Riding the Horse

[Steeps]

Haven't hit the slack country yet; bought shovel, beacon, probe last year but have been slacking on avalanche training. You're based out of Kimberly, right? Bummer on the lift getting torched, but the rumour was RCR at least gave you some reciprocal rights to ride other hills. Come for a rip! I sent you a message with contact info. Had to work last weekend but I'll be up Sat/Sun and every day on the weekends until closing.

Ozone and the north side of mini ridge have been open (finally!), conditions haven't been spectacular there yet, but worth the hike. Coffin Trees / Slapshot area have been consistently good and I've been learning some new lines through there and on CPR north. Still haven't cracked Coffee Chutes yet... need to get off my butt and buy some disability insurance first!

Working too much to get any videos lately, but here's a photo from a couple of weeks ago, top of run / bottom of rope on Dutch Wallet, looking back up Feuz Bowl towards the Red Light District.

[Bert]

Awesome, we totally need to get together, we have similar skills. Love all the videos man! I've done a little slack country from the Horse, amazing terrain but not much different than what's available in bounds. I will check this more often seems it gets way more visits lately!!

[Steeps]

A couple of short clips from this season.... they're already posted in the Playmakers thread (and elsewhere) but I wanted them here for easy reference. These are lines I haven't been able to fully attempt prior to getting my Playmakers. It's been a strange season, with a great base laid down early but not a lot of good powder days since. Should get some March dumps to return to ripping chutes at full bore, but until then I've been tackling some spots I've never ridden before. Slow going, but it's a new set of challenges to tackle and still gets the adrenaline going!

[Steeps]

Thanks! Visited my folks last weekend so I had enough internet time to get it uploaded.

Our opening date is set for December 10, but I've heard rumours that there might be a bonus weekend beforehand. Snowfall was sparse throughout October and early November, but we got hammered by a storm last weekend (I was crossing Roger's Pass in it; it went from rivers of rain to blizzard conditions in about 10 minutes coming out of Revelstoke).

[slow]

Awesome video clips!


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[shortydude]

That wore me out just watching it, thanks.

[Greco]

Yes! Feel free to use it and edit it however you want; I love to ride but don't social media (and barely internet), so I can't be bothered to produce slick videos. I love the powder shots, but I think that DLP run is a great example of what they're capable of doing on hardpack, and why I love the occasional snow drought.

If someone could post it to the Skiboard Connection group too, that would be cool. I'm not on Facebox or whatever.

Thank you. I'll share it there now and add it to SBOL. No editing needed.

Edit: Added https://www.facebook.com/groups/TheS...ghts&ref=notif


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[Steeps]

Yes! Feel free to use it and edit it however you want; I love to ride but don't social media (and barely internet), so I can't be bothered to produce slick videos. I love the powder shots, but I think that DLP run is a great example of what they're capable of doing on hardpack, and why I love the occasional snow drought.

If someone could post it to the Skiboard Connection group too, that would be cool. I'm not on Facebox or whatever.

[Greco]

Oooh, the new season is coming... here's the best shots from last season!

So darn good. Can I embed this on the Spliff product page to show people what they can only hope to accomplish? And feature it on the front page?

[Steeps]

Oooh, the new season is coming... here's the best shots from last season!

[Steeps]

I always wondered, are you guys doing any kind of scouting out of the steeps you're riding ? I would imagine going just "straight ahead" towards any direction will sometimes lead to dangerous natural hazards - big cliffs and such - that you cannot get through. Are you aware in advance of what areas to avoid ? Or you just backtrack to safety when you hit such and these sequences don't get into the vids that you're posting ?

I've had 3 (4?) full seasons on this hill, so I know the areas I'm riding. I take it a lot slower when I'm scoping out new lines or in cliffy areas. I tend to just let it rip in the trees, and hope a path will open up... it usually does, but once in a while I hit them. For the most part, skiboards are quick enough to deal with obvious obstacles in front of you, but in poor visibility it's easy to get in a bad situation around cliffs.

Kicking Horse has a few permanently closed areas, but there's only a few actual cliff signs anywhere. For the most part, it's all open and completely to your discretion whether you can huck that 60 ft cliff or not (I can't). There's runs that you need to stay slow and in control, because they cut along a sloped ledge betwen two cliff bands. There's a run (near top of thread) that you need to climb down a cliff on a knotted rope to reach the chute. There's a little secret-entrance chute called Suckers Go Left that has a very narrow entrance... at least one person has died from falling to the left. My favorite area (mid video, steep tree run with the sketchy entrance) is called Coffin Trees. So yeah, keep your wits about you and don't let 'er rip unless you know your line.

Things get pretty spooky outside of resort boundaries, which is permitted here but not avalanche controlled or patrolled, at your own risk. I've set off small slides in controlled resort boundaries, and don't really venture out without a group, and on the lower mountain. Need some avalanche training and experience to start hitting the alpine slack country...... there are some insane chutes a few minutes outside the boundaries.


That particular video is about 80% of the main runs I did, with the boring groomers, cat tracks and traverses pruned out. I left out one tree run that didn't go so well, just lots of getting treed out and a couple minor crashes. Had a stupid crash after the one rocky little cliff drop that's in the video, but at least the drop was clean.

You'll see that line again, I'm sure, as there's a number of cool features on it and I'm trying to dial it in this year. This isn't a GoPro thing; on a hill you ski frequently it's fun to pick a challenging run with a few jumps or whatever and hit it over and over until you're smooth. It transfers to runs you don't know so well, since you get used to repeated jumps/bumps/quick turns without a lot of stops between. I miss one line I used to have in the Terra Ratta area of Whitewater, near Nelson.... 8 consecutive drops in steep cliffy glades. Nothing too big, drop-wise, but it was a rush when it all lined up.

[ysb33r]

When Sempai and I first started skiing the Utah resorts together, we relied heavily on the trail maps. We would often go off trail to explore new terrain, but would be aware of danger areas like cliffs and out of bounds. If anything are problem was getting stuck in flats and having to skate out. I think most modern resorts are pretty well signposted.

Stuck in flats indeed. Might be safe, but so tiring and frustrating

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[Bad Wolf]

Nice one, don't worry about editing, there are no problems with the raw version,very enjoyable ! I guess those guys were also surprised by the speed you were closing in, coming from nowhere out of a steep slope and on not much - compared to their long skis

I always wondered, are you guys doing any kind of scouting out of the steeps you're riding ? I would imagine going just "straight ahead" towards any direction will sometimes lead to dangerous natural hazards - big cliffs and such - that you cannot get through. Are you aware in advance of what areas to avoid ? Or you just backtrack to safety when you hit such and these sequences don't get into the vids that you're posting ?

When Sempai and I first started skiing the Utah resorts together, we relied heavily on the trail maps. We would often go off trail to explore new terrain, but would be aware of danger areas like cliffs and out of bounds. If anything our problem was getting stuck in flats and having to skate out. I think most modern resorts are pretty well signposted.

[newbie2011]

Nice one, don't worry about editing, there are no problems with the raw version,very enjoyable ! I guess those guys were also surprised by the speed you were closing in, coming from nowhere out of a steep slope and on not much - compared to their long skis

I always wondered, are you guys doing any kind of scouting out of the steeps you're riding ? I would imagine going just "straight ahead" towards any direction will sometimes lead to dangerous natural hazards - big cliffs and such - that you cannot get through. Are you aware in advance of what areas to avoid ? Or you just backtrack to safety when you hit such and these sequences don't get into the vids that you're posting ?

[Steeps]

Too lazy to edit, so here's a rough cut of Jan 6, 2021 at the Horse... pretty much how the day went down, in order. Another average skiboard session. Camera angle was too low for the first couple of runs, so you get to see my 'style'. Not too many style points when you're going full stonk! Video's all at normal speed, in case you were wondering. I've been asked.

Didn't add music but it pairs well with Ministry - Jesus Built My Hotrod

Boss made me work the last Saturday of the holidays, so I got to play some Wednesday powder hooky. 7 cm of fresh over another 50 cm in the last couple of days. I love big powder dumps, but this may actually be my favorite conditions. Super soft if you eat it, but firm enough underneath to float and not worry about burying the tips off a drop. Lots of fun little pops and drops, and good glade riding.... reminded me a bit of Whitewater.

The hikes weren't open, but Stairway laps were sweet and the chair was pretty much ski-on. Broke the seal on B4 a bit before noon for some fresh, steep and sweet shots.

There's a couple of swears near 4:40, dude's never seen a skiboarder before I guess. Welcome to Kicking Horse! Finished up at the treehouse.

Knees are a little sore today, not sure why??