Third day's a charm

Though our bodies and legs were a bit thrashed by day three (our final day with Great Canadian Heli), it was by far our best out in the zone.

Some new clients arrived last night and ability was too divided in house to keep the heli’s together so they split, and our heli with three strong groups was able to really focus in on some great, featured terrain. Snow quality wasn’t nearly as good as our first day, but was more similar to the stuff we get on a good day in Cali, so the four of us were comfortable and happy. Lots of steep pitches with small drops – the whole crew logged a decent amount of hang time. We got a bit of a bad reputation for being terrain hogs, but all had huge smiles on our faces at lunch and by the end of the day were fried and stoked. The day was dominated by the ladies, guide Al(lison) & pilot Cathy – many thanks to for getting us up and down on some great stuff – an amazing way to end this chapter of the trip.

Guide Al(lison) boarding the bird

Dan spraying some white smoke before a fun drop

Getting deep

Danimal

Already airborne before takeoff

Pottsy leaving his mark on a fun chute

A little hang time

Brandon lined up

Dropping

Brandon working on getting shacked

The first of a fun double stager

Celebratory champagne sabered

Even the drinking was rowdy

Great Canadian Pow

We’ve had two days of heli-skiing out here in BC with Great Canadian – so far, I’d have to say good with some punctuated moments of greatness. There was a lot more tree skiing than I’ve experienced at other operations, but also some more opportunities to get the skis off the ground and some pretty fantastic snow. Stability and weather definitely dictates where we're able to go, but the way they operate here puts everyone at the same LZ, so it’s not just the people in your bird that limit you, but realistically everyone in house. That said we were able to poke around for some fun, steep and pillowy terrain when we were put in the right zones. Our guide Al(lison) has been really good to us, and knew where to point us when the zone  accommodated. When we arrived two days ago it was snowing – it continued lightly here at Heather Mountain Lodge through the night, not a huge accumulation down low, but was enough up in the zone to make it really fun. Weather both days was in and out, but the pilots here did an amazing job of getting us up and down. My body is tired and the knee is speaking to me, so they must be doing it right.

Two things for certain:

• Canadian pow is the goods

• Helicopters are awesome

One more day, tomorrow, then off to Revelstoke where we will meet Dave, Ari and a handful of folks. So far, great trip and another just fantastic stop along the #radicalsabbatical.

One of the birds getting put away for the evening

Arrived to with some precip falling – good for skiing, bad for flying

Guys ready to fly – me with Dan, Brandon & Potts

Birds up

And birds out

Managed to find some smooth, deep and sometimes steep stuff

Even a drop or two

Bird coming in for a landing and p/u

Dan with a nice view of the Selkirk Mountains

Dan cranking some turns

These machines just never get old

Lunch views in the Selkirks

Our lovely pilot, Cathy, coming in for a somewhat technical landing

A landing which afforded us some pillow lines

Followed by more pillows

Our token snowboarder Brandon making some nice turns

And finding a little air

It is a winter of mountains for me and I just can't get enough of the views

Some happy boys on the way home

And the bird winds down for the day

Lots of shoes in house

Our return to base is obviously celebrated with a ski shot – Potts is just a little too eager

But we all join him

Canada, ehh?

Potts, Dan & myself arrived in Calgary early Saturday morning and began our drive West, out the Trans-Canada Highway, up to the Bow Valley where our ski adventure began. Views in the Canadian Rockies were absolutely spectacular as we made our way through Banff, a touristy town where we spent night one, en route to our first ski resort, Lake Louise. The snow was good and wintery, but not super fresh. Terrain off the back-side was fun and steep, but the jagged rocky peaks and buttes were the main attraction and just spectacular. At the end of a fun day, we hit the road to continue the travel further West, over the Continental Divide, to the amazing resort of Kicking Horse – where I find myself now. We skied today, and will hang here for another day before we mosey down the road for a few days of heli then jump a bit further West to meet with the larger crew for our final destination of Revelstoke.

While snow conditions were similar here in Kicking Horse (wintery but not fresh), the day was pretty awesome. Last night in the hot tub we were lucky enough to meet a super fun, nice & ripping local couple (Mike & Kirstin) who showed us around this amazing resort all day today. Our arrival here was followed by a rather big night of drinking complete with human sized Jenga, so joining them for full throttle skiing was a bit of a shock to the system this AM, but after we quasi-kicked the hangovers we got with the program and didn’t make them wait around (as much) – a huge thanks to Mike & Kirstin for showing us an epic day here at Kicking Horse. We, no doubt, would never have found such great snow and terrain without them. This resort is just amazing and definitely will need a repeat visit when conditions are good.

Hopefully we can take it a little easier this evening, but who knows, Jenga is calling our names…

Views of The Rockies out of the town of Banff

Some time for shopping in the touristy town of Banff

We three gents do not pack light

In Canada, dudes walk the streets with hockey sticks, and there are ice climbing walls in-town

Views out of the town of Banff down The Bow river

Rocky Mountain views from the ski resort Lake Louise

Dan-eyed view of some fresh at Lake Louise

A look at some of the fun terrain on the backside of Lake Louise

On the drive up the Bow Valley we passed through several National Parks – views were stunning the whole way 

Wildlife was just on the side of the road – I think we counted over 14 Elk in all

We arrived in Kicking Horse for evening light – This view is down valley, down the Columbia which eventually makes its way South into The States to become The Mighty Columbia, the final river that Louis & Clark navigated in the early 1800's – Amazing to see it's 'headwaters'

Life sized Jenga is pretty serious & all time fun

The group made some questionable decisions when we stacked two giant Jenga sets up to form a super-sized Jenga tower – picture one is me pulling what turned out to be the last brick – picture two is me getting completely covered up by probably 60+ falling 2x4's

Dan & I before the descent of Consequence

Ants-eyed view of me at the entrance of the chute

Dan making some tight turns down Consequence

Dan with our new friends Kirstin & Mike at the top of T1 at Kicking Horse