Breakin the Birkenhead....

It's the time of year when my job starts winding down so mid week missions start becoming a reality. Last Wed night Kurt and I jammed out to the tiny village of Pemberswiss. This location would put us a stones throw away from the gateway to the Sun God.

On route we stopped into the fine Pemberton establishment of Mile 1 and got directions to our objective.  

After a few evening pops we woke early to a bit of a power blizzard.

Within a few km's from the truck it was apparent this was going to be a very deep day. We were the first on the road since the last couple of big storms. At 1200m it was nipple neep!

 
We soon found ourselves below the prize.

Trail breaking was heinous!
       

The aptly named Sun God shone bright....  

 
After 3 hours on the trail and 2 on the sled the short December day caught up to us.

The snow was spectacular...

I've been fortunate to be test piloting a proto-type G3 splitty. All signs point to it being a dominate pow weapon! Photo: Kurt Withers.

 
I'll be back! 

Hope Hurley's got the Pow....

It's the time of year when scouring the web for snow data is a regular habit of mine. With everything lining up for a bluebird week-end finding the "Right" zone was a must! The Hurley's legendary dumps rarely let us down so we aimed the truck north and headed past Pemberton.

The new 2013 XM in the garage has been raring to get out into the deep so we intended to put some easy break-in miles on her and head to Bralorne for an evening at the bar and local accommodations.

This thing's gonna be ridiculous!

The day was early so we headed into Hope Creek for some turns.

We decided to pop into Backcountry Snowcats and check out what a bunch of my friends have been raving about. Reg and Kathy were quick to greet us and offered up afternoon coffee and tea. The hospitality was amazing and Reg offered to show us the terrain when we finished lunch.

We had time for a quick lap in some pretty juicy looking trees.

The afternoon alpenglow was pretty spectacular....

We headed back onto the Hurley and 30 min later we came across a plowed East Hurley that was supposed to be our route to Bralorne. While at Backcountry Snowcats, Reg offered us accommodations so we were eager to take him up on it.

An hour later the beers were going down easy in the hot tub with a million dollar view. Reg and Kathy cooked up a great curry dinner and we had great company over more beers.

-17degC Sunday am.

Danielle and I helped out with some roof shovelling after breakfast and headed out for the day.

         
All roads lead to well spaced burned forests!

 
The Grouty Mountain alpine was amazing....

The month of Snowvember is officially on....

Snowvemberfest....

It didn't take long for the month of Snowvember to begin. Only a week ago the forests around Squamish were still snow free and covered by moss. Kurt and Chris skipped out of work Wed to help the out with the early season pow hunt. I knew an obvious place where pow dreams usually come true so we headed north from rainy Squamish.

We were greeted by a friendly hauler who stopped us and asked in a not so friendly way "Do you have business here?" We replied "skiing is our business here." He pointed towards Whistler and said "The ski hill is that way!" With the morning instabilities out of the way we proceeded towards shred mountain....

The forest looked winter-like.

G3 Split-board?

The first legitimate turns of the season were good.

So stoked to be back in the snow!

 
After three solid runs we headed back to the rain.

KMC Published....

Stoked to have a shot used by Prior Snowboards and published in the Kootenay Mountain Culture mag that just hit the stands November of 2012. Danielle and Jack approaching the Birkenhead on one of the best days of last season! http://patmulrooney.blogspot.ca/2012/03/birkenspitze-shred.html