Anticipation - Day one on the Duffey....

One of my favourite past times is the early season dance of where and when to hunt for the first pow of the season. The challenge of limited field information and no resorts reporting conditions in early November only adds to the anticipation and fuels the hunt. It's tough to put into words how much excitement is associated with this activity but it never gets old and I always feel like a kid on the first snow day of the season. The night before a bunch of texts are exchanged between buddies comparing data from various internet links of weather stations and web cams. The final decision is made and the early morning meeting time is set. Game on!

Zoe, Ross and Kurt headed out with me and after a 2.5 hour drive from Squamish we found ourselves in the eastern Cayoosh Range of the Duffey Lake Road. We were setting a skin track before 10:30am under blue skies and sunshine....            

The stoke was HIGH as we prepared to drop in to our first turns of true season. This was the first time I had a chance to use my new G3 Alpinist High Traction Skins in deep snow. The new tip and tail connectors worked better than any skins I've used to date with no snow slipping underneath. Nice work G3!                    

We found a meadow with some nice low angle cruising....

And as we neared tree-line it got deep!  

From this area we enjoyed some great views of previously shredded zones and some of the best New Year's memories....    

                         

After four solid laps we declared November 14 a successful day number one. Just as we were heading out the skies became dark and it started to puke! Go get it when you can!