Hey all!
As you may have heard, last week was Grenade Games 6 as well as Telus Festival up in Whistler. It was fun to watch the events, especially when the sun was out. In all, everyone seemed to have had a great time and along with the free live entertainment, there were a lot fun events to watch. This is a video tease from the Grenade Games 6 Grand Finale.
Enjoy!
Hey guys, for some of you this post may be quite similar to one from a couple moths ago. Anyway here is the final version of the time lapse project my friend and I have been working on. Pretty much entirely diffferent from the original version. The project was filmed over the 2010 Olympics in many various locations across Vancouver. It was all filmed on the HVX – 200 in 2 fps and sped up in post. Hope you enjoy it and feel free to comment.
Thats all for now, check in later for a Whistler edit with Liam Casey and James Anderson.
Jeremy
Hey everyone!
Grouse has been killing it lately, and there have been a lot of opportunities to free ride as well as hit up the Cut park and Paradise jib park. Last night, we mostly looked around for natural jibs and fun little side hits on expo. At one point, Reid Alex, Anthony Cervantes and I were riding up the Greenway Express chair. A small child decided that it would be a good idea to hop onto our chair last minute. He managed to get on half way, and we all tried to pull him up. By this point we were a little ways up, and without him saying anything, we had no idea what he was trying to do, so we held on. After about two meters, he jumped off and ducked just in time for him to miss the chair that was coming towards his head. I’m going to have to say that at the time it was one of the most bizarre experiences of my life and thank goodness he’s okay! Keep your kids on a leash! Haha, don’t actually. This was one of the exciting points of the evening, as well as scoping out some fun logs and natural stalls. By 7pm, the sun was starting to set, but the snow remained slushy and fun!
It’s awesome to see everyone having fun on all the local mountains, as well as Whistler! Heres a video of one of the best days in Whistler ever! Most people switched skis for snowboards and vice versa and had one of the funniest days filming ever. Ex-Grouse locals Liam Casey, James Anderson, Spencer Watson and Ryan Belich killed it, and make sure you watch to the end to see the banger! Enjoy!
As many of you may know, Liam Casey is now a Surface team rider. As he has just gotten the 2010 Surface New Lifes, I got him to tell us what he thought.
Photo - Scott Titterington
First Impressions
My first lap on these bad boys was down Couloir Extreme above Jersey Cream Chair on Blackcomb Mountain. I was pretty nervous at first as I have never skied on rockered skis in my life and this was one of or the steepest run on blackcomb. The conditions were soft which helped and after a few turns I got into the groove and ripped the rest of the bowl. WOOO so much fun! James Anderson and I ripped down to go up Glacier Chair and headed to good ol’ spanky’s ladder. We ripped Ruby Bowl twice and oh boy these skis were just a treat. I did a few 180s off cliffs and airs and was amazed how well riding switch was on these babies. I remember thinking “I should have fallen by now. What’s going on?” but I hadn’t. I have never skied that fast switch in powder before. It was as if I was if I was on a normal groomer… suuper easy.
After this we met up with Andrew Pires, Zavier Vaillancourt, and Yu Sasaki (4frnt freeride slayer). We spent the rest of the day in CBC trees and my skis were allowing me to stomp cliffs, ride pow, hop pillows better than I have ever done. The rocker and the width on these allow you to land upright and not backseat so you are in more control and comfort. just like a groomer.
Anyways that was my first day. I have never skied a better ski in my life and I had a grin from ear to ear all day.
2010 Surface New Life
Groomers
I knew that these were going to be able to slay pow like nothing, but I was worried how riding groomers was going to be like. To my surprise, these actually ripped! I was still able to lay down fast carves all the way to the next pow run. I was very pleased.
Performance Spec
Flex
The flex on these is quite stiff, just the way I like it. Actually, all the Surface skis are on the stiffer side. No noodles here.
Strength
They seem to be stronger than an ox, although I haven’t had many days on these guys, so time will tell I guess. I haven’t heard of any issues yet with them or any other skis in the line as of yet from the Surface Skis boys or anyone else.
Overall
My overall impression on these beasts is simply wow. By far the best ski I’ve ever had the pleasure of riding. They make pow skiing a breeze forwards and switch. The rocker makes for great landings way more often. Really a nice solid, fun, ripping ski.
If you want to check these skis out or any other Surface skis, North Shore Ski and Board on Lonsdale carries the brand. Eliel Hindert (Surface Skis rider and rep) and crew will be in Whistler January 18th at TMC shop for you to demo them out. If you can’t make it on that date, send Eliel a facebook message to demo a pair and I’m sure he can hook it up as he will be in Vancouver and Whistler a lot this season.
Thanks for reading.
So, if you haven’t heard, Whistler is AMAZING right now. To take advantage of this fact, Frodo, Kyle Jasper, Matt Whelan and I headed up there yesterday and oh ya, it was perfect! Started off with some park laps and found that every jump was absolutely perfect so we sessioned them for most of the day. Since we were having so much fun, I didn’t even bring the camera out till about the 6th lap and only managed to get a couple decent shots before heading in for lunch. After lunch we went up the peak to shred some pow. It had been almost a week since the last storm and there was still plenty of fluffy white powder to float on. We were all pretty tired, so we decided to head down on a good note. All in all, the day was sick and everyone reading this should head up to Whistler before the huge crowds arrive because it’s prime right now. Here are the few shots I got this weekend and hopefully I’ll be able to shoot some deep pow slashes up Grouse soon!
Matt Whelan stoked on the park (and life) after the first lap
Matt Whelan. 180 off the first perfect step over
Kyle Jasper on the up box
Getting artsy on the way home
Bill
So here it is; my first post to Grouse Park. Being as none of you really know me, I should probably introduce myself. My name is Hamish and I’m Scottish. I grew up there, though I now live near Boston, MA. I started snowboarding in Waterville Valley (East Coast jeaa!), NH, and it wasn’t long before shredding began to take over my winters. I finished high school after a few years of being a weekend warrior and proceeded to spend the following year as a ski bum in New Zealand and Colorado.
Now, I go to school at UBC, which despite the work and classes, really isn’t all that far off from living like I did in a ski resort. I’m up at Whistler pretty much every weekend, and now, thanks to Sam as well as all of you reading this, am going to be spending a lot more time on the North Shore Mountains shooting photos… stoked! But rather than go on rambling, I’m going to leave you with two of my photos; the first is from the bottom of the world, and the second is from a more familiar place just up the road.
Enjoy.
Unknown rider, Snow Park, New Zealand
Dylan Green, Blackcomb Park
Hamish
Hey there!
Unfortunately, I haven’t had internet for the past week, but this weekend I did have the opportunity to ride some powder up in Whistler. I’m sure most of you remember former bloggers, park crew and Grouse riders Dan and Nathan Jonas, Scott Titterington, Liam Casey, James Anderson and Ryan Belich. This year, they flew from the Grouse nest and are all living together in a house in Alta Vista, Whistler. It’s been nice to catch up and ride some powder with them at their new home mountain. The six of them have been continuing to kill it in Whistler and after seeing them the past few weekends, it seems like their loving it up there. They’re all really cool guys and are doing great things up in Whistler this year. Here are some photos of what they have been up to lately, and also some shots from last year at Grouse.
Surface riders Liam Casey and Eliel Hindert
Ryan's fractured wrist
James and Liam
Dan at Grouse last season
Scott in a Snuggie
Snow photos by Scott Titterington
Have fun, Grouse!
-Alice
