We just received an update from Helly Hansen Ambassador and Freeride World Tour competitor Jackie Paaso:
I arrived in Revelstoke, B.C. after a few days on the road up from snowless Lake Tahoe. Reine Barkered and I first stopped off in Bellingham, WA to meet up with Grant Gunderson from the Ski Journal to hopefully get some shooting in. Unfortunately we didn't arrive there until New Years Eve. We had missed the good snow at Mt. Baker by a few hours. The group still headed out on New Years day hoping the forecast was going to be wrong and that the freezing levels would stay high. We took a few runs and got a bit of a tour of the mountain and were showed some avi damaged areas from the previous year (check out the sobering photo of last year's avi damage). It's pretty nice to see how seriously Mt. Baker takes off piste skiing at the resort. They require everyone going off the trail to wear a beacon and pack with probe and shovel. After a few warm up runs we headed to the top and traversed out towards Mt. Shuksan. When we first dropped in it was the best five turns of my season and then it got scary. It had warmed up faster than any us of have ever seen and snow was rolling on it's own. The plan quickly changed and it was more about getting out of there A.S.A.P.!
Our trip to Mt. Baker turned into a bit of a bust as far as shooting was concerned. However I did get a chance to test out my new Helly gear in the variable conditions! A few storm days on Mt. Baker and I must say my new Verglas 3L Jacket was awesome in the rain/snow I experienced at Mt. Baker! Paired with my Odin Isolator Hoodie I was warm, dry and so comfortable.
After a few days at Mt. Baker we picked up my friend Iris Lazz in Bellingham and headed north to Revelstoke, B.C. for the first stop of the Freeride World Tour. Conditions are amazing up here! These past few days of skiing have been the best of my season. Although I guess that's not saying too much coming from Lake Tahoe this season.
This past Friday, day 1 of the contest was under way. I was feeling pretty confident even though I had only a few days of good training in this season. The snow was perfect for competing! I had a great line picked out and was excited to ski some powder.
In the photo above, the pink line was my intended line choice. When I dropped the first cliff I got sent lookers left and ended up following the green line. Unfortunately my original plan B was actually lookers right and I had not scouted the area I ended up in. I slowly skied down to the cliff looking for a safe exit out. I think this is what killed my score. It took me a bit of time to determine whether or not this new exit was good to go. It was pretty hard to tell from where I was standing. After a bit of a pause I decided it was safe to drop. It was a little rough on the landing but I skied away.
At the end of the day my run was not enough to make it to Day 2. I'm still up here in Revelstoke and the word is there is more snow on the way. I'm looking forward to skiing some powder!
Jackie will head off toward France and Mont Blanc for the second stop of the Freeride World Tour next week, keep tabs on her runs over at the Freeride World Tour website!
