This was a big event for Revelstoke this season. It was the only resort in Canada to host the event and one of two in North America. In the event skiers and snowboarders compete to put together the most spectacular run in some pretty extreme terrain. Judging is summarized as follows:

Only one unique score, “the overall impression,” will determine the riders’ final score. Judges use a point system of a hundred increments from 0.0 to 10.0 to evaluate the run. The line, air & style, fluidity, control, and technique are the five judging criteria.
Line: where in the face/difficulty/originality/use of terrain
Air&Style: number of jumps/size/tricks/style/landings
Fluidity: relative speed/stops/hesitations/unnecessary crossing/hiking
Control: riding control issues
Technique: bad turns/power turns/side slipping/backseat riding/counter rotation/bad or good slough management.

Cypress Mountain will be announcing their video contest winners later today.  I went through about a third of them and this was my favourite so far.  I’ll post the winner later.

Powder Hounds – The Search Continues from Safety First Productions on Vimeo.

After about an hour of searching for recent and local powder videos, I gave in and started searching for extreme skiing videos.  In very short order I came across this little gem.  It’s about an hour long but well worth taking the time to watch the whole thing.  The cinematography is top notch and the skiing rules!  Great work guys!

A SECRET SPOT from Falquet bros AKA Huck & Chuck on Vimeo.

This sweet little arsty bit was posted on Facebook by Revelstoke Mountain Resort.  It has some great scenery and reminds me what powder snow looks like.

Fernie was the one place with lot’s of snow this past weekend so I went searching for some videos of people enjoying the pow pow.  This one was uploaded 4 days ago but I’m not sure if it was shot last week too.  No matter.  These guys are having a lot of fun and I like the music.  So here you go… Fernie Skiing!

I discovered the ‘Girls Do Ski’ video on Revelstoke Mountain Resort’s videos webpage.  Last weekend was Girl’s Day Out at Revy and I’m sorry I wasn’t aware of it.  But I’m not too late to spread the word about Girl’s Day Out at Kicking Horse this weekend.  There’s also a good chance I’ll be at KHR on Saturday so I’ll keep an eye out for the girls having fun.  If you’re thinking of checking out the GDS event, have a look at this video from Girl’s Day Out at Kicking Horse 2011.

Whistler has received 115cms of new snow this week and as this video demonstrates there were “face shots a plenty” all week.  This video of James Heim was uploaded 3 days ago and it already has 13,000 views.  Conditions at Whistler look stellar and they received another 36cms yesterday.  Wicked!!

Sorry, I was bit slow posting this video.  When I watched it last week I intended to put it up right away.  Better late than never.  I liked this one because it reminded me of an eastern version of Kootenay Street Segment.  Not quite as slick but still entertaining.  This pick gives you an example of what 45cms does to a major city like Montreal.

On the upside, you get some pretty decent turns without having to leave the city!

I discovered Alyeska last season when I was searching North America for resorts that had lots of snow.  Today they’re reporting 23cms overnight with a 215cm base.  The base is about equivalent to what Fernie has right now.  One thing I noticed from poking around their website is that the heli-skiing and cat skiing up there is very reasonable in comparison to what we pay in the Rockies.

After watching about a dozen videos from Alyeska I decided that these two were my favorites because they capture the spirit of youth and provide some pretty great images of what Aleyska has to offer.  Enjoy!

Well that was fun. from Luke Tanaka on Vimeo.

All day from Alyeska Resort, Alaska on Vimeo.

This video was uploaded to youtube last weekend and it captures all the fun and excitement from December 19th when conditions were arguably at their best last week.  Craig’s Tumblr Blog described the conditions last Wednesday as, “as good as it gets”.  Imagine tons of light and fresh powder with very few people out there to track it up on you.  This explains why they were still skiing fresh lines at the end of the day.  These are rare events!