When I was 10 years old I thought a 6-seater gondola was the most luxurious way to access a ski hill. Max, on the other hand, being used to 8-seater chairlifts with a bubble and bottom heating, has discovered a much more interesting way of getting onto the mountain:
Parker’s Dad managed to get them onto a CMH helicopter – the opportunity of a life time for the three lads Continue reading “Three flying boys”
Yup, folks – yet another race weekend for the Breadbaskets. This time we had been hyped up by our local friends: the Nancy Greene Festival in Sun Peaks was supposed to be a lot of fun for racers and parents.
And a lot of fun it was: over 500 kids came together, starting on a bluebird Saturday to compete in four skills events: skier cross, speed trap, jump and moguls and a glalom (that’s a mix between giant slalom and slalom with slightly tighter gates than a GS – two runs with combined time). Organisation was perfect, the event rolled along very smoothly: the bigger kids competed in the skills events on the Saturday and had their two run combined time glalom on Sunday, whereas the younger kids fought it out in the glalom on Saturday and the skills on Sunday. And that’s what it looked like: Continue reading “Nancy Greene Festival in Sun Peaks”
Yet another race weekend in Canada. This time it was a boys’ weekend: Max and a race buddy of his from Revelstoke’s U12 and the two dads had a condo booked in Silver Star – a resort that we had already visited for a previous race. The condo was great: ski in, ski out, two bedrooms, so no need for messy sleep sofas or Murphy beds.
Despite the apparent lack of professional pre-race meditation the first race day went pretty well: Continue reading “Racing in Silver Star – Up’s and Down’s”
Race weekends are fun: the kids are having a great time meeting and competing with lots of other kids (in Kicking Horse we had around 170 starters) and the Breadbaskets get to see other ski resorts.
So, the last weekend, as you know, let us to Kicking Horse. Kicking Horse is in the Purcell Mountains, one step closer to the Rockies from the Selkirks, where we’re usually roaming. Kicking Horse is the name of the ski resort, approximately 20 minutes from Golden, a rather charmless village at the Canadian Highway No. 1.
We stayed in a classic motel not too far from the highway, the Days Inn in Golden. These inns are not the most charming of all places, but they are very convenient.
As practical as this might look, the view across the parking lot was a different story: Continue reading “Impressions of Kicking Horse”
The Breadbasket kids were at it again, this time in Kicking Horse, about 2 hours East of Revelstoke in the Purcell Mountains.
And the results were beautiful: Continue reading “Kicking Horse – Yet another race”
In some countries “tree hugging” is known as having originated from the Chipka movement; a non-violent protest against deforestation. Here in Revelstoke we have “Glades” which are mapped out tree-skiing areas where trees have been selectively cut down to provide nice, easy skiing. These tree-glades I can just about manage with a few “oh no – I’m too fast!”, “braaaaakkke…!”and “shiiii….t” and still I end up straddling a few of the bastards. One time I even went head-first into one, when my ski released in an awkward moment, and I ended up having to pull myself out by the help of tree branches. It was not a dignified and elegant sight. I picked branches out of my gear for hours.
But I was little prepared for our Backcountry trip on Tuesday where we, due to high risk of avalanches, ended up skiing the Teddybear Trees. I thought: “I can manage a few baby trees, that can’t be that hard?” But HELL… the trees stood as imposing and tight as a North Korean Military Parade. I was NOT happy on my Telemark skis and wish I hadn’t so boldly stated that “aahh – don’t worry about me, I can alpine ski these babies down ANYTHING”. Like hell I could…. Continue reading “Tree hugging”
…in a row. To make it short: do I have enough now? Nope. It’s fun, a lot of fun, actually. Revelstoke Mountain Resort is a superb ski area.
The guys who run the show here say the mountain has three weather zones – and they are right. Continue reading “50 Days of Skiing…”
With quite a few training days under Max’ belt it was time for the first race weekend in Canada: the Breadbasket family hopped into their truck and drove the three hours to Sun Peaks. Skis were well prepared, edges sharpened. The wax application was done later on Friday evening in a Dad’s waxing session, which involved discussing snow temperature and a comparison of Mount Begbie’s Tall Timber Ale with its High Country Kölsch. Tie, I would say.
Turned out that Max’ training is working out: as one of the youngest starters in the U12 (that’s kids born in 2004 and 2005) he ended up 6th and 11th (with a little crash) in the giant slalom and 11th and 7th in the slalom out of 31 starters in both disciplines.
The racers were very keen to finish among the Top 10, since the fastest 10 kids were asked on stage, where Nancy Greene, 1968 Gold Medalist in Giant Slalom in Grenoble, handed out the awards – clearly a highlight for the youngsters.
One word about Sun Peaks: Canada’s second largest resort (Whistler is the biggest) offers nice, wide, blue runs – paradise for some, but Anna and I were missing Revelstoke’s more challenging terrain (one skier called it big mountain heaven – I would agree). That said, the race organisation was fantastic: almost 150 kids in U12 and U14 raced in great conditions, despite the heavily falling snow – the local club has done a great job there!
Skiing between trees, particularly in glades, where the trees have been thinned out a bit to allow easier turns, is a lot of fun. Wikipedia says “Glade riders need to be agile to negotiate trees”, but one family member found a completely different strategy:
Why ski around trees when you might just ski through them and collect branches as evidence?
It goes to show, though, that free riding cannot start too early – certainly an approach the Canadians are taking with their young offspring.
Who's been here? 