Spine Bubble World

Local Legend and Ski Builder Johnny Foon snapped a couple photos of me, from early march. We were humbled by all the destructive avalanches that had ravaged the area, during the mega storm, but we were happy to see the snow had tightened up on this tester run.

As we got confidence in the snow, I decided to poke into the bubble spine with Delaney.  We had to dig our way in, but what was on the other side, was pretty awesome, eh.

The light crapped out, just minutes after we dropped in, I was pretty happy with our timing

turning on powder snow is quite enjoyable

classic viewpoint

Revelstolkl

Revelstoke Resort backcountry, yours to explore, with a whole bunch of other people.

Alex Papis photo.. I got the invite to revelstoke, by the volkl snowboards euro crew to do some shredding.. A good bunch of dudes, we had some challenges with weather and some logistics, but we got some fun shredding in, and it was fun to go somewhere else, as I am always seem to be distracted by my home zone.

We flew a day with Selkirk Tangiers, Stumbach ambassador, "Stani" has a look at the terrain. 

We had 2 hours of safety briefings before we could fly, and in that time, the bluebird flew away, leaving its stinkier cousin, the shitbird, to fill the skies.. That said, I got a good look some cool terrain and rode some pow.. I had some things in mind for this face, but we decided to save the jetfuel, as the light got worse. First world problems.

We hit some of the lower pillow terrain, off the resort. Surprisingly untracked a few days after a storm.. Lots of stacks, but some challenges finding suitable landings, but if you could find the broom closet transitions, it was a good time.

I sniffed out a staircase

Ueli Kestenholz 

Ueli finds a little powy nugget.. Always a bit challenging on the ski hill, as there are always bombholes and tracks in most places.. We did pretty well, considering.

Micheal "Stani" Stanschitz was hungry and throwing down off most things, stomping often, but  also taking some pretty solid beatdowns as well. He was fun to watch.

Being a tourist can be tough, there was lots of inviting terrain that was easy to drop into, but questionable about how to get back.  There was a reason it was untracked.  Locals only, brah.  

The close terrain was cool, but the further terrain looked amazing.  We were supposed to get the heli again for this day, but we were bumped by a slightly bigger budget crew, called the sherpas or something.

Mac Daddy face, the world freeride competition venue, good in january baked in march.. We saw some mates hit it gunfire style.  I thought everyone was a guide in revelstoke, who repeats the avy forecast, like they wrote it themselves.. "y'know the only thing dangerous right now is the cornices"

Roy "Boy" Broennimann scores a sunny window, and finds freedom on this open canvas.

I was distracted by the far-country. They call this face "the last drop." The lookers right line is called , "the village idiot".  

We found a sweet late light mini-golf zone, so did a bunch of others.. Good fun, nonetheless, and we all found something cool to ride. "Stani" found a fun stack.

I found a line in here, got lost for a few seconds around the corner, and out the lower shelf.

Ueli, capitalized on my lack of creativity, hiked up and found this little shelf just before sunset.

Sunset was pretty neato.. 

Due to Revelstoke's proximity to Alberta, a pipeline from Fort Mac pumps sweet bitumen to fuel this outdoor fireplace.  Also, due to the abundance of bitumen, these fires burn 24/7.  We enjoyed some beers beside them.

Deep like Pow

Japan shred, Ian Millar has been secretly posting about the Japan radness. Rumour has it, he is the new ceo of unofficialnetworks.com, which should do wonders for the valley.. Check out deeplikepow.com

le-face-sick

a couple moments out there, yesterday..  Delaney and I cracked the spine bubble world with a bit of shoveling, and a small drop in..




Zayac instagram poach

Zayac Instagram poach

Delaney Zayac Photography

It's the beginning of March, and I can't help but feel a bit anxious, as the real shred season is upon us. The north faces begin to reveal their beauty, and the clock begins to tick.  Delaney Zayac has been shooting photos for years.  A dude who likes to ski, but happens to bring a camera as well.  Although, I think he is skiing with a light pack these days.. Here's a couple shots from the last two seasons.

Dave Basterrechea onslope shot... Glorious day in the ass end of nowhere.

Early Morning on one of the most perfect shred days, I have ever seen.

Dave B and I wasting no time climbing this beauty, as Delaney negotiated with a Heli- Film crew eyeballing the same shit.

Too stoked to properly communicate with Delaney about where I was going, but he managed to catch this shot.

Dave B, on a lower flank fun run.

Less of a fun run for me, I got out of the way

Daryl Treadway and I, sniffing out some lines

Dave B dropping into a nicey one.. Delaney usually takes photos from this angle and then he downclimbs to meet up with the rider.

Or Delaney uses this angle, and offers a handrail to the rider, showing them the way down. Chris Ankeny not too worried about sloppy seconds.

Delaney thought it would be a more dramatic shot if Daryl Treadway and I stood on top of this cornice.  A edge of the world type shot.  We thought it would look lame, not gnarly enough.

Daryl T, trying to get out of the sunlight

Such good conditions this day.. Perfect for hitting this line.  Although this photo only shows a small portion of it.  It gets kind of serious lower down.  I have this one burned in my mind.

We are a little bit obsessed about weather.. It's funny they never forecast "stink cloud", or "china smog", "shitbird", etc.  It can make for nice photos, though, eh?

I really like this photo

Delaney Zayac powder enthusiast, farmer, philantropist..  master debater, etc.