A crew from Armada Skis was up at Selkirk Wilderness Skiing and they sure hit it right. SWS had just done their guides training week on top of a 2 metre base with another 100cms that fell during the week! You can see there is no exageration here when you watch the video of the sweet Selkirk Wilderness pillow lines.
Enjoy!
Oh, and if you dig Armada Skis, check out our friends at www.freshair.ca >>>
One Part Sunshine, Two Parts Powder = Epic Catskiing
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At the end of our second day catskiing at Valhalla Powder Cats, the snowfall that the weather forecasters had promised started to fall. The town of Nelson was serene and silent as the snow came down and our anticipation of the next day started to grow. We woke up to about five centimeters in town which translated to much more in the alpine.
We made the trek up to the Valhalla weather plot where each day is started and to our delight there was what looked like 15-20 cms of fresh Kootenay powder...and the sun came out! The first few runs were mayhem, we felt like kids in a candy store. Our guides Josh and Caleb made sure our group made the best of the sunshine taking us to runs where we could shred the fresh pow while basking in the sun glowing overhead.
Mid-day the 'Kootenay Ocean' grew larger and consumed the Valhalla's. It then started to snow a little which quickly turned into alot. As the flakes got larger we got deeper and deeper into the terrain and explored further than we ever had this early in the season. The features we saw had our heads spinning looking at all of the options. The Valhallla catskiing terrain is so varied giving every ridge line and aspect a different feel and vibe. We left the day completely satisfied and stoked to come back and see what else we can find waiting for us deep in the Valhalla's...
Thanks to all of the guides, staff and the rest of our catskiing group for an amazing experience at Valhalla Powdercats!
Stay tuned for more pictures from our 3-days of powder skiing at Valhalla Powdercats.
We were treated to more Powder on Day Two at Valhalla Powdercats
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Day Two of our Valhalla Powdercats trip and we got even deeper into their terrain. Never before have we been this far back this early in the season. BC was treated to a serious amount of early season snow which has blessed the mountains with more snowpack that usual. This is a bonus for those of us into catskiing!
We can't remember what run the above shot was taken on but that doesn't really matter. Everywhere was deep and soft and our entire cat loved every turn. We had a couple over from England join us today on their first trip to BC, their first trip to the Kootenays and their first trip catskiing. The look in their eyes told us that they will be back in our neck of the woods. They couldn't have picked a better season to come try out what this area has to offer.
Our lead guide and operation manager Tyler and our tail guide Carla gave us another remarkable day in the backcountry. Can't wait to see what tomorrow brings us at Valhalla Powdercats...
It's dumping in the Kootenays! Get in on it before they fill up!
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Stay 3 nights January 7th, 8th and 9th
Catski 3 days January 8th, 9th and 10th
Expert group.
$999 plus tax per person,
Just 4 spots available!!
Call Paula at (250) 362-2271
Day One of Three and the Powder is a plenty!
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You often hear people say that a picture is worth a thousand words. Today at Valhalla Powdercats we got a full memory card full of those kind of pictures. The sample you see above is from a super-fantastic rip down a run aptly named Pick-a-Pop. There are spines and powder pillows all the way down the slope.
It was only day one today of a three day excursion to Valhalla Powdercats and things are looking very promising. We are out here with a group from Freshair.ca and the getting is good. A little more snow fell today and the temps are perfect.
If you haven't got a trip booked to Valhalla yet you had better get on it. Or you can always enter our contest and get out here for a lot less cash!
This is just day one so stay tuned for more pics, vids and stories coming out of Valhalla this weekend.
TWO Days for TWO people from Freshair.ca
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Valhalla PowderCats and Freshair.ca have teamed up to give away TWO days of catskiing for TWO people. All you have to do is enter the contest and then decide who your best friend is that you want to take. Valhalla Powdercats is an exciting place to ski Kootenay powder and Freshair.ca is the place to get all the best skis in Canada online.
We are on our way to Valhalla today for a three day adventure. We will share the pics, video and stories right here to get you stoked when you win!
What are you still reading this for?!
Growing up many boys read comic books. We read Powder Magazine! We dreamed of one day being on the pages of this pinnacle of skiing media and now it has happened. Our photographer Geoff Holman and skier Adam Benson are in the latest issue of Powder. And not just any Powder issue, but the Photo Annual no less! Needless to say, we are all stoked here at Catskiing Canada headquarters.
The photo above was taken last January at Valhalla Powdercats near Nelson BC. It was on our second day of the trip and we had the pleasure of taking an early run while the new group joining us did their safety briefing. It has snowed somewhere between 20-25cm and it was still coming down. Geoff had been experimenting with new flash equipment and photo set ups and the result ended up on the pages of Powder.
Thanks to Valhalla Powdercats for the opportunity to get this shot (and many more!). Thanks to Powder Magazine for noticing Geoff's work and thanks to Mother Nature for the Kootenay Pow!
We are off to Valhalla Powdercats next week to find photos for next year's Powder...
James Smith from Seattle Come On Down!
A very stoked James Smith has won the 2012 Great Catskiing Giveaway Contest! He is the lucky recipient of TWO days of catskiing for TWO people! James could choose from one of four amazing catskiing operators: Big Red Cats, Valhalla Powdercats, K3 Catskiiing, and Selkirk Wilderness Skiing.
James has decided to go with Valhalla Powdercats located out of Nelson BC. It sounds like James is going to combine a his trip with a few days at Whitewater while he is out. Why not eh? Since Nelson/Rossland just won Best Ski Town(s) as voted by the readers of Powder Magazine!
As an added bonus, James also received TWO jackets from Outdoor Research and TWO base layer kits from Icebreaker Merino. I am sure he will have a line up of people offering up reasons why they should get to go with him!
We want to thanks all of our participating catskiing operators and our sponsors for this fun giveaway. And thanks to all of your for entering.
Stay tuned for the next contest announcing very soon...
The season is off to a strong start at Big Red Catskiing
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It is technically early season in the skiing world but you wouldn't know it up at Big Red Catskiing near Rossland BC. We have been hearing the stories of epic powder dumps and rapidly accumulating snow bases across BC so we had to check it out for ourselves.
Our first catskiing trip of the season happened on December 11th and Big Red Cats was the place. This wasn't their first day though...they have been running cats since the last weekend of November! As a result, they have an early road network built like no other early season which got us to many new skiing spots; even some runs that were skied for the first time.
We have been skiing Big Red Cats since the year they opened and have never seen a December like this. Normally we would expect that we would see some exposed rocks, stumps, alder and other reminisce of summer. But not this season. No, this year it is all powder and we aren't complaining. In fact, we had an incredible day filled with powder bowls and tree skiing. We even found a few things to huck ourselves off!
This season we were reunited with Bob Legasa and his crew from Freeride Media. Bob hails from Sandpoint Idaho and is a regular visitor to BC for catskiing and heliskiing. We always enjoy skiing with Bob and his crew and had another day for the history books. We will be talking about this opening day for years to come I am sure.
We are stoked for what the rest of the season has in store for us. We can confidently recommend that if you are thinking about some early season catskiing that you should give Kieren and Paula a call at Big Red Catskiing. They are set up and skiing and have some fantastic early season promos to help you get your powder fix in. Besides, who doesn't need an early Christmas present?!
Until then, check out our photos from the day. Enjoy!
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