Freeski Academy Intro Day

Canadian Ski Quest offered a free introduction training day today to skiers aged 10-13 who are considering participating in the Red Mountain Academy next year. Dylan organised everything and it turned out to be a great day. Dylan started the day with partnering the 10-13 year old prospects with the 16-17 year old current athletes.

Dylan partnered one of the young ones named Jacob with Academy star Todd Loukras. I had an entertaining lift ride with the two of them. Jacob was somewhat star struck by Todd asking him questions for the entire lift ride. "Are you a professional skier?" "Are you sponsored?" "What do they give you?" "Can you backflip off that?" and on and on. Unbridaled enthusiasm from Jacob and now Todds has another fan. To Todds credit, he spoke with Jacob as an equal and was an outstanding role model. It was a great "pay it forward" type day.

Photo is Todd Loukras taking a drop in Papose Bowl.

8 cm of new snow last night, I had a couple of great powder runs, Lynx line skiers left, no one is touching it.

Assault on the Red Mountain Vibe

Red Mountain is developing, while in one sense this is great for ensureing we continue to have a place to ski and in regards to the fact that improvements are now made to the resort every year. The down side is that Red is now attracting some visitors who are more into themselves than into being part of the Red Mountain experience. In the past week I have been the unfortunate witness to two lift line incidences that I would not normally associate with Red Mountain. The first involved a woman in a Vail type suit who told a polite man in the singles line to "BACK OFF" when he suggested he ride the chair with their group of three. The other happened today and was similar. Two women on the Motherlode chair aggressively dismissed a Ski Patroller who professionally and politely moved to share the chair with them. Patroller was flabbergasted! As was I! What can we do when visitors bring their nasty attitude to our paradise?

The negative vibe was soon lost and forgotten with the next run down Lynx Line. It was my first real powder experience of the season. Yesterdays snowfall did not bring the epic conditions that were anticipated but 14 cm did fall, this combined with the previous dumps made for very fine conditions. Today's skiing was my first taste (this season) of what Red Mountain is all about. My skiing found its flow.

Snowing hard

It started snowing at about 10:00 this morning and has been coming down steady ever since. Anticipation around the lodge is high.

I was out with the Freeski Academy this morning. Doing the very smooth backflip is Alex Berg. I was thinking of doing it myself but didn't trust Alex with the camera, so I let him do the skiing.

Nancy Greene Ski League

Today was day one for the Nancy Greene Ski League at Red Mountain. Lots of kids out, all full of of excitement at what is to come through the season. The nicely centered coach in the foreground of the photo is Grant "The Dart" Rutherglen.

We had another 2 cm last night which had a positive effect on the groomers. It seemed to bond the existing snow somehow. It snowed lightly all morning giving way to sunshine in the afternoon.

Three Snow Caracteristics That Don't Belong Together

Yesterdays forecast was amazingly accurate with 15 cms measured on my skating rink. My inner skier just had to get off the well beaten path today. Regretfully my logical self followed the suggestion. The snow off piste was completely unskiable (by me anyways). Not only was it heavy but it was incredibly dense. The strange thing was that the snow has these two qualities while offering zero support to a skier. Upon skiing into the untouched snow my skis immediately dived to the bottom of the snow pack, I then exerted about 30 seconds of hard labor to free one but then when I put my weight on the free ski to work on getting the other out the once free ski sank to the bottom of the snowpack, and so on and so on. It did cross my mind that I would be stuck. I can't imagine how the Ski Patrol could perform a rescue in those conditions.

The run of the day was Rino's Run.

Still Early Season at Red

I actually did get up Motherlode Chair today. Fresh tracks looked to be waiting all over the place. It was a brochure quality scene, but if it looks to good to be true.... Most of the runs on Red and Granite are still closed, officially the resort is at 17 out of 87 runs open. We have had some amazing snow over the past week but unfortunately there is no base to support it. A lot of people have been ducking the ropes and making tracks, but is still looks a little to "early season" for my liking. The Christmas spirit prevails on the mountain, everyone seems to have a positve outlook on the situation. Possibly because the forecast looks promising. We are expecting 15 cm tonight. About 4 cm has fallen so far and it is still coming down strong.

Thigh Deep Pow (for Simon)

Christmas Eve. It has been snowing all day, the type of snow where there is no resistance noticed as you walk through it. I am not sure exactly how much we got but Simon (four years old) was thigh deep a lot of the time today and he was LOVIN IT!! and that is just the snow that has fallen since 9:00 this morning.

I had a great little video clip of this but had trouble uploading.

Since I was skiing with the kids all day I did not get to experience Granite Mountain in its entirety. Reports from up high varied, some said it was great, while others complained that there was no base under the pow. Personally, I would not have ventured far off piste for safety sake.

Rossland is a Christmas postcard tonight, it is minus 9, snowing continuously and there is not a breath of wind. I can't imagine a more perfect place to be at Christmas.

Merry Christmas everyone,
Mark

The Red Mountain Christmas Ski Crowd

Another beautiful day at Red Mountain today. The vibe around the mountain over the Christmas break differs from the mid winter skiing highs. There are a lot of guests at the Mountain who are not in Rossland primarily for the skiing. They are here visiting family and the fact that there is a ski hill just outside of town is just a bonus for them. It is a nice atmosphere, everyone is relaxed and there is an easy going flow to the day on the slopes.

Rossland is another story. There are no signs of holiday stress but at times there was almost gridlocked traffic on Columbia Ave and Washington Street.

Red Chair Opens

The Red Chair opened today and the skiing was better than expected. The conditions portrayed in this video clip are not Red Mountain marketing department material but the skiing was actually better than it looks in the clip. Skiing down the Cliff on Red Mountain are Todd Loukras and Jeff Amentea (no poles) from the Freeski Academy. On skis the bushes sticking out were hardly noticable. Dylan gets the credit for the camera work (not Mark, Mark did not take the video) Camera work by Dylan!

Silverload Powder

21 cm fresh on my skating rink this afternoon. This bodes well for opening of Red Mountain tomorrow. I had a great afternoon ski with Dawn and the kids today. It is still cold, about -15C, so the snow was blow away beautiful.

Professional Development Day at Red

Today was PDP day for the Red Mountain Ski School. I conducted two sessions through the day trying to balance ski improvement with a bit of teaching methodology. Cold today -20C at my house at 8:00 AM. I focused on short turns, trying to keep warm. The Silverload skiing is good, a few rocks around but all are visible. I used my good skis with no problems. There are a few patches of powder around and I imagine the skiing will be good higher on the mountain but I expect there will also be a few nasty surprises under the beautiful powder.

This video is Leanne Hutton, Red Mountain Instructor, just off piste on Silverload chair.

Opening Day at Red-Game On!!

Silverload opened today. It was as good as Silverload could be. Quite cold still so the snow was excellent, squeaky and gripy. Great to get the season going, there was a good vibe around the place.

NONSTOP Training in Fernie

I skied Fernie on Tuesday/Wednesday, sorry no photo-it was to cold to take my gloves off . Minus 28C, Rosslanders are just not accustomed to it.

Due to the limited base we only skied on the Elk chair (green terrain). This was day 9 on the snow for me. My fellow Rosslanders tell me I should be thankful to just have skied at all (they haven't), but I find myself craving a run down Roots or Booty's. My day will come!!!

Rossland looks great, a winter wonderland. But this has not translated into skiable conditions up high. One of the things that makes Red Mountain the best ski resort in the world is the terrain we have, the downside is that we need more snow than the Big White's and Silverstar's of the world to get going.

Red is open today, Silverload only. More green terrain for me, my edge rolls are becoming very very very refined. In fact a Lifty at Fernie told me my edge rolls were "SICK"! Maybe I'll get into the CSIA manual??? I have to ski something steep very soon........

Cold in Rossland

We are in a cold spell at the moment. Cold for Rossland anyway, it is -15C today. Beautiful weather, the temperature seems to put a shine on the world. Rossland is glowing in a white and blue vibrancy. The temperature however is not so good for the prospect of Red Mountain opening. These are ideal snowmaking conditions but we do not have snowmaking at Red yet. Usually this is not a problem, however this year it sure would be reassuring to have it.

Good conditions for making ice, the rink behind the house is established. Fun for the kids.

Off to Fernie today for NONSTOP program training. At least I will be skiing tomorrow.

30 cms last night!!

Looks like we will be skiing soon. Over 30 cm last night in my yard. The official Red Mountain snow report is only 21 cm but 30 cm is what I have measured. I will get the kids skiing today-somewhere.

GREAT SNOW!!!

It looks great! The snow that started this morning has been going all day with no sign of letting up. About 20 cm has fallen so far. Whitewater in Nelson www.skiwhitewater.com is open on Saturday and 49 North 49 www.ski49n.com will open on Sunday. Red Mountain is close!

Big White

Beautiful day at Big White!! The skiers in the Freesking Academy had a great couple of days skiing. The terrain was limited but reports were that the skiing on what was open was excellent. I only did the driving and continued on to Vernon for my mothers 70th. For the kids skiing seemed to be the release of something that had been building since September. They all had a satisfied glow to them for the ride back to Rossland.

Today at Red: It has been snowing steadily since 9:00 this morning.

Big White Opens! We are there!

Big White is open today and Red Mountain can't be far behind. It is snowing steadily today. Dylan and I will be taking the skiers from the Freeski Academy to Big White tomorrow for two days. The kids are just so stoked to be going.

Ice storm in Rossland

We had a very unusual weather condition in Rossland. It rained at a temperature of -5C, the result was ice everywhere, check out the entertaining video of the condition of our driveway.

The good news is that it did snow 3 cm last night.

Happy Birthday Isabelle!

Isabelle is 7 years old today. Happy birthday sweet girl! In case anyone is wondering about the way I dress her, today is pyjama day at her school.

Still no snow, although today it at least looks like something could happen.

Bears in Rossland in December?

Hopefully this does not add to global warming doom and gloom but we had a bear in our yard last night. This is the first time ever I have seen a bear in December. I told him that he should be hibernating, but he seemed to be on his own program and showed little interest in my advice. Much like the kids in the Freeski Academy.

It is cold today, I am working on a skating rink in the yard, but unfortunately it is also a bluebird day.

Didier Cuche

I have just retured from a 2500km circle tour from Rossland to Lake Louise to Whistler. With limited time and internet access I have fallen behind on the blog. A few of my adventures from this trip coming up. I was conducting Instructor training sessions at Lake Louise and Whistler. Lake Louise was particularily interesting because the World Cup was on.

I like to be well prepared emotionally and physically for my training sessions. At the Fall Convention at the Chateau Lake Louise I was preparing physically for the day (or planned to), with a ride on the bike in the gym. The bike I planned on using was occupied by a Didier Cuche (Worlds Nuber 2 ranked skier). He saw my look, yet did not relinquish my bike telling me he would be another 6 minutes. I patiently explained to him that he was not the only one in the gym with an important athletic event to prepare for. He just kept on spinning....Ski Instructors just get no respect!

Skiing at Lake Louise

I am at Lake Louise and am skiing. I am here for the CSIA Course Conductor training, day two today. There is about the same amount of natural snow here as there is at Red Mountain, but they have snowmaking here so the area is able to open. The skiing is limited to basically one run of reliable snow, but it is probably as good as man made snow can be. We are doing a lot of carving. This is a great way for me to start the season, skiing with really good skiers who I have known for a long time. I will be here through the week.

Skiing at Lake Louise

I am at Lake Louise and am skiing. I am here for the CSIA Course Conductor training, day two today. There is about the same amount of natural snow here as there is at Red Mountain, but they have snowmaking here so the area is able to open. The skiing is limited to basically one run of reliable snow, but it is probably as good as man made snow can be. We are doing a lot of carving. This is a great way for me to start the season, skiing with really good skiers who I have known for a long time. I will be here through the week.

Snowin Rossland- A Start at Least

It did snow last night, but not to the same extent it did in my dreams. We got 10 cms out of it which is an okay start. It looks as though it will stick around. It is cool and clear this morning. In my dreams I was waking up to about 40 cms. It was actually coming down hard enough last night for that to be realistic.

I am off to Lake Louise today for CSIA events. I will be skiing on man made snow, but I love that too!!!

SNOWING HEAVILY

8:00 Thursday night, and it is snowing heavily in Rossland. We will see how much accumulates overnight. I will post photos in the morning. I knew it would snow because I am driving to Lake Louise tomorrow.

Canadian Ski Quest Bus

I knew that at some point in my life I would have a bus. Here it is a 44 passenger Blue Bird. There is no shuttle service being offered this year between Red Mountain and Rossland which presented a bit of a problem for the 32 NONSTOP participants we expect this year. This was my solution! Yes I am losing a bit of sleep over it.

Weather Conditions: Cold in Rossland today, heavy frost this morning, but we are still waiting for the snow.

Sometimes things work out better than planed

If ever a car was blessed my recently sold Dodge Grand Caravan was. I bought this van from a dealer four years ago and have put 50000km on it without trouble. I drove it to Vancouver this week to buy another van with a vauge plan to sell it cheaply to a dealer somewhere in Vancouver. Well, I bought the new van and was at the insurance agent transferring papers etc. While I was moving my things from one van to another a man pulled into the parking spot beside me. "Want to buy a van?" I asked him.

Guess what? He did!

Sometimes things go right! 20 minutes later I was driving home in the new van with a bit of a smile on my face.

No new snow at Red yet, but conditions today look promising.

Remembrance Day in Rossland

Nice to have snow on remembrance day! It has been snowing all day so far, should be accumulating nicely on the hill.
Isabelle (6years old) was very excited to be part of today's ceremonies, particularly about being in the parade. I had to explain the somber nature of it to her. In the end she did very well, maintaining composure the entire time. I think it was a great experience for her, she is starting to work out how the world really is.

Dawn is 39 Today

Happy birthday to my Dawn. We have been together now for 17 years, you know it is long time when a calculator is used (like I just did) to work out how long you have been together. In writing this, I have also just realised another milestone has occurred. I have lived with Dawn for as long as I have lived with my parents (you know you are middle aged when.....). Dawn is the love of my life, we have accomplished a lot together. To think where we were 10 years ago. Then it never occurred to us that we would have so much now, we have been a very successful partnership in life and in business. Life has exceeded our expectations. In having Dawn as my partner, I have a lot to be thankful for. Happy birthday Dawn.

42 Year Old Ski Instructor Schooled by Teenagers

We are two months into the Freeskiing Academy Dry land training program. We have reached a point where the athletes have surpassed the coaches (speaking for myself, not Dylan) in terms of physical fitness. The part for me that is hard to accept is the rate at which the athletes physical fitness increases in comparison to mine. In September I was definitely setting the pace on runs. Both the athletes and I have been on the same training program, but I have been going to the gym in the mornings as well. Even so, I am now at a stage where I am trying to keep a brave face during training as the kids set the pace. I keep up, but during stretching Mark is the guy drenched in sweat while the kids look as though they have not done anything yet.

I take comfort in knowing that my basic parallel turn demonstrations must be superior.

November, the Waiting Season

November is a slow time in Rossland. Yesterday was slowest day ever for Bear Country Kitchen sales. The days are short and there is not to much action around town. Rossland's quite time. Mountain biking is still good, but you have to dress for it. Skiing is so close, yet seems so far away. Sinners (Dave Heath's celebration of winter dvd) is being watched by many a Rossland household. Watching Sinners at this time of the year has become a bit of a tradition. It has the effect of not quite satisfying ones skiing need. It brings inspiration into the soul but then there is no way of matching the experience with the real thing. I guess it will just make it better once the skiing is actually here.

Rossland Politics

We have a civic election coming up in Rossland and I am concerned! Below is a comment I left on the Rossland Telegraph website. We have a lot of independently wealthy dreamers living in Rossland who want the place never to ever change. But the town can't just keep getting smaller for an increasingly prilvileged few.

Just recieved Kathy Moores pamphlet for a position on council. I congratulate her on a very professional presentation. However I would ask if the photo of Rossland she has chosen is indicative of her vision for Rossland? The first thing I notice is that we live in a beautiful town, the next is that the streets are empty. While vacant streets may be idilic for some, the economic reality is that unless we become a community composed of independantly wealthy citizens, the viability of living in Rossland will become difficult. The fact that Kathy Moore did not notice this, or did and chose the photo anyway, is cause for concern for me.

London Memories

Back in Rosslalnd now, good to be home. The action of London was great but three days was enough (I was there for six). I would like to be a tourist there at some point, instead of a sales guy. The highlight of the trip was catching up with some former NONSTOPERS. I found it much easier to talk to them than the 1000 or so potential NONSTOPERS or Red Mountain visitors who I was trying to sell something to. I think I am OK at selling but it is not natural to me. I am self trained at sales. Knowing the potential of Ski Shows, especially London, is a charge but generally the shows are a drain on me.

It was very good to catch up with the NONSTOP London Team, a very professional, positive and youthful operation. Good to be around. I had a great night with Tom Buxton, Chris Pritchford, Martin Laws-Chapman and Tara Wight. Fun times!

Selling Cleaning Products on a Sidewalk

London Ski Show; I had an excellent opportunity to make a presentation on behalf of NONSTOPSKI on "How to become a Ski Instructor" at the London Ski Show.

Power Point prepared, ran through it a couple of times, ready to go, or so I thought! What I was not prepared for was the venue! I had in my mind a picture of the venue being in a special presentation room or at least of it being in a somewhat designated area. To my astonishment, it was right in the middle of the show where hundreds of people were milling about. Sounds great except that the hundreds of people had no interest in a presentation and predictably continued on with their milling about as I began discussing my very interesting topic. The most unusual presentation situation for me ever. My norm is making a presentation at CSIA instructor certification courses where participants at least pretend to be interested in what I have to say. Quite uncomfortatble! To make matters worse, the TV screen, on which my power point was displayed was tiny in comparison to the venue, and the sound system (I was on a microphone) was absolutely enormous. I felt like one of those guys demonstrating cleaning products on a busy sidewalk, only it felt like I was not wearing any pants.

In London

Arrived in London yesterday! What a different world. I was off the plane, on to the Tube and at South Kensington Station within an hour, not in Rossland anymore. I squeezed into a coffee shop, ordered a latte and took in the scene. It is great to be out of my routine, my comfort zone!

Freeski Academy Training

We are training the Freeski Academy every Sunday in Trail at an undisclosed sand hill. This is an unreal workout and a great simulation of skiing. The run up is huge physical stress and the run down is a great thrill.

Upside down in the photo is Joel. Yes he did land it.

England Bound

I will be heading off to London England next week for the London Ski Show. I will be there for a week. Being from a small place like Rossland, I really appreciate being in an urban environment every once in a while, really looking forward to it, crowded tubes and all.
I am trying to organise a bit of a reunion for past Red Mountain NONSTOPSKI participants. I will be at the Beaconsfield Pub Hammersmith at 7:00 next Friday (Oct 24), if anyone gets this.
Cheers,
Mark

I have a Blog

OK a new project for me, this blog! My idea is to use this blog as a means to keep friends updated about the happenings around Canadian Ski Quest, Red Mountain, Rossland, and my life.

Blogging is a new concept for me, so lets see how I go, any feedback is appreciated, even to let me know that someone has the slightest interest.