My first trip to Mt. Baker turned out to be a memorable one. After only 6 runs, I had a head-on collision with a skier and ended up breaking my beak. The older man I collided with seemed to be fine and skied off after a few minutes, leaving me to bleed all over the snow on my own, as I waited for the ski patrol to arrive. It turned out that I also got a mild concussion and had to call it quits for the day. Unfortunately for me, the conditions were absolutely amazing, with a foot of fresh powder blanketing every inch of the hill. On a brighter note, I did receive a free day pass for my next trip to the legendary mountain, because I got injured before noon! Yay! Oh, and another good thing… my nose doesn’t look as bad as it does in the picture, just a little extra bump.

Danny and Matt, a couple of old friends of mine from high school, sent me some pics of them launching off of a kicker they built up at Big White in Kelowna BC. Although this image of Matt doesn’t show it, they were clearing a pretty decent sized gap, over a cat track. Danny also sent me a nice little clip of him doing a smooth frontside 360 and riding away cleanly. Thanks for sharing Danny… be sure to send some more!

A while back, I wrote about the musical talents of Tim Gilbertson. Well, his first full length record was just picked up by Edmonton-based Pop Echo Records, who are going to be releasing it to the masses sometime in May. Also of note: he has a show coming up at the Powerplant on February 3rd, as well as an interview with the Edmonton Journal scheduled for the near future. If you haven’t already done so, I highly recommend you check out his myspace page for some samples of his music. And of course, be on the lookout for his debut release in May!

This past Saturday, Rachel, Steff and I hit the slopes up at the Summit. While the weather was a little more chilly than usual, we all had a great time. Steff learned how to connect some turns, and Rachel was looking like an old pro as she carved the mountain with reckless abandon. I did, however, video her taking a nasty spill! Next weekend, My brother-in-law Rick and I are heading to Mt. Baker. It will be my first time there, and I’m totally looking forward to an awesome day. I’ll be sure to bring the camera along, so check back for updates soon!