Earn the Turn

First chair and fresh tracks on a powder day are a beautiful thing, but sometimes earning your turns in the backcountry can be just as sweet.

Over the past few weeks the weather has turned from blizzard like conditions (with daily accumulations of 6"-8") to sunny springtime skiing. So in an effort to dodge the Presidents Day and Family Week crowds (it's a Canadian thing...don't ask) a friend and I ventured into the backcountry to earn a few thousand feet of vertical. It was fantastically warm and sunny during the ascent and the snow turned from a sparkled hoar frost to a heroic springtime corn that made the turns fairly effortless. And the views of Glacier National Park weren't bad either.

There is a Japanese proverb that says "One kind word can warm three winter months." I like to think that on occasion "one kind turn can warm three winter months."

T.H. drops in with the Great Northern looming in the background

Of Gurus and Gunbarrels

It's been a fairly epic western winter by many accounts. The mountains have received more than 350" of snowfall this winter. Thus far the majority of the snow has been light and fluffy making for effortless powder skiing. Locals have been prone to take more time off work than normal and many ski bums have rejoiced in their pursuit of "the white room lifestyle."

The ski bum is a fairly vague term come to define those who seek to ski more than work and yet in many cirlces the term carries more stigma than gravitas. I don't wish to debate the moral good or intricacies of ski bumdom but to look beyond to those who have seemly perfected the art; those individuals who transcend simple ski-bummery and reach a higher plane of skiing nirvana. These rare individuals are like an uber-ski-bum and I have dubbed them BumUllrz. The norse god of snow, Ullr, is well know by those who travel in the circles of skidom, but the BumUllr is a mortal who acheives a certain demi-god status via the pursuit of endless powder turns. They are seemingly blessed by Ullr, like some kind of skiing yogi or bodisahtva, with the innate ability to find untracked lines and to ski them with effortless abandon.

I was fortunate enough to find myself among this rare breed a few weeks ago and, like a snowy Diane Fossey, I emmersed myself in their primal ways. While most of my time with the BumUllrz was undocumented for religious reasons I was able to capture a few moments.... behold...

The Reverend blesses an untracked line en route to "Son of Hellroaring"

Jondro shoots past some silent snowghosts while skiing "Gunbarrel"

The apprentice digs deep in search of the true meaning of first tracks