Humans take a lot of things for granted on a daily basis, and as snowboarders and skiers, we can be a pretty entitled bunch of jerks. We complain when Mother Nature fails to provide the frozen substrate required for our amusement, and belly-ache when the resorts are running the snow guns to compensate. The weather is too cold. It’s too busy. The lift lines are too long. The features in the park aren’t quite right. It’s too expensive.
The stars happened to align today, allowing Robyn and myself to gather our kit and take a bit of a break from the usual resort residency and revisit a favourite valley that makes time slow down a little. It had been years since I’d last found the time to get out and ride there, and only a handful of my friends have ever ridden it. Exploring this hidden local gem requires a pretty beastly hike in and you pay in sweat and lactic acid for every run you make. While there was once a primitive rope-tow present 60-70 years ago, the only tracks besides our own were those of coyotes.
The payout, however, is untouched powder, assisted further by the north-west winds blowing over the top of the little summit.
We hiked until our legs were wooden and useless, marveling at the silence and serenity, and took our time, savouring every run. Rock piles became impromptu booters, and the grins were constant – nothing was taken for granted as we slashed and hiked our marks into the 18″ of fresh.
We thought we’d take a moment to share a bit of the energy, and encourage you to make your own fun. Explore. Hike. Figure it out for yourself. Every adventure begins with the desire for something new and interesting, and this one didn’t disappoint. Did we mention Ma Nature has a lot more snow in the forecast? We may need to make a trip back there next week…
If you’re interested, you can check out a bit of slash action on our Instagram page – here. Wanna show you’re stoked to have rad friends to ride with on days like this? Grab one of these!