Beautiful December at Red Mountain

 December is a special time for me at Red Mountain.  It is a peaceful time.  For me it is the quiet time before all of the action of Nonstop and Canadian Ski Quest.

The December tourists at Red Mountain seem to be here with skiing being only a bonus activity to the time they are spending visiting friends and family.  January brings the more focused destination skiers.

The weather and light in December are also consistently unique compared to January-March.  December brings brilliant shades of gray.  The sky, snow, trees, and distant mountains all blend together, they seem to be more connected to each other in the December light.  There is much less color contrast between different elements of the environment except for about the 17 minutes before the sun sets.  Then there is more contrast than at any other time of the year.  The mountains near and distant become clearly defined.  Each day ends with a brief moment of sunlight enhanced glory.

Finally on the Rails

My Yodel Challenge has been a bit of a challenge to get started.  Today was Day 1.  Today was the first time I have been able to actually hit the park.  2015 has been a slow opening for Red Mountain, but we are back on track now with Motherlode and Paradise chairs opening tomorrow.

My only other options were the small home made Jib park kids have made at Rossland Secondary, which I opted out of since it was a sheet of ice.  The Whitewater terrain park was not open the two days I was there.  Red Mountain opened on Saturday December 20 and I Conducted a CSIA Level 1 course for three days.  So today was Day 1 of my challenge.  These boxes were about as far as I dared go, but I did hit them over and over again and did actually develop a level of comfort.

Whitewater is Open

 Whitewater is open!
So today I took the Freeski team up there. 
As you can see from the photos conditions are definitely early season.  There are still a lot of ditches and holes to fill in so it made for careful skiing.  But good on you Whitewater for making it happen.  We had a great day!

My Park Rat challenge is proving somewhat difficult so far.  None of the rails were set up. 

48 Year Old Tomato Head Park Rat

Interested in seeing Mark Impey do something new AND utterly humiliating?  Read on...

I am involved with the Rossland Skatepark Association, our goal is to raise enough funds to develop a Skatepark in Rossland.  We have the land, the design and over $100000.00 raised.  In the month of December the Nelson and District Credit Union and two anonymous contributors have each pledged $10000.00 ($30000.00) total in matching funds to what the community can raise.  So if I can raise $500.00, they will throw in $500.00.

Terrain Parks scare the hell out of me.  Tomato Heads are always so dammed cheerful.

The Challenge I am undertaking for the Rossland Skatepark is to learn a completely new  (to me) aspect of skiing.  The Park!  I pledge in the month of December; 20 sessions of at least 45 minutes duration which will result in the establishment of the most elderly Park Rat at Red Mountain.   If I reach my hopefully unattainable (serious) goal of $1000.00 I will join Finn and Blaise for their jump line session wearing only my tighty whities and a Tomato Head helmet from my sworn enemies-the Red Mountain Tomato Heads.

Game on-oh god!!!

To donate: http://rosslandskatepark.yodel.org/challenge/48-year-old-tomato-head-park-rat