O Canada
Love thy neighbor
We had one final day after our love fest in the Valhalla mountains but sadly the snow and fog returned so while there was deep powder everywhere, we could only access the runs close to the lodge that we had been doing for days. Now don’t get me wrong, these were still great runs – steep shots with lots of fresh snow – but after getting a taste of what the surrounding mountains had to offer we were all hoping to experience a little more of the nearby terrain.
Ah, the memories
All in all it was a great trip. I always love to check out new terrain and what better way to do it than with a helicopter at your service. In the end we only really got to go exploring on 3 of the 7 days, but even the close in stuff provided tons of excellent riding.
My kind of run
This trip also reminded me once again how lucky and spoiled rotten I am about powder skiing. There were a couple of first timers on the trip who were raving about what was at best a marginal heli day, which is still of course much better than almost any day on a ski hill. But once you’ve tasted the kind, all you want is a little more. Fortunately, the day we spent in the Valhallas was pretty much worth the whole trip by itself as I will not be forgetting those runs and that scenery till my brain cells totally deteriorate.
What's not to smile about?
I would also be totally remiss if I did not thank everyone at Snowwater for doing everything possible to make our trip a great time. The guides and pilots went above and beyond the call of duty trying to get us out in very difficult conditions and the staff treated us like kings at every turn. Patric and Mariah were tremendous hosts – it felt like one week long party with good friends that just happened to be at a heli resort. I will definitely be returning some day to check out the rest of their terrain and give Patric another chance to level me with an infraction (it’s a long story). Till then, I’ll be checking the weather and dreaming about O Canada…
