Tabla de contenidos para December/January 2022 en Ski Canada

It’s a bit of a crevasse fall whenever I open an old copy of Ski Canada, or Ski Canada Journal as it all started in 1971. I can pore over the entertaining nostalgic pages for hours and quickly forget what I was originally looking up. The content can be both formal and naïve- and often unintentionally comical. My most recent afternoon of distraction opened to a lengthy but inspiring feature on a youthful 99-year-old Norwegian-Canadian icon, Jackrabbit Johannsen, who was still going strong skiing all winter. That particular issue from 1975 wrapped up with a backcover ad from Benson & Hedges. Johannsen, a non-smoker, died in 1987 at the age of 111. Glancing at the masthead (the upfront list of names who make a magazine), I pictured Ski Canada’s “Chairman,…

DIAMOND IN THE FLUFF Just before a sun is born, gravity starts pulling all the pieces together. That’s where Powder King Mountain Resort is at right now, says Jim Salisbury, the ski hill’s owner and general manager. “We’re in the infancy of development of the resort,” he says. “And we’re picking up traction.” Powder King sits right on Hwy 97 in Pine Pass, two hours north of Prince George where the Alaska Highway cuts through the northern Rocky Mountains of B.C. It’s known for its legendary snow—12.5 metres in an average year—and lack of lift lines on its two chairlifts servicing 365 hectares of inbounds terrain. “There’s a lot of mountain to ride already,” says Salisbury. “What we need is more people to come here. What we need is a…

Reece Howden is proof you can set your sights on the prize early in your career. Not many World Cup athletes have been named both Rookie of the Year and won a ski cross Crystal Globe for their overall season all in the same year. Having recently finished his studies, he’s now ready to tackle his ski career full time. At age 23, standing tall at six feet four, Howden is calm, cool, confident and looking forward to his first Olympic Games in Beijing. We caught up with him at his home in Cultus Lake, B.C., just a few days before he left for Switzerland to train on Saas-Fee’s glacier. SC: What’s your first event on the FIS calendar right now? RH: We have a test race in Beijing that’s…

Late February snowbanks were cramping the style of Forestry Tower Road as it snaked deeper and higher into the timber. What was normally a two-lane road with good sightlines was down to not much more than a single lane, with every turn made blind by the plowed banks that reached higher than the car’s roof. The good news was the banks looked soft, because I would be headed into them in a hurry if the grille of a logging truck were to suddenly appear before me. As it was, the only truck I saw was loaded but still idling at the landing where I crunched my car to a stop. What followed was a fairly typical scene to start a day of backcountry skiing in Canada: casual banter back and…

The art of visually capturing the best of our sport has a long and entertaining history. When personal-use drones and their cameras first started buzzing above our heads, the connection with skiing seemed obvious. Today, with so much choice available of what to put in your backpack, the research on what’s best for you can be overwhelming. Here are seven things to consider when you’re cruising DJI’s website and beyond—as well as some help on taking better pics and vids. SIZE MATTERS Smaller doesn’t necessarily mean less, which is good news for skiers. Whether you’re in the backcountry or on and off the chairlift repeatedly, you’ll be aware of how much space is taken up in your pack. Drones under 250g are packable, lightweight, nimble and not confined to the…

The quartet of ski resorts that cluster southeast of Montreal have been favoured destinations for Eastern Township loyalists for decades. If they’ve failed to attract the attention that Tremblant to the north and Stowe to the south have garnered, it may have more to do with modest marketing budgets and a lack of large real estate developments rather than the quality of skiing available. The four resorts are all within a one-to two-hour drive from Montreal. Bromont and Mont-Orford are both just a few kilometres off Hwy 10, with Sutton and Owl’s Head visible to the south. The whole region is dotted with countless auberges, inns, B&Bs, restaurants, and even a few hotels and spas. Taken together, it’s a mass of tourist opportunities that has recently qualified as critical with…

1 Goat power! With a 70:30 mohairnylon ratio, Chamonix-based Black Crows promises its all-new, 100 per cent waterproof Pilus skins ($269) to be “the ideal partner for gliding serenely toward happiness.” The world’s most visibly recognizable skins have trimmed down in weight and beefed up durability all while using a greener (no fluorocarbon) manufacturing recipe. black-crows.com 2 You don’t need to be a hard-core randonnée competitor to appreciate Dynafit’s line of ski and mountaineering wear, even if it’s designed by and made for that ilk. At less than 350 grams, the men’s Mezzalama Polartec Alpha Jacket ($299) is the lightest insulating jacket in an impressive collection. It’s just as appreciated in race environs as it is cresting a breezy summit after a gruelling, sweaty skin up. Efficiently letting moist heat…

Our unease grew as she hiked past us on the 2,819m peak of Brewster Rock that stretches above the highest lift at Sunshine Village. Many skiers climb up here to ski Sunshine’s signature tough run Delirium Dive, but this one didn’t look comfortable. She struggled to click into her rental skis, while her partner dropped into the near-vertical Bre-X entrance and disappeared. Determined, she plunged in, but as she skittered across, her shoulder bounced off a snow bulge and she began her tumble. The 40-degree chute below fell 200 vertical metres, interrupted only by a peppering of rocks. We tried not to watch, knowing it wasn’t going to end well. You could hear her falling and knew she wouldn’t stop until the bottom. The only question was what condition she…

“If we’re going to do this, we need to follow the rules.” Chris Rubens admonishes me for taking the easy way around while he sidesteps across running water for the third time in less than a kilometre. There’s a perfectly good skin track within sight, but Rubens is here to judge this challenge, and he’s taking it seriously. The challenge is simple: to see if the technology in my phone can lead us to a better day of skiing than the ultimate local guide. Rogers Pass is the most famed ski touring location in Canada, and in The Pass, Greg Hill is our team’s ultimate local. Hill has been skiing here for 22 years, and he tours a lot. He once racked up two-million vertical feet in a year (I…

► I’m told that roads in Ontario, and especially Newfoundland, can be dangerous when a moose is involved. In Scotland, I once nearly hit a reindeer. Skiing can be full of surprises, too. At these moments the ubiquitous skiers’ mantra, “Look incredibly cool,” suddenly disappears from our list of priorities and is replaced by “Try not to destroy body.” Whether we’re on a highway or under a chairlift, the desire to do whatever it takes to stay in control or, at a minimum, on our feet is paramount. And, for skiers anyway, these moments can result in the best bits of our sport. This involves moving the feet not to where they need to be, but to where they are about to need to be. It’s a question of anticipation.…

Injuries happen to the best of us—and Allison Forsyth was the best of us when injury struck in the women’s downhill at San Sicario, Italy, at the 2006 Winter Olympics. Allison was left with a torn anterior cruciate ligament, a severe-enough injury on its own but combine that with a broken femur and tibia and you’ve got someone at the start of a very long road to recovery. “I’m still on that road,” says Allison with a laugh, as we chat during her morning trail run on Vancouver Island, B.C., adding that a good sense of humour is critical to recovery. Laughing and smiling is a big part of Allison’s day. An effervescent bundle of energy, Allison isn’t the kind of person to let injury rule her life, and she’s…

Okay, I’m game. Ted Ligety and Apple have convinced me to shape up before ski season. Or at least stand up. After a pandemic’s worth of couch-sitting, a lot of us want to be ready for the slopes as the season starts. I’ve realized that my regular pre-season routine of watching ski and workout videos (often from the couch), and following along with my dad (to his Jane Fonda workout tapes), might need some updating. One of the avenues I found myself exploring was the dozens of workouts (new ones every week) on Apple Fitness+, more specifically, the Get Ready for Snow Season program. The snow program is developed and led by double Olympic gold medallist and five-time World Cup champ Ted Ligety. Currently there are six curated videos that…

FROM SNOWPLOW TO SLARVE: The Evolution Of Skiing Technique When Ski Canada Journal launched 50 years ago, the first great technological revolution was well underway: teaching novices using “short” skis and “safety release” bindings. The entire snowplow-stem christie-parallel process that caused enormous frustration and seemed to be accompanied with more than a few broken legs, was mercifully abandoned, and at some schools beginners went through a progression known as the Graduated Length Method. Ski schools began offering “guarantees” that beginners would “Ski the Cut” at the end of their program. Needless to say, ski schools became enormous profit centres for resorts and their directors were legendary: Ernie McCulloch at Mont Tremblant and later Blue Mountain, Jim McConkey at Whistler, André Schwarz and Mike Wiegele at Lake Louise and later, Don and…

The term “AI” may be bantered about in conversation everywhere these days, often in reference to how our lives are going to change for the better, but older skiers, ones who like to travel and appreciate good value, know the concept is nothing new. In fact, Club Med invented it more than 70 years ago. “AI” or All Inclusive was introduced to war-weary Europeans in 1950 when Gérard Blitz, a water polo champ from Belgium who wanted to emulate life in an Olympic village, teamed up with French tent-maker Gilbert Trigano. Et voila! Club Mediterranée was born. From the first buffet laid out shortly after food-rationing rules had lifted, the multination community and tents on the island of Majorca was an immediate success. Quickly added was a second camp on…

EXPERIENCE THE SWISS ALPS BY SPENDING A NIGHT IN AN ICONIC MOUNTAIN HUT. For more than 150 years, remote alpine huts across the Swiss Alps have been welcoming weary travellers whether on foot or skis for the night. The notorious Haute Route, which connects the mountaineering meccas of Chamonix and Zermatt, may be the world’s classic multi-day, 120-km ski-touring experience. But, if that’s too much of a marathon for you, there’s a hut and route for almost any strong intermediate skier who wants to get off the groomers and uniquely enjoy Switzerland’s Alpine terrain in near solitude. Generally spaced within a day’s skiing of each other, the network consists of roughly 250 huts, of which 150 are part of the Swiss Alpine Club. You can hub-and-day-tour some of the high…

Tesla Model 3? Check. Multi-mountain itinerary? Check. Record-setting powder dumps? Check. Quick and easy border crossings? Er...not so much. “Better late than never,” said Jean-Marc LaFlamme of the newly revived “ski safari” he and his girlfriend, Jo, plan to take across Montana, Washington, Idaho and Wyoming this winter. Originally scheduled for the spring of 2020, the 10-day jaunt was cancelled at the last minute when the pandemic prompted the closure of the international border 200 clicks south of the couple’s home in Zincton, B.C. Now that the Canada-U.S. border is open to fully vaxxed non-essential travellers, the excursion is “so back on,” LaFlamme said. “We were disappointed because we were really looking forward to hitting spots like Schweitzer, Whitefish and Big Sky, but it’s not like they went anywhere. It’s…