TR: Bringing in the New Year at Baldface: Type 1 fun with cats in Canukistan!

[wcf3]

This TR is about a trip to Baldface Lodge organized by the Tokyo based, Hakuba skiing Poachninja crew.

Most of the trips I’ve joined these guys on have been “interesting” in the sense of the Chinese curse. Generally the fun to be had varied between type 2 (scary/exhausting/miserable at the time, but fun to think back on) and type 3 (stuff you wish could be deleted from long term memory).

This has included such things as the following:

’Interesting’ hikes





Nice picnic spots



’Interesting’ descents.






At some point, I asked Pinky and StuntCok whether they ever did a trip that was just type 1 fun (not just fun in retrospect, but fun at the time as well). They looked at each other as if baffled by this strange concept (‘They actually allow you to do that?’) but apparently a seed had been planted.

Along for the ride were Pinky (stillnoprogress), StuntCok, Jimmy and Sayaka (all from Tokyo), Soprano from San Francisco, myself and Barbara from New Mexico and Russell from Hong Kong. (Actually, Russell started out with a different name, but Barbara and Sayaka thought that it didn’t suite him, so he’s Russell now).

The trip started with two days in Nelson, including two days of skiing at Whitewater and an evening watching ‘The Hockey’ (Spokane vs. Nelson juniors, Nelson coming out on top). On the afternoon of the second day we collected at the Nelson airport to catch a short heli ride out to the Baldface lodge.


We got our heli briefing from this gentleman. “Keep your dreads out of the tail rotor!”



Barbara and Soprano listen skeptically.




Then we headed up.

Big bird dressed in white and red.




The lodge itself is isn’t exactly the Motel 6.


Perched in a spectacular location.



A pleasant place to hang out at the end of the day.







Day 1

That first morning we met the other people who we would be sharing the cat with: Keith and Jen from Vancouver as well as the ‘Jeffs’ from South Carolina (AKA: ‘The Men in Black’; AKA: ‘Bulldog’ and ‘Gibby’, no doubt from an earlier career starring in a buddy cop show). Here ensued the usual multi-sided assessment process inevitable with any pick-up crew.




Jen and Nick (left) and Gibby and Bulldog (right) try to avoid staring at ninja teletubby Jimmy.


In the end, everyone got along great with no weak links.

Adult supervision was provided by guides Brad and Graham and cat driver Boney. In addition, for a while we were joined by an actual professional photographer, Nick Diamond, who was kind enough to give us permission to post some of his work in the TR.

http://www.nickdiamondphotography.ca/

In the following, whenever you spot an actually good shot, you will inevitably find his discrete watermark in the upper right hand corner.

Heading up the first time, we were all struck by how the trees had been absolutely plastered with snow by the long series of early winter storms that preceded our arrival.


I think there is some sort of plant life under there…






Not having much experience with cat skiing, we all became quite enamored with the relaxed pace. Although one does end up getting quite a few runs, there was no particular rush needed to beat the cat to the bottom (at least with our group). As such, there was no great hurry gearing up or doing the runs. In addition, the cat rides themselves were fun as well, with music playing and a chance to chat with anyone in the group on the way up.



Barbara and Jen (no doubt) gossiping about the clowns they were stuck hanging out with.




By now, having heard about ‘The Hockey’, the scenery, the lodge and cat amenities, etc., you’re probably asking yourself how the skiing was. Well, it didn’t suck…



Guide Brad drops in, showing promise of good things to come.




Sayaka enjoys the creamy goodness.




Jimmy (apparently embarrassed about something) hides his lower body.




StuntCok, incapable of embarrassment, hides nothing.




Russell decides to rearrange the snowpack.




Soprano ruins a perfectly good pillow while Barbara looks on in dismay.



Yeah, I guess it’s deep enough…




While getting to know the terrain, we occasionally misjudged certain features. To illustrate, one cliff band provided some entertainment:


StuntCok and Jimmy looking for a solution.




Soprano decides to try tree hugging for inspiration.




Nick finally decides to go for it, and yes, sticks the landing!






New Years Eve Party

As advertised, this trip happened over new years. As might be expected there were some festivities that evening. These commenced with a Roman candle exchange:



Cry havoc!



…and let loose the dogs of war!



Don’t try this at home kids.




I didn’t get any shots from the indoor portion of the party, but it looked something like this:




TBC

[wcf3]

TR cont.



Conditions and Weather

It turned out that we had a bit of luck in the timing of our trip. Not only had the area experienced a great early season, producing a snowpack as deep as that generally not found until later in the season, but also, it had remained quite cold and windless since the last major storm prior to our arrival. Because of this, the snow we found when we arrived was not only still deep and fluffy, but also remarkably stable as well.



Barbara looking relaxed




One of the men in black (Bulldog I think…).




Russell needs another color for his jacket if he wants to use the sky as background all the time.



Pinky uses the meat bomb approach to test the snowpack’s stability.



Sayaka doesn’t seem particularly impressed with this technique.



Jen takes a more relaxed approach.



lStuntCok seems to have discovered the appeal of type 1 fun.





Ramping Up

One of the nice things about being on a more relaxed schedule with stable conditions was that we were able to poke around more and get familiar with the terrain. With this, the crew started to ramp it up.


Speeds increased:


Nick getting comfortable.



Barbara leaning into it.



Gibby points it.





As we got to know the terrain a bit better, airborne antics commenced.


Even Soprano (who usually likes to maintain contact with terra firma) joined in.



Nick goes old school with a back scratcher




Jimmy picks a line through the trees.



StuntCok follows tracks, assuming all will go well.



Of course, Jimmy, who had gone first, wasn’t going quite as quickly.




Here, the guides were quite helpful in pointing out features (and were hardly averse to getting some air themselves).



Guide Graham apparently looking into an alternate career in product placement.



Photographer Nick is quite a trusting sole.






Sunrise

Sunrise at the lodge during our stay tended to be pretty spectacular. We had sun at the level of the lodge most days, but there were generally clouds in the valleys below, leaving one with the feeling of being on an island surrounded by slowly surging gray sea.



Not a bad view to wake up to.






Cloud level

Often the cloud level would hover about halfway down a run. Thus, one would start in bright sunshine and transition into fog and clouds. Since the terrain tended to mellow out in pitch and the forest would become denser as one lost elevation, this seldom proved to be a problem.



Jen admires the view…




Jen working on her tan



Graham still using sunscreen.



Barbara skis above the clouds…



…then fades into the twilight zone.




StuntCok, undisturbed by murk (or didn’t see the drop ahead of time…).




At the bottom , noses are counted to see if anyone has decided to search for a new route to Nelson.






That Kodak Moment

Given the nature of the terrain and/or avi-risk on most of the trips I’ve done with this crew, there hadn’t been many opportunities to set up for action shots (quite apart from the fact that we usually had more pressing matters to concern us). Here it was a different matter.

Whenever Nick (or, for that matter, anyone with a camera, even me) set up at the bottom of a drop, honor (if not good sense) demanded that someone ‘take advantage’ of the unique opportunity.


Sometimes this went well.

StuntCok tries for a magazine cover.



Jimmy, unsure whether he has the right colors for the season goes for basic black and white.



Russell does his impression of the ‘ Gaper Spirit Animal’.



Sayaka shows off her sharp edges.




”Yes they are very sharp. So, watch your hands.”



Pinky tries his hand at product placement. May need some color to be successful…



Nick doubles down. And a one…



…and a two…



…and a three.



TBC

[wcf3]

TR cont.



Fail

Of course, in spite of the great conditions and our increasing familiarity with the terrain, things occasionally didn’t go completely according to plan. (Names withheld to protect the innocent).



Someone being ejected explosively from a barcalounger.



Man in black goes for a daffy (or something).
(“I’m telling you, it was the other guy!”)








”I swear to god, I’m just resting.”




Anonymous gentleman in an orange jacket who didn’t quite get his rotation right.


















What happens when the ejection mechanism in the barcalounger loses pressure.




Don’t worry, I got it!



…well, maybe not…




As we left that day there was a final (not encouraging) sighting of orange jacket man.


”Now what?”





By the way, never forget that there are also cameras inside the cat as well.


Bulldog shows off new school yamaka. (Claimed it was part of his helmet…)





Supernatural Course

One of the cooler things that we got to check out up close was the Red Bull ‘Supernatural’ course. For anyone getting the big head, it is a pretty humbling experience just to ski down next to this impressive collection of features.

Travis Rice was there working on the course while we were there and we got a chance to meet this unpretentious member of plank-boy royalty.

Graham and Travis Rice at the top of the Supernatural course



Looking down at the Supernatural course. No thank you…



If you want to see just how big you can go at Baldface, check out the video found in the link below:

http://www.redbull.com/cs/Satellite/...21243159703659





Departure
The final day we skied until around 2:30PM then, after catching a couple of drinks at the lodge, caught a heli ride back to Nelson. In contrast to most trips I’ve done with these guys, everyone wasn’t nuked and ready to get out of Dodge. Everybody certainly would have been happy to stay for another session.



Mandatory cheesy group photo. “Hi mom!”








Red and Spokane

After another night in Nelson, some of the crew headed out, while I, Barbara, Pinky and Soprano went over to Red Mountain. After ditching Pinky in the afternoon (who had to get back to Nelson) the rest of us drove down to Spokane where we were to fly out the next day.

The evening presented us with a couple of final entertainment opportunities:

Dinner at the Red Lion BBQ in Spokane.


Here they know how to keep the Christmas spirit alive. (Use teddy bears).



Soprano felt right at home.



No tofu and bean sprouts here.





Followed by attending a PBR event.


No, not this PBR





This one.






We now return the internet to normally scheduled programming.

[FreakofSnow]

Well done, and I appreciate teh funz classification!

[gramboh]

Nice one, looks like a solid trip and great early season conditions. The lodge doesn't look like you are exactly roughing it either. Seems like Baldface attracts more snowboarders than other cat ops, is there much traversing to get to/from terrain?

[GoEhuge]

Awesome!

Great to finally see a legit stand-alone TR posted again. Feel like its been forever.

[SKIORFORGETIT]

looks sweet

how were those onion rings?

[simple]

Yes yes yes! ! ! Great trip report. You should have done a GNAR pro call out to Travis.

[wcf3]

Seems like Baldface attracts more snowboarders than other cat ops, is there much traversing to get to/from terrain?

Baldface does seem to have a strong snowboarding history, but it seems like the guides and clients are a pretty mixed bag. There was very little traversing needed to get in and out of runs. The terrain seems to be almost perfect for a cat-op with an extensive road system connecting the valleys to the ridge lines, which were (for the most part) even enough so that roads could be run all along the ridge lines. Most of the time we would drop in very close to where we got out of the cat and ski pretty much fall line to another road for pick up.

[jfost]

was there a young guide named Andy there?

He was one of our caretakers at Carlyle up the valley, nice kid & I believe he also plays the hockey.

[Mike Pow]

Noice...

[whyturn]

Sweet Eh'

[oftpiste]

heh.... type 1 fun....

[philth]

Place rules. I got engaged there on the couch next to the pool table. Jeff and crew are awesome.

[philth]

And still married!!!

[wcf3]

was there a young guide named Andy there?

He was one of our caretakers at Carlyle up the valley, nice kid & I believe he also plays the hockey.

He might have been up there, but I didn't get to meet all the other guides. (Got to know the bartenders pretty well though).

[mantraskier]

Such a sweet place! Looks like you timed it perfectly...happy New Year indeed.

[sparkletarte.]

nice trip! yeah graham and leroy (your heli warning guy)! love type 1 fun.

[StuntCok]

A great type I trip indeed! I think I could get used to catskiing...

BTW, there is also Type 0 fun. Usually this kind of fun is EXTREMELY fun while doing it, is very easy to access but it carries some regret the next day. H&B would fit this description.

[bones get broke]

I love when the beatering is as well documented as the goods...Bravo.

[Shredhead]

Place rules. I got engaged there on the couch next to the pool table. Jeff and crew are awesome.

I agree. I'd like to have the house right behind the chalets. Guys living the dream.

[The Duke of Hurl]

BF was Craig Kelly's dreamchild. Had the honor of riding the heli up with his wife and little daughter last year. Snowboarding history and culture doesn't get much deeper than that. Looks like you guys had the quintessential Baldface experience. Type 1 fun indeed. (Taking the Dutchess up for first time day after tomorrow so thx 4 timely stoke.)

[Cruiser]

Take note kids. This is the way a TR should look. Fantastic work from the Poach Ninja crew!


Thanks for posting!

[moose pit]

Rad!

Looks like the goods were good, and nice viz to boot.

[wcf3]

Yes yes yes! ! ! Great trip report. You should have done a GNAR pro call out to Travis.

I might have done this, except he might have then invited me to send one of the features on the Supernatural course. I'm sure the resulting carnage would have produced some good photos, but I wouldn't have wanted to bother the guides with all the resulting high angle rescue necessary to collect the pieces.