Western Snowboarding
Updated: Blackcomb Excalibur Gondola Collapse
Thanks to JB for pointing out breaking news from Whistler: one of the towers on the Blackcomb Excalibur gondola has collapsed, trapping 53 and injuring a few guests. Thankfully, there were no fatalities. The accident comes just days after Whistler opened their record-breaking peak-to-peak gondola. According to local media coverage, one of the supporting towers [...]
Whistler’s New Trail Map: Please Tell Me This Isn’t It
Can someone out west confirm whether Intrawest is handing this out as Whistler Blackcomb’s trail map this year? Has anyone at Intrawest noticed yet that the resolution of this map is so bad that it’s unreadable online? And when did Whistler Blackcomb runs develop so many jagged edges? What is this thing? Did they have [...]
Whistler’s Peak-to-Peak Gondola Opens Today, Live Coverage Available
Whistler’s Peak-to-Peak gondola, which connects the tops of Whistler and Blackcomb mountains, opens today. The live webcast begins at 10:30 am Pacific time, or 1:30 Eastern. You can follow all the events here. Update: Well, the gondola is up and running – in a snowstorm, no less. I watched about 20 minutes of the festivities [...]
Will BC’s Ski Resorts Be Forced To Close Their Doors?
A colleague of mine saved me page 21 from the November 10 issue of Maclean’s magazine, a long-standing Canadian news weekly. Page 21 was a full-page look at the British Columbia ski resort industry, and why it may be on shaky ground. According to the article, the bad news is piling up for BC’s ski [...]
Elevate: Ski, Snowboard & Lifestyle Magazine in Today’s National Post
The National Post, a relatively national newspaper here in Canada, included a print magazine supplement in today’s paper about skiing and snowboarding in Canada. It’s titled Element. You can view the supplement online here. I haven’t read through the whole thing but at first glance it looks pretty good for a free magazine. Highlights include: [...]
2009 Whistler Trip Booked!
Looks like I’m headed back to the land of the 2010 Winter Olympics. Over the weekend I booked a trip to Whistler Blackcomb for January 18 to 24 inclusive, and I couldn’t be more stoked! I obviously talk about Whistler a whole lot on this blog. And while every year I mull a trip to [...]
Smuggs’ and Vail Ban Employees From Riding Burton Love Boards
I know, I know, we keep posting on the topic, but it keeps getting more interesting. Previously, we’ve covered the controversy surrounding Burton Love snowboards, the ones with the Playboy models on them, here and here. I thought we were done with the topic but along comes Smugglers’ Notch, a well-known Vermont ski resort, banning [...]
In North America, The Snowboarding Season Is Underway
… for a select few, anyway. Loveland and Arapahoe Basin are open, each reporting a base of 18 inches. Get all the details here. Sigh.
Whistler Jump Session
One of the best things about having an iPhone is being able to watch YouTube pretty much all the time. While browsing on the train home the other day I came across this video. It struck me as different than most shred vids, I think, just because of the quality of the shooting – the [...]
Snow In Whistler?
That’s right. It’s snowing in Whistler. Okay, so maybe it’s only snowing up in the mountain. But still… snow is snow. To quote an email from the Whistler folks yesterday: “When we looked up at Whistler Mountain and saw it had gotten its first dusting of snow – well, we haven’t stopped smiling since. Sure, [...]
