Brent Kearney

Sunshine Village opened today, after the first winter storm dumped a modest 34cm of fresh snow this week. I’ve been in Banff for almost 6 years now, and this is the first time I’m not there for opening day! I injured myself a couple of weeks ago — impaled by a tree branch — and the doctors insist that skiing right now could lead to further complications. So I’m at home, gazing at the web cams:

Sunshine Village Opening Day '08

Looks like a beautiful, sunny day. Last season was OK, but it didn’t snow nearly as much as previous years, and the avalanche conditions remained treacherous all season, which pretty much ruled out back-country skiing in the Rockies. Delirium Dive didn’t open until the spring. It was no 2006.

My fingers are crossed for this year. The latest avalanche forecast says that we might get more snow this weekend!

A series of storms are lining up off the west coast for the weekend. We will certainly see some more snow and wind but amounts will depend on how far south the storms will track.

I’m stoked. I have some new skis this season, sitting over at the very short-staffed Mountain Magic, waiting for new bindings to be mounted. I’ll be out there as soon as I’m able!

The good people at Parks Canada have really outdone themselves in their latest avalanche forecast, on December 24th, 2006. Unfortunately, they don’t record the forecasts in a chronological blog-like format, but rather, the same page is updated every 3 days or so, wiping out old content. There are a lot of great reasons not to do it that way, such as having the historical conditions available in an easily accessible way to those who are interested, but that is another story.

For your enjoyment, and for posterity, here is the Christmas Forecast:

Fantastic job, SM/MH!! Happy trails…

Yesterday morning there was a little over 20cm of fresh snow at Sunshine Village, on top of the 48cm from the previous four days. The sun came out, and the ski conditions were great.

Unfortunately, the Angel and Continental Divide chair lifts were still not open, so its still just low elevation skiing. It was a lot less crowded than opening day, so there were plenty of fresh tracks to be had all morning. Despite the deep snow, one must be vigilant for shallowly buried rocks and stumps. Check out this nasty ski-eater that I uncovered. On rocks, you’ll either get too much traction, or not enough, depending on the shape of the rock and how you hit it. So be wary this time of year.

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Every year, it seems, no matter how dedicated I am about pre-season training, the first few days are always a killer on the legs. However, this year it was a bit different, and I don’t think it had anything to do with training.

This summer, aside from trail running, I started participating in two new sports: mountain biking and rock climbing. One thing that they both have in common, if you’re striving to do them well, is how important it is to be aware of and in control of your level of exertion, and the efficiency with which you move. If you’re biking up a steep hill, you will find it much easier if your upper body is relaxed as much as possible. Just flexing the muscles in your upper body causes your heart to work much harder, and that leaves less energy for your legs, which need it the most.
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It was a spectacular opening this season — both Sunshine and Lake Louise had great conditions. I have to say though, Lake Louise had way more snow, and there was easily twice as much terrain open. The Summit lift was open, and there were several excellent lines down from the top, with my favorite being Outer Limits. Outer Limits is to the far skier’s right at the Summit top, on the front side, right next to the area boundary fence. The snow was knee-deep and powdery, and from there you can ski all 991m of vertical.

Conditions at the Lake Louise ski resort on it’s opening day 2006.

The head ski patroller remarked that it was the best conditions for opening day that he’s ever seen. I’m not sure how long he’s been there, but I would guess more than a decade (some patrollers have been there 20+ years). It was a full-on powder day, on the first day of the season. I think its going to be a great winter!

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Sunshine Village opens on Friday this week, and I’m stoked! The weather forecast is sunny with a high of 0 — so that means up at ‘the Shine it should be slightly below zero, with big blue skies. Ideal conditions. As you can see from the image on the right, which was captured from their slick new website, they are reporting 52cm of base. It is gently snowing right now here in Banff, and hopefully that will continue all day on Thursday. It should be an epic opening day!

Lake Louise is also set to open on the 10th, and I’ll be there all day on Saturday. It would be great if the back bowls are open, but I’m not counting on it, with only 45cm of base, as of today.

I woke up this morning to about 10cm of snow outside. It was glorious! The ski season approaches. To celebrate, I ran two laps on Tunnel Mountain, taking in the heavier snowfall at slightly higher altitudes, and getting totally soaked :).

Rumour has it that Lake Louise will open on November 10th this year. Last year, ski-patrollors were in the back bowls by mid-October. This year, I intend to join them!

Although the September snowfall is encouraging, it often happens for a brief period this time of year. Indeed, the forecast for next week is sunny. With the lower temperatures, particularly at night, with any luck, the snow will remain in the alpine.

The spring conditions at Sunshine were fantastic today, under a blazing sun and about 25 °C. The mountain was a giant Slurpee, which is a lot of fun, especially in the moguls. We took a little trip into the back country, down a popular creek drainage. Near the bottom we had to navigate running creek water, rocks and logs! Great fun!

I skied in a t-shirt most of the day, and managed to get a fantastic farmer’s tan. All I need is some straw to chew on. If you’re thinking of coming out, Sunshine is open until the 22nd, and this weekend, BC/DC will be playing in the Village. Its awesome to ski when bands are playing there; you can hear the music all through the mountains. BC/DC is somewhat famous in the ski world, especially since their appearance in the Teton Gravity Research film, Tangerine Dream. I’ve always wanted to see them, but I’ve never managed to be in the right place at the right time.

The Slush Cup will be held on Monday as well. Its pretty entertaining. Bring the kids! There is usually lots of nudity and excessive debauchery.

Since the big storm a couple of weeks ago, the ski conditions have been great. Over the past week, the Sun has been out almost every day, changing the trend of a ski season with overcast skies all winter. I’ve been making good use of my season’s pass at Sunshine Village, and I’ve met some excellent people on the slopes this year. This past week in particular, has been really fun. I put together a video slideshow (~48MB) with a selection of photos from the past week. Its a pretty big file, so you’ll want either a fast Internet connection, or a lot of time, to download it. If you’re using Microsoft Windows and you don’t already have the free QuickTime Player, you will need it to view the slideshow. Its worth having anyways, so install it if you don’t have it. If you’re on a Mac, don’t worry, you already have Quicktime.

You’ll notice that some of the images are a little blurry. Thats because someone–*cough* Maryke *cough*–has their camera set to low-resolution mode. Sorry about that.

Blue skies and loose powder at Sunshine today, following a week of nightly snowfall leaving 46cm of pure fun all over the mountains. This day was beyond words; see a few images from today here.

Just when it seemed that the ski season was dwindling down, Sunshine starts getting pounded with new snow. With well over 20cm of new snow, conditions are superb. The temperatures are cold enough at high elevations that the snow isn’t sticky, as one would normally expect for spring conditions. Delirium Dive, right now, offers some of the best skiing that I’ve had all season:

The Banff weather forecast predicts more precipitation for the next 4 days, so Easter weekend should be excellent all around. This year, the closing date at Sunshine is May 22nd.