This weekend our local ski hill Whitewater Winter Resort has been hosting the second annual Kootenay Coldsmoke Powder Fest. It has certainly been an interesting weekend for us local folks as ski professionals, outdoor adventurers and local enthusiasts showed their talents in alpine, nordic, telemark skiing (called free heeling here) and snow boarding. There were 40 clinics scheduled ranging from beginner avalanche training to advanced off-piste telemark skiing.
The resort was bustling with the buzz of the three main competitions and the base area was transformed into a demo village of ski tents and state of the art gear for next years market.
Writers and photographers from National Geographic Adventure magazine, Off Piste, Back-country and Skiing magazine were there to cover the events along with our very own photographer. An article in our local paper stated that last years event attracted media attention that brought $4.5 million dollars in earned exposure for the Kootenay Rockies tourism region!
Our photographer managed to get a perfect position in watching the Valhalla Pure Boondocks Booter Slopestyle Competition. Here is a selection of his photos - the full catelogue will be published on his Flickr site in the near future. We think you will agree these guys are totally rad!
We stayed until the end of the Saturday events and managed to catch the prize giving at the end.
All the prizes were duly awarded including new pairs of skis, avalanche shovels, backpacks, gloves and the usual type ski goodies but there was one prize left over at the end. It was a very nice 60L Arc'teryx backpack and the guy on the microphone said "oh we have one prize left and we will give it to someone here" well this little kid who looked about 9 years old pipes up "I'll have it please" so the guy said "OK Dude here you go" the little kid got the biggest cheer from the crowd and he looked really pleased with his new backpack which was bigger than he was!
We also wanted to include one of our favourite photos below, capturing a heli-skier on his way up to the top of the mountain. Breath-taking!
Just to finish on a different note we have enjoyed the first BBQ of 2008 - it was minus 5 degrees outside but the buffalo sausages from our local farm shop were crying out for the flame grilled taste!
Bye for now,
Love Rachael, Shaun, Harley & Phantom
xx
