Allee

I thought that was a Canadian kid thing. Like dragging your board base down through the parking lot by the front binding. Guess not.

You could see it on the boardercross v the skicross at the Olympics. That was a great course for boardercross. It was borderline breakneck for the skiers (as I'm sure Chris Del Bosco will tell you). The speed differential was very obvious.

Instagram for me - @projectvanlife and @sprintercampervans - although I lean towards the Nissan NV200 as the van of choice.

Hey! That's my mighty ski wagon you're s***-talking. That's the last time you get a lift anywhere :-) And Mig, you're right - #Idontunderstandphysics

Yeah, me too. Roof boxes are great for hauling gear, but unless I jam some strategic towels in there, the boards move around a lot. I've got cracks in the back of the box from where I've had to brake suddenly, and the boards have shot backwards and hit the end hard. I've also got some rash on topsheets where I've gotten lazy, and just tossed them in at the end of the day for the drive home. My SX4 is too short to fit long carving boards inside ... hopefully the next car will have a little more room!

Dude, you guys got hammered again? And it looks cold enough to break your scoreboard too, looks like Chair 1 might not be running today. Our weather forecast says that the cold is here until the end of the month, ugh. Look after that knee. Ice and ibuprofen, ouch.

Stay warm this weekend. Tomorrow (Sat) looks to be not too bad, but Sunday and Monday look very cold.

Heading to Nakiska tomorrow. Sunday and Monday look to be freezing cold.

I enjoy riding with a crew, but I'll happily ride by myself if nobody else is out. The biggest difference group riding makes for me is progression, because I am definitely on the edge of my comfort zone when I ride with guys. Left to my own devices, I'm more likely to cruise and less likely to challenge myself, and that's where I feel for you riding solo. Riding with people who are better than you, being able to watch their body language and lines, and being able to ask questions all really help. And getting swept up in a little peer pressure is a great way to push your envelope (and/or land on your head )

"snort" They just don't make things like they used to. But then again, they've probably never seen -40 in China.

^^^ West Carven spends half the winter hardbooting his Flagship at Whitefish, and loves it. An older Salomon Burner might be a good choice too, if you can find one.

Instagram posts reported a foot for you guys yesterday, and more on the way. February's shaping up to be really good out west. Our hills have been getting plenty as well, spring skiing should be fantastic. Brewfest dates already marked on calendar.

Aww, come on Lowrider. It's more fun than you can shake a stick at. At least they have guardrails at The Regrettables, that's a fancy resort. I've hang-glided off this road, it's a decently long way down.

Kea in action ...

"snort" as Neil once said, KH - the only place where a three board wide chute covered in moguls, is classified as a single black ... Enjoy your week, the reports from there are looking epic.

Above the tree line? Oh, you're in for a treat. This is not Tahoe, where you drive to town and catch the gondola. Once you get to the gate, you'll get to fit chains to the car, and then drive between 30 and 45 minutes to get to the lifts. The road up to Mt Hutt is roughly one and a half lanes wide, sketchy as all get-out and with a vertigo inducing plunge on the exposed side. Coronet in QT you can drive up to on tarmac, anywhere else you'll be on gravel for a very long time. If you plan on going up to ride, rent a 4WD of some sort, you'll need it. I put a pic of the Cardrona road below, to give you an idea. Mt Cook is beautiful, and there's some great short loop day hikes up there. But as SunSurfer says, that's true high alpine and you're going in winter, so you'll need to be sure of your conditions before you set out. To give you an idea of the weather, that's where Hillary trained for his Everest expeditions. And yes, watch for kea, and don't leave anything where they can get at it. They'll destroy anything they get their beaks on, and they like to hang around car parks in packs. The taniwha are more likely to keep to themselves :-)

The hills don't open until mid June in a good year, and not until the last week in a bad one. I'm guessing you're thinking of hitting Queenstown, and Mt Hutt just outside of Chch - they're the biggest areas on that loop with the most reliable snow. If the snow is good when you get there and you're heading to Mt Cook, Ohau might be worth a swing-by as well. You'll get some riding in, but I wouldn't bring your best gear. Unless it's an exceptional season, you can bank on the coverage being pretty thin. On the plus side, the lower South Island is amazing, one of my favourite places in the world. You'll have a ball even if you don't get to ride.

Ugh, Silver is down for maintenance again? It had better be open by the weekend. Any of the locals going up this weekend? I'll be at a crossfit competition all next weekend, so I'm probably going to head up this Sunday. I could be talked into Saturday if anyone else is going.

I <3 you guys. And if your ears all start burning tomorrow, it's because I'm trying to weightlift on my legs, and cursing you all to hell. Awesome weekend, so good to see everyone.

I forget which film it was, but there was a sequence with beginners on the rope tow made me laugh until I cried. And another one about heading out of Denver on the I70 in ridiculous traffic, stopping for gas - and discovering that there were five people in the car, and only four sets of skis on the roof. RIP, sir. I might have to find one of your oldies but goodies and watch it this weekend.

Man, I remember doing them. On rollerskates, not ice skates, and they were harder than they look.

It might not be bluebird, but we'll take it. I might toss the Rome in the topbox, I haven't ridden that with plates for a while ... See you lovely people on Thursday!!

Usually because my front leg is on fire, but I get to a stage where my body is half a second behind my brain ... that's quitting time. My friend has a theory that lunch shifts your centre of gravity, and makes riding afterwards much harder. Seems legit.

I was pulled over by patrol this weekend at the bottom of the last, steep pitch into the Silver Chair at Nakiska. I was told to pick a line, left or right, on that descent, and stick to it - because that day there were 1500 racer kids on the hill, all bombing the main run at mach schnell, and the patroller "didn't want an incident"."They aren't expecting to see you there, and they're only looking straight ahead". I assured him that I had my head on a swivel on that pitch. But as SoloSteve said to me later, why was he picking on us? The kids were the ones at fault. That particular bench is so steep you can't see off the top, and yet they fly off it without even a speed check. Should someone fall right under the drop, there is no way a speeding skier could stop. And as for looking "only straight ahead" ... if we can check around mid-carve, they should be doing the same. The hill was really busy on Saturday, but these kids don't care, and nor do the management. It's damn frustrating when the rules seem to apply to some, but not others.

Ewww. "Chocolate death cookies are my favourite".