Whitefish, MT (February 28, 2010)

Hello from Whitefish, MT—where spring has sprung a little early, much like on the west coast. I arrived here at 10 a.m. this morning, fresh off the Amtrak line to beautiful blue skies and above freezing temperatures. But it felt strangely uncrowded at Whitefish Mountain Resort—lineups hardly existed and the groomers were groomed to perfection. Perhaps it was the raucous crowd bused in from Calgary and drinking heavily at The Bierstube watching the gold medal hockey game that kept the lineups at bay. It was there that, later in the afternoon, I bore witness to a transition from “Oh Canada” to Biz Markie’s “Just a Friend” to celebrate Olympic gold.

Out on the hill, I was greeted by the park staff who were ‘jump testing’ a fresh line of kickers in the 50-60 foot range, and rallied laps in the afternoon sun as 11 year old ski racers chased us down the big line. Double corks, apparently, are commonplace these days in the parks of central MT—word in the lift line was that one kid was trying to up the ante with triple backs and coming up just a little short, but I failed to get a glimpse of that spectacle.

With news just in that Whitefish local and K2 ripper Aaron Robinson won the third stop of The North Face Masters at Kirkwood, it’s time to squeeze in a few more spring-esque laps in the morning before rallying to Missoula to meet up with Aaron, his brother Jason, Shane Stalling and photog Jeff Hawe and head for the backcountry—it’s a bit colder down south. But we'll be back in time for next saturday’s brewfest...

Thanks to Lisa Jones, Amtrak (sleeper cars are my new favorite way to travel), Whitefish Mountain Resort, the Garden Wall Inn and the Canadian hockey team. This is just the beginning…

Images:

01 - Alex Wesolovski backside 5, shortly after a 30-feet-too-far scorpion.

02 - Terrain Park Manager Ian Mull, back lip with radio harness.

03 - Follow cammers.

04 - Alex Wesolovski, back 1 rocket.