Photo Credit: Melissa Larsen
Many of you watched the Super Bowl yesterday and I can't say I blame you. It was an incredible game with two amazing teams fighting for one of the most prized trophies in all of sports (next to the Stanley Cup of course!). Sports history was made yesterday in Indianapolis but there was another sport that progressed and made a little history of its own. I am talking about the Red Bull Supernatural that took place at Baldface Lodge located in the backcountry of British Columbia. This lodge is normally host to powder hungry skiers and snowboarders who travel from far and wide to taste a little Kootenay pow. But yesterday it was host to some of the greatest snowboarders of today. 

"Take X Games and move it to a real mountain,"

Here's a video we put together showing what it was like during our 2-day visit to Valhalla Powdercats January 16th and 17th. The first day was great, the second day was mind blowing. When we rolled into Nelson on Sunday night the mercury was somewhere 18 below freezing and the streets where silent. Even in the morning things where quite. But as you can see in the video, the deeper into the Valhalla's we went, the more Kootenay Pow we found!

We hope you enjoy the video. The music is Set em Up by Langhorn Slim. For some reason our Valhalla trips seem to involve banjo music...

Island Lake Lodge, long heralded as a premiere backcountry lodge and catskiing destination, will now be offering guided ski touring as well. Guests will be transported by snow cat into the mountains where they can enjoy touring 7,000 acres of Island Lake property. The terrain, which includes alpine bowls, gladed trees and an extensive road network, is ideal for both catskiing and ski touring. “We have always known our property is great for touring and are very excited to offer the opportunity to a wider audience,” said guiding manager Niki LePage.  Multi-day stays will include all food and accommodation.  Island Lake will offer packages for all levels of skiers from beginner to expert. Ski touring will be available as single day trips or as two, three or four day tours starting in April.  Each day starts with a snowcat-ride into the ski terrain to get as much elevation as possible.

Island Lake Catskiing is located in the Lizard Range of the Canadian Rocky Mountains, 10 kms from Fernie B.C.  Island Lake offered ski touring in the mid 80’s and for the past 24 years has been providing catskiing experiences for skiers and snowboarders.

For more information, check out our Island Lake Catskiing Listing >>>

It was a grey day at K3 Catskiing for us this year. Well, grey and white since it was snowing so hard! When the light gets low we tend to lean more towards shooting pics with our fancy new strobe set up but as it turns out, we got some pretty enticing video too. Looking back at this footage makes me want to get in the truck and head right back to K3 for some more!

Enjoy.

Part of the event area of Red Bull Supernatural ©Danny Zapalac/Red Bull Content Pool

Travis Rice and a team of lumberjacks hiked up into the BC backcountry last summer to build the ultimate run. The concept is to combine all aspects of snowboarding into one run; meaning steeps, trees, freestyle, jib... all of it. The goal: to find the world's best all-round rider.

The slope that will be the feature of the Red Bull Supernatural event can be found at Baldface Lodge. It's a catskiing operation nestled in the Kootenay mountains near Nelson in the interior if British Columbia. The run is called 'Scary Cherry' and scary it is boasting a 45 degree pitch in some spots. It will feature over 80 different man made hits and stunts along with the natural bluffs and treelines that Baldface is known for.

Riders and film crews will be up at Baldface Lodge for a week of riding between February 3rd and 8th. The plan is to pick the best day with the most optimal conditions and see what happens!

For more the full story, check out Red Bull's site here >>>

“You are so lucky to have this so close to you”

These remarks came from our new friend from Holland at the end of an unexpected powder day at K3 Catskiing. I say unexpected because at the valley bottom it was + 5 Celsius and raining. But up at the K3 staging area it was -4 and snowing...heavily. Our Catskiing.ca headquaters is located in Kelowna BC which is an easy 2 hours drive whereas our new ski friend from Holland has to travel quite a ways and gamble on the conditions in the Alps being worth the trip!

Expectations are very high this year for BC backcoutnry operators after an epic La Nina season in 2011. The weather gurus up and down the west coast of North America are calling for a repeat of last year so all eyes are watching the storm patterns in BC. And K3 has had it's fair share of powder dumps.

Beginning with a huge hit of snow in November, K3 got an early jump on road building and the stoke level was high. Then some high pressure systems killed the snow cycles and all has been a little quite in the catskiing world around the BC interior save for a few northern operations. But at K3, the base has been steadily building each day. As we rode up the access road with David and Rod, operators of K3, they told that small dumps of 10cms at a time have led to a base of over 2 metres with an average of a 30-40cm foot penetration. That means that you could be skiing knee deep powder at any given time in their terrain!

With all the hustle and bustle of the Christmas season now behind us, we were pumped to be headed to K3 Catskiing for our first turns of the 2012 season. It was January 3rd as we headed north out of the Okanagan Valley and into the Monashee range where K3 operates as the only day trip operation in the area. This is one of our favourite areas to hang out and search for powder. You see, within the same area you will find not only K3's operation, but Mustang Powder, Chatter Creek, and Revelstoke Mountain Resort. It is a powderhound's playground!

This year we were treated to 7cms of fresh snow first thing in the morning with another 5cms or more falling throughout the day. Combine that with a foot deep powder penetration and needless to say, the group in the cat was all smiles. If you are a returning visitor to this website then you will know we have been to K3 a few times before and we have mentioned the South Park area of their terrain. The South Park is an old burned forest that has a nice pitch and is always full of powder. It also makes for some pretty dramatic photography. This year we pulled out the strobe lights and got some really cool shots that you can see in the gallery below.

We had a few German guests skiing with us so there was certainly a language barrier, but given the look on their faces each run, we knew they were thinking what we were thinking. Also joining us was a young lady who was catskiing for the first time. We love to see this because many people see catskiing as this extreme, cliff dropping, chute skiing dangerous adventure. And it can be that. But more often than not, catskiing is the perfect way to get acquainted with the backcoutry and experience bottomless powder that you would never find at a resort.

K3 Catskiing is in its 5th year of operations and the word is out. They are mostly booked for the season but have a few single days here and there left in their schedule. It is best to give them a call directly to see what you can get. We recommend getting on the waiting list in case there any last minute cancellations. With the snow already in fantastic shape we can only imagine what it will be like up there mid-season.

If you do end up skiing with David, Rod, Kris, Todd and Carl this season, be sure to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and let us know what you think!

Enjoy.

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Could there be anything better than Selkirk Wilderness Skiing (SWS) and Sherpas Cinema teaming up to produce a cutting short promo film? Following on their massive success of the full length feature film “All I Can”, Sherpas Cinema has been retained by SWS, the original snowcat operation in the world, to create a short film to help promote SWS to the global ski and snowboard community.

“We are so excited to be working with Sherpas Cinema on this project,” said Irene Brinkman, General Manager of Selkirk Wilderness Skiing. “I could not believe it when they responded to our call for proposals and how excited they are to work with us! We can’t wait to see what they come up with especially after seeing what they have done with the film All I Can which is so amazing.”

The upcoming film, written and directed by Dave Mossop and Eric Crosland, will be shot this winter (2012) at SWS and will star surprise ski and snowboard athletes as well as the ever impressive SWS Guiding Team lead by Jason Remple. Without giving too much away, the film will focus on what makes SWS truly one of the best snowcat operations in the world including some awe inspiring powder footage and also finds the heart of why guests keep coming back year after year. The project is scheduled for a July 2012 release.

“The idyllic setting and rich history of SWS sets the perfect stage to tell a compelling story about the originators of Cat Skiing in Canada”, says Sherpas Producer Malcolm Sangster. “They started a movement, sub-culture, and on-going industry here and we want to tell that story and show why SWS is still at the top.”
 
Since 1975, Selkirk Wilderness Skiing has been known as the original snowcat operation. During the years since then, and with only 24 skiers per week, they have developed a loyal following as one of the finest experiences that a seasoned skier or snowboarder could hope to enjoy, and also the perfect place to try deep powder for the first time. Situated in the southeastern corner of British Columbia, about 90 minutes from Nelson, visitors to SWS can experience over 70,000 vertical feet of untracked bliss. The network of snowcat roads provides skiing within an area of 30 square miles (the size of Vail and Whistler combined) with runs up to 4000 vertical feet.

For more information please visit: www.selkirkwilderness.com

If you haven't checked out After Dark by Level 1 Productions yet, this little teaser should be just enough to get you to head on over to itunes and download it. Level 1 has been releasing webisodes lately to promote the film called Extra Dark. They go a bit 'deeper' into the footage that they caught from last season's epic La Nina spell.

In this Exrta Dark #8 BC native fxq7gh Bibby and crew head out to Monashee Powder Cats and Valhalla Powder Catskiing in search of some deep pillow lines. Judging by the above video, they found what they were looking for...in the words of fxq7gh, "this is some of the deepest snow I have skied."

Enjoy the video and definitely check out After Dark. It is a quality production with some obviously awesome footage.

For the full story from Level 1, Click here...

Circa Hiberna is a new webisode project from Matchstick Productions. They promise new videos on a 'Regular Basis'. Now we are going to be scouring the web weekly searching for our next ski flick fix. Thanks MSP...

Here is the cool thing: to kick off the new project and to show how incredible last season's La Nina was, MSP decided to lead with footage from two of BC's Catskiing Operators: Chatter Creek and Selkirk Wilderness Skiing. Now that's sayin' something!

Enjoy.