MOUNTAIN LIFE - Blue Mountains | Fall 2020

45 As we skied 17,000 leg-burning vertical feet, Dylan showing us the chutes and double blacks. !e entire place is a terrain park—as Dylan describes it, Kicking Horse is a small resort on a big mountain. Kids grow up here learning to navigate unmarked cli$s and hazards. After a backcountry training session, I’d wrapped my brain around the technical side of an avalanche search and rescue, but the emotional side was wreaking havoc as we headed to pick up my splitboard at Higher Ground Sports. !e board was a thing of beauty—a Pallas Hedonist with killer graphics. I’d never contemplated the logistics of splitting my board in half and making it into skis… and now I had poles to contend with. !e way the Hedonist swaps is impressive. You slide the bindings o$ the metal rails, undo the latches and split the board. You swap the “skis” so the edges are opposite to their “snowboard” position, remount the bindings in a forward-facing position, add your skins, build your poles, raise your binding risers on the steeps and away you go. Easy, right? After picking up my board, we met our guide Louis where all o%cial meetings in Golden take place—Whitetooth Brewery. Andy from Tourism Golden had scheduled this meet-and-greet and Louis rolled in, duct tape on his pu$y coat, a smile on his face and his trademark hearty laugh. Over a few pints and a Red Tomato pie, we listed our goals—to be challenged, ride some powder, avoid high-risk avalanche terrain and make it down for jam night at !e Wolf’s Den. Morning came early. With our avalanche packs, camera gear, bagged lunch, skins and skis/board, we took the gondola up. In Yoda-like fashion, Louis said the plan would unveil itself. We’d take the cat track and drop into a double black in the bowl—terrain we de"nitely hadn’t ridden yet. We rode up the Stairway chair as Louis checked the bowls, the weather and our vibe to formulate a plan. A decision was made: We’d take the cat track and drop in on another double black along Redemption Ridge, traverse through the bottom tree section and head to the resort boundary. From there we’d put on our skins and start the long trek up Rudi’s Ridge South. I was expecting it to be tough, but I’d underestimated how tough. Some serious elevation and two days of longer runs than I’d done in decades made it slow going. I actually liked the trudge, and I didn’t "nd the split board hard to adapt to, but I required frequent stops.