1st Annual Burstall BBQ

I don't know whose brilliant idea this was, but the Burstall BBQ was born this weekend! Couldn't have been a more perfect day, despite a fridgid Calgary start. Big thanks to Karl for his habachi transport. I never thought this is how we would spend Easter weekend...

Despite the slog in, Burstall Pass has to be one of the more scenic points in K-Country.

Jen wanted in on some of the sausage action. Don't tell Storky.

Thinking we may try to sell this one to Big Rock. Notice the lack of veggie options... interesting isn't it...

Can't have a BBQ without a disk-yo.

Like a cat Dowling.

1 beer + big slog + hot sunny day + altitude = poor skiing skills

Heather needed help finishing the beer (notice that Skoki is drunk in the background).

Whose stupid idea was this anyway.

Dumb.

The complete opposite of packing light.

Some of Heady's last turns before the ACL repair.

Not so bad for April.

Hawaii - Part 1

Due to a recent knee injury and her lack of ACL, Heather had to sadly turn down the ski trip this year. As a consolation prize, she and Ash went to Hawaii! Heather will have to fill in the picture captions later. For now, enjoy the pictures.

Hawaii - Part 2

Stories to com...

Wells Gray Extravaganza

Well, ski season was coming to a close, but not until we had the opportunity to spend a week in the backcountry of Wells Gray Provincial Park. This was the 2nd Annual trip for Nick, Heather (not my Heather) and I and the inaugural trip for Linday, Jen, and Karl. Because my personal photographer was in Kauai for the week, a video of the trip will suffice. Thanks to Karl for putting the vid together and everyone else for the fantastic trip.

Stuck...

What promised to be an extended weekend of skiing turned into a disaster... The wives had a course in Kamloops, so the wives's club (Paddy and I) were pretty pumped for a weekend of skiing in the slackcountry off Sun Peaks resort. After an insanely long drive because of a detour to get around a mudslide outside Golden and the incessant EM RAP on the car stereo, we arrived in Sun Peaks. We were met by freezing levels that had risen to 2500 m followed by a wondering cooling trend that turned all the snow into a gigantic sheet of ice. SWEET! Good thing I had such a hardcore ski partner. Game face on.

Check out the solitude on the skin up the green run called 8 mile at Sun Peaks. This was the most dangerous uptrack we broke all winter. Resort = suck!

The ski patrol tried to mess with us, but Paddy took out the tooth and kicked some ass. Don't mess with the wives's club, we don't believe in boundaries.

You think it had been windy? So much for the pow...

After a sweet breakfast in Kamloops on Sunday morning, he headed for home. The road had other ideas... i.e. IT CLOSED! So Aric, Jen, Heather and I had to poach someones wireless internet in Revelstoke to find a room. I can say, this was a first.

After a huge mess of sorting out work schedules, shifts, and rooms, the ladies decided to relax and get their work out done for the day. We sat in the hot tub...

So, Monday rolls around and the road is finally opened. We couldn't believe the carnage through Rogers Pass; every possible slide path had run to valley bottom. You can see the train wreck in the photo below. These slides were insane!

More carnage. Check out the mature timber in the run out.

We were greeting with a little good luck and the mud slide outside Golden had stabilized and the road stayed open. I now have so many more reasons to hate slides. Makes for good stories though. Despite the ridiculousness of the weekend, it was pretty great to spend some quality car, green run, hot tub, beer, and hotel time with good friends.

Family skiing

It's been a while since my last post, but finally found some time to update the blog.

I love this Alberta holiday. Ya family day long weekend! A big crew drove out to Golden in hopes of some fresh snow inbounds at Kicking Horse... I don't know what we were thinking! After 3 runs at the resort, we came to our senses and headed for the slackcountry.

With our helmets on, we became invincible!

Karl with some sweet air.

Heading down into the valley at the end of the day.

We packed it up the next day and some of us headed to Roger's Pass in search of better snow. WE FOUND IT!

You can't go wrong in Urses Trees.

Heather in some well deserved pow. She had been working on CCU for far too long and this was exactly what she needed.

It's a nice long run out of Urses.

This was the best ski out of Urses trees I have ever had. There has been so much snow this year that we are skiing in the tree tops 12 feet above the ground on our way out. I think Nick is getting alpine envy and really wants to fix the heel. Maybe we'll let him join the club.

Riding the Donut

Despite some nice turn in the Donut (just North of Kicking Horse), the thick Columbia Valley fog did not permit nice pictures. This is all I could muster for the weekend. Check out Karl and Jo's Blog for a better story about the weekend.

Al's reward for a heinous skin track up.

This picture is from another burn just north of the Donut. If you can find this place, the trees are fantastic!