Ian M

Good point! Last Thursday was complete chaos at Cascades; bus loads of munchkins.

^ Probably a good idea to postpone, Ryan, even though I hate to move the first session. Tomorrow's forecast looks like the worst case scenario... a freeze-up during the day once the groomed slush is all messed up. The last time I rode those conditions, it was... un-ride-able. Can I have votes for Wednesday or Thursday, please? We never voted on the Wednesday option, so I don't know which one's better for y'all. Please remind your riding buddies to check this thread, and have their say :) Cheers!

Yes, I'm looking forward to Tuesday! Hopefully it will be softer rather than harder, but if it's icy-ish we'll just figure out together how to rock it ;) Reminder that meeting time is 7pm at the bottom of the main side chair, ready to ride! Cheers :D

Yup, the conditions were a bit rough. Really hard ice with messy bumpy granular stuff on top... quite challenging riding. The muppets really did not help, but happily is sounds like Tuesday nights are usually quieter :)

1. Mark Brown, M-F 2. Jim Cheen, W-F 3-4. Andrea, Dave & Lillian Morgan, M-F 5. GeoffV, M-F 6. Michael Mercurio, M-F 7. Stephane Paquette, M-F 8. Derek Bonser, M-F 9. Tabatha, M-F 10. Brad Burns, M-F 11. Annie Beaudoin, M-F 12. Claude Fagnan, M-F 13. CarveFather, W-F hopefully 14. Bob Russell Buggs, W-F 15. Alex Juhasz, M-F 16. Steph Juhasz, M-F 17. Karson Mui, W-F 18. John Philkill, M-S 19. Hilux, M-F 20. Fishrising W-F 21. Shaggy 22. Ian M, M-F! :D

I'm in at Cascades tomorrow night too, and will carpool with Tabby. ^ Agree, those Ski Logik's are gorgeous! Some of the two-planks out there are really amazing, and will carve like mad on ice that you're 'survival surfing' on, man. I'm looking forward to demoing some Volkl RTM 81's again. They're a rockered all-mountain ski that I tried last year, and their carving performance was... frightening...! Cheers :)

I might be able to ride Thursday or Friday. Has anyone ridden since the freeze? What's it like out there?

*Like* Between the great mountain, organizers, and riders, it's crazy easy to have fun! Congrats on signing up for your first ECES, just from coming out to play I think you'll find that your riding makes great steps .

Sure to both! It sounds like Rob is also interested in some steeps work from an offline conversation.

Hello everyone! Thank you Alex, for starting this thread. I'm stoked about offering these clinics again, and sharing my passion for carving with y'all :D. Helping to organize the clinics last time taught me a lot; I tried to sort riders by ability level to have more focused sessions, but organizing carvers is like herding cats :p. Many riders changed plans the day of based on snow conditions, and that makes perfect sense. So, this year let's just go free-form, and see who shows up, when. If a really huge group happens on one day, I'll probably ask if some people will return the next day instead, or split into two shorter sessions to make our sharing more effective. Let's plan on each clinic running for 1.5h, but if we get on a roll I won't necessarily stop at noon. Bring a snack if you get distracted easily by hunger! In each session, I'll ask about what you folk would like help with, and we'll explore together from there! Keep in mind that the sessions will start at a pace that is suitable for everyone, and then I'll dial it up as we go... aiming to challenge each person. If you have suggestions about the clinics, or things you'd really like help with, post them here! A few directions that we could explore together are: Carving technique and gear from basic to advanced, different riding styles Inspired carving, focusing on enjoyment, expression, and playfulness! Spiritual carving, achieving awesome experiences and performance with higher aspects of yourself :O If you're interested in the high-performance mental/spiritual aspects of carving, check out last season's Carving magazine for an article called "Performance Headspaces 101", and start playing with some of those concepts . Happy carving to all, and I look forward to seeing you soon! Cheers :D

Good stuff Peter! We hope to see you and Gilbert out at Cascades on Tuesdays. Your carving family is looking forward to meeting you :)

Welcome, Alcam4! Glad you got your bindings figured out, and we hope to see you out at the sessions! Cheers :)

Sweeeeet! Me and some skier friends will be out at Calabogie on Sunday. It'd be nice to see some trenches there too! Who else is playing this weekend?

Two softbooting teenagers were gawking at my rig, and when I invited them on the chairlift to tell them more about it, one of them says "All I see is this guy in red, screaming down the hill... how do you do that??" I told him it was easy; gear and technique, and I'd that I'd teach him how if he wants. He and his friend are now invited to our Tuesday night carving sessions :D Man, carving is F-U-N!

Happy 2014 everyone!! May the new year be full of wonder, love, and high-G turns for all of you <3 Speaking of which... Carving sessions GO! Everyone who responded to the poll said that Tuesday works for them, so Tuesday it is! Let's start on Tuesday, January 14th, and go until the snow gives out. Let's aim to meet at the bottom of the main lift, ready to ride at 7pm. In case of sketchy weather, please check this thread the afternoon of the session to make sure it is on... I'll aim to post by 2pm if we need to cancel for weather reasons. I'm looking forward to seeing y'all on the 14th, when we'll transform Cascades into a space full of inspired carvers! Cheers! Ian

I'm heading to Cascades now to be on snow around 3pm! SUNSHINE!!!

A night at Cascades sounds good! Count me in :D

Good job, keener! :D

Sorry for the late response, Chris, but no. I find it hard to believe I've only been out on snow twice so far, but life has been a little off the hook. Is anyone else riding Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday this week? I'm off all three days :) Cheers!

Update - I'm passing on tomorrow morning... still getting over a cold and some other epic stuff. See y'all on the slopes soon! Ian :)

Instead of worrying about the possibility of mishap, what about focusing on the desired outcome? Put yourself mentally in the moment when you're receiving the perfect grind/tune, and it will happen. Mind matters!

Kunstadt Glebe has been good to me. I think my favorite tech Eric has moved on, but their base grind and edges were always well done :) T&L not so much, they always seem to misplace my equipment.

I was going to ride Saturday, but if a few of you are out Sunday morning I'll do that instead :) MSM you say?

Yes, Johnny... I can still add people to our existing group. Just send me for each person; Name Date of birth $102.33 by Interac Cheers :)

Hey Peter! So far the poll is showing a preference for Tuesday night, and thank you to everyone who has responded so far :) Last year we had a few bad weather days, so it's a good idea to have a second weeknight as an alternate if conditions are poor on the chosen day. Of course, Neil :) Thanks for expressing your interest.