Whistler: The Visit.

B.C. British Columbia. Canada. I haven’t been here in two years, and I have truly missed it. There is something about this place that just makes me never want to leave. I came during a period of bad weather.

The snow is famous, the runs are olympic, and the scenery is incomparable. Whistler, Blackcomb, British Columbia as a whole, is know for the weather permitting factors of clouds rolling in and out of areas like people through a McDonald’s.

For the days I had at Whistler/Blackcomb, that was the situation everyday. I didn’t get to enjoy the sights as much as I would have wanted but that’s not why I was there. I was there to enjoy the wonderful snow B.C has to offer.

And at the peak, it was impeccable. Riding down from whistler peak into the Whistler bowl and the back bowl were amazing. I didn’t get to ride the parka s much as I wanted because of the fog ending visibility completely. But I’m not complaining.

I just wish I could have stayed a couple more days, because the forecast predicted the clouds rolling out for good a couple days after I left.

I must say though between the “Sea to Sky” drive from Vancouver to Whistler and the views from the peak; I was speechless.

 

Torstein Horgmo: In Your Face. The Snowboard Game.

As I ventured through the library of snowboard videos on YouTube, I come across a set of videos with X Games big air silver medalist, Torstein Horgmo, called “In Your Face.”

In Your Face is a game that Horgmo invented. It involves a roshambo (rock-paper-scissors) to determine a caller. The caller will determine a trick that the opponent must land. If the opponent does not land the trick you get a strike. The first person to get two strikes loses, and gets sprayed in the face with snow.

Simple.

“[about Jossi Wells] He french fries down the mountain. All the time”-Torstein Horgmo 

Horgmo, especially is the perfect candidate to host this game because he is such an innovative snowboarder. As I said, he won the silver medal this year at the X Games in Aspen. Although he got second place, he had the best single trick (the cleanest backside triple cork 1440 imaginable) in the whole competition.  His arsenal of tricks along with his comical personality are what make these videos so great.

These videos shows what professionals do on the slopes and that to them, snowboarding is  still fun. Unlike basketball, football, baseball, golf, nascar, soccer, or any other sport where  the professional athlete sees so much money that they start seeing his sport as a job, snowboarder, skateboarders, skiers, and surfers don’t. The very few who are overwhelmingly rich from skateboarding or snowboarding are somewhat humble, except for maybe a couple.  I don’t know if it’s the culture of the sports, or the lack of money in the sport (compared to basketball, baseball, football…) or whatever, but it’s true. Torstein Horgmo shows the audience that these professional snowboarders are real people, on the slopes with their fans.

Maybe, if someone in the NBA would make videos of them playing other NBA players in games of horse on a basketball court in a YMCA or something and put it YouTube for the world to see. I’d maybe change mind but they don’t. So, for now, Torstein Horgmo thank you.

Shaun White vs. Travis Rice

In light of the XGames at Aspen ending on Sunday, I felt I had to bring this up. Especially after Shaun White won his fifth straight super pipe gold medal, which has never been done before.

It’s sad that more people outside of snowboarding don’t know who Travis Rice is who has done more jaw-dropping, inconceivably huge airs than anyone else on a snowboard. It creates the argument of who’s better. These types of conversations exist in all sports, most comparably the argument of Kobe Bryant being a better basketball player than Lebron James (or vice versa), which for the most part never has a definite answer. The White vs. Rice argument is no different.

Shaun White

The famous Shaun “Flying Tomato” White, the face of snowboarding. If ESPN had to choose who’s better (as if they really know that much about snowboarding) they’d pick Shaun White question. With the same reasons they think Kobe is better than Lebron. He has more Championships.

As I said Shaun White pulled a five-peat in the XGames superpipe this year, a feat that will be untouched for a long time.

Shaun White dominates the half pipe like no one else has nor ever will. He flies so high out of the half pipe it’s ridiculous. his height allows him to be the only person to cleanly pull off 1260 Double McTwist (2 flips, 3 and a half rotations) in a half pipe, without problems.  SportsScience from ESPN even broke down how he gets so much amplitude. And because he constantly wins on a nationally televised stage it’s impossible for someone not to assume that he is the best

He is the face of the XGames, and ESPN’s rendition of what snowboarding is.

Which is why so many people don’t like him. He nothing else but win gold in the XGames gold in half pipe.

Travis Rice

Travis is looked over by ESPN and the XGames because he goes back to the roots of snowboarding not being about the competition but about the art.

If you want to compare this to the Kobe vs Lebron NBA conversation. Shaun White is Kobe (The veteran with Championships under his belt) and Travis Rice is Lebron (the young championship-less artist).

Travis Rice recently took the main part in RedBull’s Art of Flight (released September of 2011), which is a snowboarding movie focusing on the backcountry of Patagonia, Alaska, Austria, New Zealand, and every where between. It focuses on redefining what’s possible on a snowboard.Travis Rice deals with avalanches, 30 foot cliff drop-offs, and jumps that are built in between trees. That is why Travis Rice is the face of the world of RedBull snowboarding. If you just watch the Art of Flight you will understand why the two are so comparable.

So who’s better?

The short answer is neither.

There is no way that Travis Rice can, nor would do what Shaun White does in competition in the half pipe. But Shaun White can’t nor wouldn’t do what Travis Rice does in the scariest back countries of the world.

So really, the argument becomes based on an opinion of what skill set is more valuable to be called the best; Championship rings, or sheer athletic ability.

The Heavens of Powder: North America’s Best Snow

These five mountains offer you the best chances of finding the best powder

These places are not meant for the snowboarders that strictly ride in the park. They are meant for the ones that live and bleed for the floating feeling you get when you carve through that waist deep, avalanche-prone powder snow that shoots up into your face .

Whistler/Blackcomb, B.C. Canada

Average yearly snowfall: 402 in.

Acres of terrain: 8,142 acres.

The double-peaked Whistler/Blackcomb resort is one of the best places to go for one’s addiction to powder. It’s whopping 8,142 acres is inexplicably massive. Whistler/Blackcomb resort even added a trail map that compares it to other famous resorts to show its ridiculous size.

Whistler/Blackcomb is twice the size of Breckenridge. And now that they have added the peak-to-peak gondola that feels 100 miles long, switching between the two peaks just got easier.

Also, this January’s snowfall has shattered the previous January snowfall record within the first two weeks, just a side note that may induce you to go there soon.

Jackson Hole, Wyo. USA

Average Yearly Snowfall: 450 in.

Acres of Terrain: 2500 acres.

A lot of snowboarders and skiers I’ve met rank Jackson Hole as the best backcountry in the United States.

It has the most epic and difficult backcountry terrain you can find in North America without going heli-boarding (snowboarding in places only a helicopter can take you). Jackson Hole is a tiny resort, in a tiny town in the middle of Wyoming. Which is nice, because less people go through the hassle to get there, but it’s more than worth it.

The bowls surrounding the Rendez-Vous peak (Jackson Hole’s highest point), like Cody Bowl and Rock Springs Bowl are the best parts to go to.

Silverton, Colo. USA

Average yearly snowfall: 465 in. 

Acres of terrain: 1,819 acres.

The best kept secret of Colorado. Silverton, a picturesque small mining town in the southwestern portion of Colorado, is deep in the Rocky Mountains, that limits the number of people to go up there so it never is crowded.

The mountain has three faces, each of which are sort of different. The east face is mostly high peaks with big cliff dropoffs. The north face is a forest that you have to navigate through. The west face is basically just a mix of the two: you start with open powder then through the forest.

Mind you, this is a place for the skilled snowboarder, backcountry access beacon, shovel and probe are required. No parks. No slow zones. Just backcountry.

Solitude, Utah. USA

Average yearly snowfall: 500 in.

Acres of terrain: 1,200 acres.

I really should be more specific about Solitude. It should specifically be Honeycomb Canyon, the backside of Solitude. Its backcountry set-up is one of the powderiest and best. With a ridiculous 500″ of snowfall, not much comes close to the awesome amounts of fresh snow that Utah’s peaks get.

Solitude is one of the four peaks close to Salt Lake City, and probably the least visited, but the best. Snowbird, Brighton and Alta are the other three, and significantly more popular. Alta doesn’t allow snowboarders by the way, which is annoying because I bet it’s nice.

Also, because it’s in Salt Lake CIty, it’s so easy to find flights and lodging in the area.

Lake Louise, AB. Canada

Average yearly snowfall: 360in.

Acres of terrain: 4,000 acres.

Lake Louise may not have the ideal 400+ in. of snow you’d expect a powder heaven to have, but, and this a big BUT, it’s whole back-face, is dedicated to the steep waist-deep powder enthusiasts.

It has probably the most famous, easily accessible steep area. Because it’s so steep, not very many people go. So really it’s like going heli-boarding without paying the fortune needed. Not to mention how massive the place is.

Also, it has the nicest scenery of any of the other four. Set deep in a national park, nothing surrounds the mountain. There’s only one hotel in the area, and it sits on the shore of a glacier lake, which really is an amazing scene to go to sleep to.