I'd like to start off by saying, Will Smith is the shi*t! I Am Legend kicked total ass! The mutants, the way he lived..... Wait, I watched that the weekend after the trip. Ok, I got up at 7:00 on the 27th of December. I was up and dressed and running out the door with enough gear for the five day adventure I was about to go on. O yes, Powderking, Western Canada's best place to get that feeling of peaceful mellow shred and a friendly wave from everyone you meet. ( A great f*cking mountain! May it never close!) Not to mention crazy snowfall all season long! ( Thus the name Powderking. Duh! 61 feet last year, what more evidence does anyone need?) So we leave the yard by 8:00, our little convoy, made up of an F-150, a Mini-van, and an Envoy are off on the 5 hour trek to P.K. As we pass Baytree a town not on any maps except the U.F.A Cardlock location map.... Weird.... As we get passed the little town we hit smoke, lots of smoke, smoke so thick that we're stuck at a 50 km/h crawl for 20 mins. I really wanted to get to P.K. for a half-day of shred, and by 1:00 we are there and it is snowing big flakes. So I get my lift ticket, and up the triple-chair I go. On my way down I run into a group of skiers and snowboarders building a jump on the side of the run. I say hi, we talk about the snow, gear, and the condition of the jump, and before you know it we're shreddin' together and jumpin' off trees into 4-5 feet of powder. (Fastplants and front flips for everyone!) A fine half-day. So we drive to Mackenzie, we check in at The Willingston Lake Lodge. We unpack and unwind with a few beers, some pizza, and Guitar Hero till about 11:00, than lights out.
The next day I go straight for the top, up the T and hikin' towards the bowl. As I get to the boundaries I can't find no trail, broken up into the bowl to speak of. So I start breakin' trail in balls deep powder, ( Its one of the toughest parts of snowboarding, having to hike for some shred but it the end its always worth it.) I get half way up the bowl when I look over to the left and I see two guys with snowshoes a little lower down heading up an already broke trail, I broke trail for nothing! So I start leftward and I meet up with the two guys, we start chatting about the conditions, and I find out there name are Matt and J (Jason) from Wembley and Grande Praire . "Dope, I'm from around a place called Falher." "Frenchtown!" they both say laughing, obviously they've been there before. So we get to the top and sit down for a break, than we strap in. Its still snowing as we head down, the first 20 feet is hard-packed than... BANG! We cut into 3 feet of untouched powder! Straight Champagain! We're cuttin' it hard and every hell slash is a wave of powder to choke on. Beautiful, just beautiful. So we ride on down into the trees, and sweet jesus. Slash and burn, kill and turn, we throw it off anything and everything. A total powder play dream! I'm so stoked on the snow I smile all the way down to the parking lot. Matt and J are staying at the hill in campers in the parking lot with a third member of there group, Dano. We get there and they invite me over for a brew. How can I say no? ( And every run ends that way for the rest of the trip. Those guys we're totally wicked!) So us 4 ride the far left trees up by the 84's and the two creek valley for the rest of the day. The day ends, I tell the guys I'll meet up with them the next day.
Day 3 rools in, and I meet them at there Campers and we head up the mountain. Its snowing, again. We reach the top, and I set up my camera, I want to get and Artsy, Sceneic shot, success. Another piece for EtchaSketch. (Our shred video coming out the summer of 08') Thats all I film that day. Than I pack back up and this time the spot we drop in on is a steep slope with snow sculpted behind and between small trees by the wind, thus making steps that are flat out to about 6 feet and drop down to about 10-12 feet. So we head down popin' off one step, and gaping to the next. One of the funnest abd best rushes of the trip. We keep the fun-fest up until we hit the tree-line. Than it was Heaven, just like the days before. I just ride the pow, never giving a second thought of getting any shots for the rest of the day.
The final shred day, day 4. It comes in with sun-light and blue skies. The first of the trip. (We got 8 inches of fresh while we were there.) So this day I ride with my goggle-cam on to catch any wicked shred that goes down. So we ride out into the backcountry and run into a man in his 50's at least, with a Prior split board and the dopest gear I had ever scene. We talked to the guy about the part of the backcountry we were in, and about his gear. He turns out to be the coolest guy I've ever met, truly a snowboarder, a man pure in the sport, he was what snowboarding truly should be. There for the ride and nothing elsa, no sponsors, no attitudes, just the need to shred and have fun. We say our good-byes and good-shreds as we rip down the slope, we never did get his name.... I want to be just like him if I reach 50. On our second last run we come upon an abandoned road on the side of the mountain, it goes through an open spot and is cut slightly into the slope to give the high side a cliff look. Perfect! We all get the idea, road-gap. So we build the jump in the line we want to hit it on. Matt and J hike up to hit it. Its a 30 feet from lip to landing. Matt drops in, lands square on the landing and rides away. We all cheer and the session starts right up. J's up, than Dano, than Matt again, than I hit it with my goggle-cam, as I air over, I hit the landing and get bucked forward onto my face. I get up, not hurting one bit. (Except for my pride.) I hike up again, this time I do a frontside fakie with a Stalefish in the mix, by the the time I stop tumbling, I'm looking up-hill at my feet. Damn, not getting it but still having fun. (The only person to stick the damn thing was Matt, lucky prick!) So we ride down to the highway and start walking back to P.K. I wave to every vehicle, and got nothing but funny looks, I didn't care, it was one of the best riding days of my life! We're half way back when the owner of P.K. stops with his truck and trailer half loaded with garbage. "Wanna lift? Jump in the trailer!" We all jump in laughing, we keep on laughing all the way to the parking lot. (Thanks for the lift! It smelt bad, but damn did it save my legs.) What a wicked 3 and a half days of riding, awesome snow, awesome crew. I can't wait till I go back.
I'm forever hooked on the P.K. white!!
P.S. On the way back we stopped at the A&W in Chetwyne. They have the hottest group of ladies working at a fast-food joint I have ever seen. Go Chetwyne!!!!!
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