It's better than a tax return- it's a POWDER return

I hope this message finds you in the best of forms. I am sure a few of your followers would be pretty stoked with this, if you have a few minutes and don't mind helping me get this contest announcement out there that would be brilliant…..someone’s going heli-skiing for free!

I am sure you, just like me, are starting to get that itch about getting out and hitting the slopes. Here in Western Canada it was last week we got a teaser - snow on the ground but it didn’t last. No worries as from what I understand we here out west are in for another doozy of a season- bring on the snow!!

Track & Trail is stoked to be offering a very exciting contest where we are giving away a free heli-ski trip valued at around $5000 and all anyone has to do to enter is get in the chopper. I'd sure appreciate it if you could pass the attached around to a few colleagues for their chance to get in on some pretty perma grin inducing adventures!

Northern Escape Heli-Skiing (NEH) is located in Terrace BC, a two hour flight north of Vancouver into the Skeena Mountain Range- all through Air Canada. The Skeena's are home to one of the biggest annual snowfalls on our planet receiving over 65-100 feet in a season. Being fortunate enough to have gone up a few times I can contest there really is nothing else like it, the scenery is unreal and the skiing or snowboarding is epic!

Here is a quote from one of my recent guests up there:

“Never heli-skiing before, I didn’t have a clue what I was going to get into, apart from the pictures and the understanding that this was going to be a magnanimous experience. The lodge is excellent, the food brilliant and the skiing with those views literally took my breath away… I could have used some snorkel gear to navigate through all that powder!” Family Physician Dr. Lloyd Clarke, MB ChB - Cardston Municipal Hospital, Cardston Alberta.

There are only a total of 18 seats available for this contest and I know they are going to go quick. Please have those interested give me a shout and I can get them sorted and in the bird 888.308.3007! For more on the operation please check out this video:

Northern Escape Heli-Ski Promo from SnowSeekers on Vimeo.

Please note that all bookings must come through Track & Trail to be eligible for the contest. For more about Northern Escape, check out their website at http://www.neheliski.com

We appreciate your time with this and in passing it around to a few colleagues who could be interested.

think snow

jim @ tandtadventures.com

Steep Camp Concludes

It's not very often on the slopes that I get to scare myself.
Its those runs that make you go holy sh*t, when you are standing on top of them looking down and the stomach starts to churn. This is what I am looking for on the slopes...runs that will help take my riding to their next level.

This is exactly what Northern Escape's Steep camp is all about. Not only do they get you to the top of these epic runs with views that will knock your boots off, but they give you the education you need to harness those fears and take the abilities to their next level.

And now at its conclusion, I am sure there may be a few of the 15 of us walking away from this five day steep and deep bender just a little disappointed. And there was nothing anyone could have done - avy conditions locked off most of Northern Escape and the Skeena's true potential...however our outstanding guides did manage to make the most with what we had.

And what we had was an epic time, picture it - you swoop in to land on the peak of a powder filled summit, the door opens, the wind is blowing snow is flying, you get out of the chopper, it's chaos, the noice the snow, it lifts off and than it all goes silent, for miles around there is nothing around you but an endless sea of white peaks. The noice picks back up but now its my buddies yipping and yelling cause before us is a big wide open powder bowl without a track in it just waiting for us to launch in and carve it up.

For people who are resort skiers, “steep camp offers the chance to get to your next level. You can expect pillow drops, some shoots and when conditions are right, big lines,” explained our guide Yvan Sabourin. “Steep camp was born out of demand from our guests. They would be up when the film crews were here, asking, well why can’t we ski that?” said Sabourin. Now Northern Escape has welcomed people from all over the world including Germany, Switzerland, Australia, New Zealand, the US and Canada in for the very same reason- to shred some serious gnar.

On our last day out on the slopes, guides John Forrest, Sabourin and others took us out for a ski into the Skeena's- with wide open spaces, glorious powder bowls and an endless sea of terrain before you- this is seriously one of the best places to be on the planet to get out the skis or snowboard and go for a shred. There is nothing like having these wide open spaces, all to yourself!

I can't wait till next year.

Track & Trail is stoked to release its 2010 conference dates to held at the Yellow Cedar Lodge- home to Northern Escape. For full details click here

Putting the digi to good use

Northern Escape's steep camp offers a backstage pass to the art of big mountain riding. One of the tricks of the trade Yvan - our guide with Northern Escape and film crew program manager is the use of the digital camera.

"At at resort and you see a big line you'd like to hit, use your digital camera and take some great shots of the line from below," he recommends. "Than on the chair lift bring up that photo again to say, “ok so there is that tree as my marker, I want to hit it on skiers left, there is this small pillow drop there or little cliff here, which ever you were interested in hitting. This way when you get up and into the line, you have the exact markers there so you know which way to hit it.”

Sabourin was explaining to use that his guys from the movies that he caters to will take dozens upon dozens of shots, from below, from above and from the chopper and analyze them tirelessly over days to they understand and know their line in and out.

As a snowboarder, I have had to be cautious about just how much weight I am putting into my turns when on something with a mighty pitch.

“About two weeks ago up at our other steep camp there was this one snowboarder who was out of Australia, he’d take a pitch that might have a potential to slide and he’d do these really hard auger turns on it, as if we was surfing off a wave. We had to work with him to say, lighten up your turns, more flow to it, so that way you won't create a slide,” suggests Sabourin

the steep adventures continue