain peaks are a pristine white. The trunks of the red firs lining the ski runs are a deep earthy red, their branches green with millions of needles. The sun does not stop shining. Is this heaven? Either that, or a skier’s close second… Lake Tahoe’s Heavenly.

The gondola sails smoothly into its chamber mid-mountain, the doors glide open and skiers spill out, dazed by the wattage of the sunshine and the steamy temperatures in the midst of January. It’s warm enough up here to pull up a chaise lounge and reach for the Coppertone, but this heaven is made for skiing.

Gondola riders move forward, shedding layers, pushing up sleeves, stuffing mitts in pockets.

Everyone, it seems, sports remarkably white teeth and mirrored sunglasses. This must be Heavenly’s California side, it’s all very Hollywood.

Skiers snap skis on as zipliners whoosh overhead.

Yes, zipliners. Ski boots and all, they’re whizzing down the Heavenly Flyer, a 945-metre cable strung above a canopy of California red firs and fields of glades, rock and moguls.

Skiers ride a network of gleaming high-speed quads to elevations of more than 3,048 metres.

THE TRAVEL ISSUE 2010

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Straddling the state line between sunny California and night-loving Nevada, Heavenly covets its dual-state citizenship. To the south, its California side is as sugary as a strawberry, all succulent and sweet, with California Girl good looks, a surfy vibe, and organic everything. The runs are mostly blue-squared cruisers that wind gradually down the mountain. They’re sun-drenched and easy to swallow.

The pace of skiers is slow. Cameras come out of pockets often. Look beyond the ski runs and you’ll see the blue that is Lake Tahoe, ringed by the white peaks of the Sierras. It’s North America’s answer to Switzerland’s Lake Geneva, and it’s one of the most astonishing sights in skidom.

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Photos: courtesy of Vail Resorts /Heavenly

Remarkably, at this height, skiers are still not above treeline. Instead, most runs are dotted lazily with a mix of red firs, bushes and boulders. Hop off a rock, swing around a tree, snake through a loosely-gladed patch of evergreens. It’s fun and very pretty.

It’s Heavenly.

11/13/09 11:07:45 AM

0HOTOS ,ORI +NOWLES

JUST THE STATS

Photo: courtesy of Vail Resorts/Heavenly

s (EAVENLY -OUNTAIN 2ESORT HAS LIFTS AND RUNS Â&#x2C6; THE GREATEST NUMBER in California. s 4HERE ARE SEVEN MAJOR SKI AREAS IN 3KI ,AKE 4AHOE REGION INCLUDING (EAVENLY

3QUAW 6ALLEY .ORTHSTAR -T 2OSE !LPINE -EADOWS +IRKWOOD AND 3IERRA AT 4AHOE skilaketahoe.com s ! POPULAR DAY TRIP FROM (EAVENLY #ATCH A MINUTE BUS SHUTTLE TO SKI 3QUAW 6ALLEY THEN RETURN BY ,AKE 4AHOE FERRY TO 3OUTH ,AKE 4AHOE

4HE OTHER SIDE OF THE MOUNTAIN Â&#x2C6; THE NORTH SIDE Â&#x2C6; IS NESTLED IN .EVADA

and itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s exactly the kind of skiing youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d expect from a state with legalized GAMBLING 4HERE ARE NO ON SLOPE SLOTS OR BLACKJACK TABLES BUT IN THEIR PLACE ARE BLACK DIAMOND SKI RUNS ON WHICH ANYTHING GOES -ILKY 7AY "OWL AND -OTT #ANYON CONTAIN POWDER SHOTS MASSIVE BUMPS TIGHT TREES AND TEETH GRINDING STEEPS 4HE MINUTE HIKE IN IS STRAIGHT OUT OF Star Trek â&#x20AC;&#x201D; the LANDSCAPE MORE LIKE MOONSCAPE ,OOK BEYOND THE SKI RUNS AND YOU LL SEE THE NEVER ENDING BROWN OF THE .EVADA DESERT Ski maps are essential on this mountain with a split personality. One wrong turn while California bound and you end up in Nevada. Heavenlyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s MAZE LIKE LIFT SYSTEM WILL CARRY YOU OUT Â&#x2C6; NO YOU DON T NEED A PASSPORT TO CROSS A STATE LINE Â&#x2C6; BUT TRANSFER TIMES ARE GREAT (EAVENLY HAS SKIABLE acres spanning two states, the greatest in California.

By night, Heavenly sheds its angelic cloak the instant the casinos open.

7AITx IN THIS 6EGAS FOR SKIERS CASINOS ARE always OPEN -OST TRAVELLERS SLEEP IN NEWLY BUILT (EAVENLY 6ILLAGE Â&#x2C6; HOME TO THE MAIN GONDOLA MANY SHOPS AND RESTAURANTS PLUS THE HUGE CONDO HOTEL BY -ARRIOTT CALLED 4IMBER ,ODGE ALL OF WHICH IS IN #ALIFORNIA "UT WALK A FEW METRES AND YOU CROSS the state line into Nevada, home to Harveys and Harrahâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s. Yeah, there are CRAP TABLES BLACKJACK TABLES SLOTS CIGARETTE SMOKE GIRLS IN SHORT SKIRTS AND A MULTIPLEX OF .&, GAMES 4HERE S ALSO SOME OF THE BEST GRUB AND SLINKIEST DRINKS IN 3OUTH 4AHOE 4HE SCENE IS NOISY EXHILARATING EXPENSIVE IF YOU lose), and exhausting.

But those less stoked about the ka-ching! of the Nevada nightlife can still ďŹ nd APRĂ&#x2019;S SKI QUIET IN 3OUTH ,AKE 4AHOE 4HERE S KILOMETRES OF ,AKE 4AHOE SHORELINE TO START ONLY A HOP SKIP AND A SKI JUMP FROM (EAVENLY 6ILLAGE $OWN BY THE SHORE IT S EASY TO SPOT THE HARDCORE SKIERS 4HEY RE THE ONES WALKING THE BEACH SKIS SLUNG OVER THEIR SHOULDERS THAT IMPOSSIBLY BLUE water licking their ski boots. .OW WHERE IS THAT HIGH DEF CAMERAx

JUST THE FAQS Where to Stay 4HERE ARE THREE SKI BASES AT (EAVENLY ALL with accommodation. But the most modern BASE Â&#x2C6; AND THE CLOSEST TO ,AKE 4AHOE Â&#x2C6; IS (EAVENLY 6ILLAGE 4RY 4IMBER ,ODGE

-ARRIOTT 6ACATION #LUB marriott.com

Where to Eat

4HERE IS NO BETTER PLACE TO EAT WHILE WATCHING THE SUN SET OVER ,AKE 4AHOE than from the 19 th floor of Harveys ,AKE 4AHOE +ITCHEN "AR (ARVEYS ,AKE 4AHOE harveystahoe.com

&OR LAKESIDE DINING TRY THE 2IVA IN 3OUTH ,AKE 4AHOE HOME OF A COLLECTION OF HIGHLY varnished antique wooden boats as well as the world famous Wet Woody.

2IVA 'RILL ON THE ,AKE 3OUTH ,AKE 4AHOE rivagrill.com

How to Get to Heavenly (EAVENLY -OUNTAIN 2ESORT IS ABOUT KILOMETRES WEST OF 3AN &RANCISCO #! AND KM NORTH OF 2ENO .6 4HE CLOSEST INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT ACCESS TO (EAVENLY -OUNTAIN 2ESORT IS THE 2ENO 4AHOE )NTERNATIONAL !IRPORT WHICH IS SERVICED BY ALL MAJOR 53 AIRLINES INCLUDING !MERICAN 53 !IRWAYS $ELTA AND 5NITED 3CHEDULED bus shuttles run regularly between the airport and the ski resort, car rentals are also available. skiheavenly.com

THE EPIC PASS As member of Vail Resorts, Heavenly is included in the 2009/10 Epic Season Pass (US $599) â&#x20AC;&#x201D; a full season pass for all six Vail Resorts: Heavenly, Vail, Breckenridge, Beaver Creek, Keystone and Arapahoe Basin. snow.com/epicpass

&O-O)NFO skiheavenly.com

48

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get

15%

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our best available rates Not valid with any other promotional offer. Valid November 26, 2009 to April 25, 2010. Subject to availability. Some blackout dates may apply. Please quote GRS at the time of booking.

Delta_.indd 1

11/13/09 10:06:18 AM

Dave Fonda dropped into some conversations at the steep and treacherous start gate of the 2009 Canadian Freeskiing Championships at Red Mountain, here's what he heard...

The turbo-charged sled skijors us to within a couple of hundred feet of the top of Mount Roberts. The final slog to the summit is interrupted by an errant helmet that keeps rolling playfully just out of everyone’s reach. As it disappears into the trees voices call out: “Helmet down!”

“Anyone got a spare lid?”

“Over here.”

“I do.”

It’s another wonderful day in North America’s freeskiing neighbourhood — the third and final day of the 2009 Canadian Freeskiing Championship at Red Mountain Resort near Rossland, BC. Competitors — the world’s bravest men and women freeskiers — are ready to put a lid on it.

Photo: Dave Fonda

OR GO BAD!”

“GO GOOD

BY DAVE FONDA

Day Three, the entrance to Hourglass: This is hardly the time or the place to weed out wannabes.

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Photo: Dan Carr/dancarrphotography.com

Dane Tudor

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Advertising banners flag the entrance to Hourglass, the final, title run down Red’s infamous Mount Roberts. One of the longest runs on the tour, it is 518 non-stop metres of sheer cliffs, chutes, rocky outcroppings, boulders, trees and sketchy snow. The technical features alone could easily maim anyone mad enough to plunge in. Anyone, that is, except the 32 finalists (24 men and eight women).

They come from as close as Rossland, BC and as far away as Are, Sweden. Many are barely old enough to vote, much less drink. They are also among the most skilled skiers you’ll ever see. I don’t know if it’s superior genes, training, focus or the infinite confidence of youth, but these kids can do things with a pair of skis that’ll scare the crap out of a grown man… or even a woman!

Upon summiting, they huddle briefly in tiny clusters before dispersing their separate ways. Once alone, they bib up, then bob their wired, helmeted heads in synch to some private, preparatory iTune.

Peering over the edge, they mull their run, scope their line and otherwise ponder the rare pockets of delectable fresh that are just dying to be skied. The conditions are, in a word, sketch. The mood is eerily mellow.

The deep thinkers will either sideslip or traverse into Hourglass. The truly fearless will hop. Straight in. Yesterday, local wünderkind and reigning champ Dane Tudor lived by his creed, “Go good or go bad.” In his semi-final run he launched the mother of all 360s off the top and he stomped it.

2010 CANADIAN OPEN FREESKIING CHAMPIONSHIPS The 2010 Canadian Open Freeskiing Championships will be held once again at Red Mountain Resort.

Junior Open, January 15 -16, 2010 Senior Open, January 21 - 23, 2010 canadianopenfreeskiing.com

Photo: Dave Fonda

Captain Jack

HATS OFF TO CAPTAIN JACK Captain Jack Carey, the competition’s Event Director for the past eight years, died tragically in a cycling accident in summer 2009.

A memorial to honour Captain Jack will be held at 2:30 pm on January 23 at the top of Red’s new run Captain Jack’s Trees. This run was cut in memory of Captain Jack, on terrain that Jack loved to ski.

That same semi-final run is now the lore of legends. It has entrenched him as the odds-on favourite to win the men’s senior title and the $4,000 in Canadian cash. It is also the No.1 buzz on everyone’s lips.

Everyone’s except the Championships’ event coordinator, Captain Jack — a.k.a. the late Jack Carey of Ophir, Colorado. For the moment, Captain Jack is way too busy wielding the mic, lining up competitors, announcing them to the crowd and just being himself to join in the buzz on Dane Tudor.

On this day, the Captain looks not unlike a fourth ZZ Top minus the buzz-saw guitar. He has been “working extreme events from Argentina to Alaska since 1992,” he says. He saw his first big mountain event in 1991 and has been a fixture on the circuit ever since. “Including,” he adds, “six years on the World Tour working as a sherpa, film crew, liaison, guide...”

Captain Jack first came to Red some nine or 10 years ago after hearing about a fledgling extreme comp that had been held here the season prior. “That was back in the days when they used the term extreme skiing,” he muses. “That scared a lot of ski areas off.” Jack is genuinely glad that today, “more host ski areas are stepping forward to finance a competition like this one.”

The Captain says he returns to Red every January for two or three weeks to help out anyway he can. “The competition is wonderful... the community, the people, the skiing...” As for the field, “This isn’t a one-day adventure for them,” he drawls. “They ski this way every day.”

Nearby, patroller Jim Markin sheds his jacket revealing a surprisingly subdued Hawaiian shirt. Satisfied, he looks down with impunity at the clouds that have Rossland and every other low-lying area, town and airport in the BC interior socked in with cold, wet fog. His body language screams, “Isn’t life grand?”

I ask Jim if anyone has ever gotten hurt up here. “We use the qualifier down Link’s Line on Granite Mountain to weed out the wing nuts,” he replies. “Hardly anyone at this level ever gets hurt up here. In 10 years of competition, we’ve never had one serious incident.”

That’s no sooner said, than WHOOMPFFF! There’s a sickening loud thump.

Sonja Lercher of Nelson, BC, has just hugged a mature tree. At speed. She’s down at the bottom of the first pitch. The tree is unfazed. Gingerly, Sonja waves us off, staggers slowly to her unsteady feet and fiddles with a loose ski.

Incredibly, she will complete her run and finish fifth among the women.

Looking on, fellow competitor Scott McBrayer, a hunting guide from Carbondale, Colorado, puts it all into perspective. “I started skiing when I was 18 months old. When I was 13 I got into a racing a bit... didn’t enjoy it much. I saw my first freeskiing contest when I was 16 and I was blown away. I’ve been with it ever since. It’s a truly incredible sport. I’m making lifelong friends. I enjoy the people I’m around up here. We’re a family. Everybody supports everybody.

Even though it’s competitive, it’s not really competitive. Hey, I gotta gear up.

I’m up in two.”

In the end, it’s reigning champion and local, still-young legend Dane Tudor who really does go good instead of bad. He wins the contest’s senior men’s title, plus $4,000 in cash. He places just ahead of Revelstoke’s Sean Cochrane and a hard-charging American named Dylan Crossman. For women, first place honours go to Fernie’s scarily consistent Janina Kuzma, followed by Crystal Wright out of Jackson Hole and Whistler’s very own Kasie Stroshin.

Later that night, Sonja Lercher, still smarting from her meeting with that awful tree, cuts up the dance floor at Rafters. Ribs raw and smarting, she somehow manages to move in soulful symmetry to the wicked down-home funk of the Championships’ head judge, Jeff Holden, and his incredibly hot Holden Space band.

Yeah. Now that the lid is on it, it really has been a wonderful day in North America’s freeskiing neighbourhood.

FoMoInfo: RedResort.com

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O9FF9 := 9 KCA L=KL=J7

Photo: Marc Archambault

SKI PRESS is searching for skiing couples for our next Ski Test. Your dream job will be to test Sport skis before the 2010/11 winter season.

Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re not looking for racers or instructorsâ&#x20AC;Ś just plain intermediate or advanced intermediate skiers, 25 or older and in good shape.

Photo: Doug LePage / courtesy of Whitewater

DATES: Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll be testing at Mont-Sainte-Anne, QC March 23-26, 2010.

HOW TO APPLY: Send us your application by email to skitest@skipressworld.com CONVEY YOUR: s %NTHUSIASM FOR SKIING

s 7HY YOU THINK SKI TESTING WOULD BE YOUR DREAM JOB

s 7HY WE SHOULD SELECT YOU AS A TESTER THIS IS NOT A DRAW Our 10 lucky couples will be chosen according to what they tell us about themselves.

Donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t hesitate to include a video or photo of you skiing so we can see how well you do itâ&#x20AC;Ś it could help you get picked.

IF YOU ARE CHOSEN...

You have to get to Mont-Sainte-Anne on your own, but weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll take care of the lodging, lifts and test skis.

THE CONTEST ENDS...

Sunday, February 21, 2010. The names of the selected couples will be posted Monday, February 28th, in the contest section of skipressworld.com. Winners will be advised by phone or email.

YOU MAY ALSO TRY. WHITEWATER

world tour ski trips steep ski clinics in whistler

JUST 20 MINUTES DOWN THE ROAD FROM NELSON, BC, WHITEWATER PACKS A WICKED POWDER WALLOP. Whitewater, BC doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t just punch above its weightâ&#x20AC;Ś it kills! One of the planetâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s premier powder stashes, Whitewater (WH20) has made more cover shots than Goliath. Yet, at heart, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s just a small local hill with three lifts, a vintage lodge, phenomenal food and its own culture.

In 2008, longtime owners, Mike and Shelley Adams sold WH20 to Calgaryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Knee Deep Development Corp. Puzzled homies asked, whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s next?

Well, when you get 14 metres of sweet Selkirk smoke every winter, youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve got plentiful powder shots, steep lines and trees on your backside, and youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re surrounded by some of the best backcountry skiing in existenceâ&#x20AC;Ś the answer is simple. You keep punching way above your weight. â&#x20AC;&#x201D; DAVE FONDA FoMoInfo: skiwhitewater.com

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F$ Mark Going, Columbia Sportswear I$ Peter Smart

1-800-938-9656 www.extremelycanadian.com ski@extremelycanadian.com

11/13/09 11:13:38 AM

SNODIVA | STYLE

Photo: Courtesy of Blue Mountain Resort - Andrea Hamlin

BY LORI KNOWLES

BLUE OR BUST

BY SUE LEBRECHT

Ontario's largest ski resort provides salvation for her family, writes stay-at-home mom and die-hard skier Sue Lebrecht.

I was desperate. Desperate to get away and desperate to ski. Pregnancy and my newborn had kept me off the slopes for the better part of two seasons.

I didn’t begrudge my new life — having a kid created an extraordinary shift in my universe — but that didn’t stop me from missing my old freedom, as well as skiing, my No.1 passion.

So I booked a spring weekend for the family at Ontario’s largest ski area, Blue Mountain. The Intrawest resort near Collingwood, with its “village” and neighbouring attractions, would surely have enough stimulation to keep my toddler and non-skiing boyfriend happy while I spread my wings on the slopes.

But at some point in the third hour of packing I had to ask myself, was this going to be worth it?

Packing for a toddler is an onerous task. Beyond the clothes and diapers are the all-important worldly possessions. Books, blocks, balls, puzzles and crayons; the sippy cup, security blanket and soothers; the Baby Einstein DVDs, bedtime music CDs and host of finger foods. And OMG don’t let me forget Igglepiggle!

Three stuffed suitcases and counting, you’d think I was packing for a six-month sojourn, not just a weekend.

MY SKIS WERE CALLING. WAIT, SO WAS MY DAUGHTER. IT WAS LUNCHTIME. Our hotel, the Westin Trillium House, had bed rails and a highchair for use, so that helped lighten the bulk. Gratefully, our suite also came with two TVs, a DVD player, a full kitchen, living room and king size bed. Home sweet home.

My next hurdle was trying to orchestrate my personal escape on skis. This was tricky for two reasons. First, there was family duty, and second, my daughter of 18 months was experiencing a peak of separation anxiety whenever I was out of her sight. Simply dropping her off at the daycare facility wasn’t an option.

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*Winter flights begin late fall 2009 and are subject to change. **WestJet Vacation packages from Montréal available through your travel agent only.

Westjet.indd 1

11/13/09 10:07:24 AM

Photo: Courtesy of Blue Mountain Resort - Andrea Hamlin Photo: Courtesy of Blue Mountain Resort Photo: Lori Knowles

We started the weekend as a family, cross-country skiing at Scenic Caves, an eclectic four-season adventure centre offering skiing and snowshoeing in winter with 22 km of trails groomed for both classic and skate-skiing. The centre has gliders for pulling kids in track behind you as you ski. Boyfriend Morris did the pulling while daughter Tori, sitting snug in the insulated glider pouch, merely tolerated the ride. She wasn’t pleased, but I was. Okay, it wasn’t alpine, but it was out, on skis, in beautiful hardwood forest on a tiered slope of the Niagara Escarpment. Lovely.

The afternoon called for a visit to the Plunge, a water playground that’s probably the most popular off-slope hang out in the Blue Mountain village.

This family watering hole features an indoor-outdoor pool, water playground and fountain. I thought it’d be a big hit for Tori, but it took a while before she peeled her arms from around my neck.

Sometimes you wouldn’t know she’s the offspring of two adventure junkies.

Finding a ball really helped, as did going to the quieter outside pool. Eventually, however, she even enjoyed the slides.

The afternoon slipped away, and suddenly it was time for dinner — with my skis still bagged and dry. I obviously needed to revisit my priorities.

The Firehall Pizza Company was the perfect choice for a family chow down.

The place was equipped with paper and crayons, booster chairs, highchairs and a kid’s menu. And waiters here knew to bring kids’ orders first and fast. While waiting, Tori walked merrily around, got in people’s way and pointed incessantly at the bright upside-down Christmas tree hanging from the ceiling.

The next day we made the delightful discovery of the Kid’s Discovery Room at our hotel. Tori exhausted its repertoire of toys and then we paid a quick visit to Kids at Blue, the resort’s daycare facility. I wanted to check it out for future reference.

Finger paints were in session and it seemed all the kids were well attended.

But enough of the mom thing already! My skis were calling. Wait, so was my daughter. It was lunchtime. Yet thankfully, dutifully, after a bite, Tori hit the sack for a nap and set me free. I grabbed by skis, bid farewell to my boyfriend and hit the slopes. Yee-ha!

Now, Blue Mountain isn’t a mountain at all, it’s just a swatch on the Niagara Escarpment. It’s not big or powdery, rather just 216 metres in height and groomed fully, completely. But nevertheless, it can hit the spot, give a good fix and even provide the training you need for the bigger leagues. Generally I warm up in the easier south end of its 4km-long stretch and gradually work my way north to the steeps and machine-made mogul patches.

But wouldn’t you know it, right then, with me on the chair going up for my first run, it began to rain. And rain. And rain. I was sopping by the time I got to the top. Two runs and I called it quits, begrudgingly taking my wet, sorry butt off the slopes. And that was that.

But y’know what? I’d have to say that my ski-less visit to Blue was fun and even worthwhile, and I'd re-visit Blue again for a family escape in a heartbeat.

FoMoInfo: bluemountain.ca

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11/13/09 2:34:59 PM

ICON

in old school we trust

Photo: Courtesy of Andrea Mead

Lawrence estate

BY JULES OLDER

58

She lived a life of triumph. She grew up in triumph and tragedy.

When Andrea Mead Lawrence — one of the USA’s best remembered skiers — was five years old, her glamourous, adventurous parents, Brad and Janet Mead, built Vermont’s newest ski area, Pico Peak. That was 1937, and the area quickly became the Mecca of Vermont skiing — and home to Vermont ski racing.

Even as a kid, Andrea absorbed her family’s love of skiing. “To have a sport which would create the desire to get into the snowfields... to enjoy the cold tang on sunshine-fi lled wintry days... plus the wonderful camaraderie found among the followers of this great sport, all this totaled in our minds great progression."

But the great progression came to a horrific halt when Brad died at age 37 in a boating accident on a Vermont mountain reservoir. He was buried near the summit of his beloved mountain. Andrea was 10 years old.

That was the same winter she was allowed to take a test run down a race course at Lake Placid, New York. Here's how she described it on Vermont Public Radio: "I went through a hairpin turn, and it was so natural, it was like a psychic click. I mean, it was just one of those remarkable moments, and I knew instinctively that that's what I was meant to do."

Mead Lawrence made the US Olympic team at the age of 14. She won two gold medals at 19. And she competed in her third Olympic Games just four months after giving birth to her third child.

"I've never wanted celebrity status unless it furthers the things I'm involved in and have a passion for,” said Mead Lawrence once her ski racing career was over and she’d become a conservationist. “It's not about how many medals you've won, but what you do with them."

THE TRAVEL ISSUE 2010

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11/13/09 2:36:00 PM

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