Cat Skiing with Fernie Wilderness Adventures

Spending the season in Fernie was a really amazing experience. There was a few days that will be forever edged into my memory. One of those is the EPIC day we’ve spent Cat-skiing with Fernie Wilderness Adventures. The conditions were as good as it gets. There was about 20-30cm of fresh snow that fell a day or two before we went, and the day was a picture perfect blue bird day!

Now as many people has asked me what Cat Skiing is, let me explain. When you ski inside a resort boundary, you usually take a chairlift up the mountain and then ski down a run. The area inside a resort is controlled for avalanches and is groomed daily. This grooming is done by a snow cat. That looks like this:

A typical snow cat used to groom slopes inside a resort

These wonderful machines can also be modified to carry people up a mountain. So when you want to find the best untracked powder, don’t want to skin (hike) up a mountain and don’t have the budget to do heli-skiing, cat skiing is the perfect solution. Here is a picture of the cat we were in:

This cat has a cabin on the back to carry you up the mountain

Now I thought I loved skiing before we went to Fernie. But there I learned about a whole new way of skiing. Skiing in powder is an amazing feeling. It feels like you are floating on clouds. And although we had bunch of days in the resort where we could ski fresh powder, the cat skiing took it to completely new level!

The terrain we skied on was great, mostly between spectacular trees, with views that leaves you breathless. Here is another amazing pictures the photographer took on the day:

The views while cat skiing was fantastic!

It was a quite a surreal experience to be honest. I have seen many of these extreme skiing videos of people skiing in the wilderness. This was the first time that we were skiing in one of those videos. Nick Nault the photographer did such an amazing job on the day, watching his pictures afterwards enhanced the experience significantly. Here are a few more astonishing pics:

Jonathan and I making fresh tracks! Living the dream!

One of our guide day getting some air, jumping between to tight trees!

One of our guides on the day getting some air, jumping between two tight trees!

Stunning picture of us making the traverse on the top on the mountain.

Stunning picture of us making the traverse on the top of the mountain.

This was a wonderful day. If you ever have the chance to go cat skiing, don’t miss out! Next time I would love to try heli-skiing as well!

Thanks to our guide, Fernie Wilderness Adventure, Nonstop and Nick for making this a wonderful day for all of us!

There is a book full of amazing picture taken at one of the other Cat Skiing operations in Fernie, Island Lake Lodge. It was done by some local legends. It is called Bears Above the Valley.

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

I have never before ventured into the world of philosophy. Although I have been curios at times to know more about it, I never got to read a book on the subject. I was actually prompted to read Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by a quote in a Paul Graham essay, then after seeing some tweets from others that have read it, I had to give it a try. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance was a very long read, but I found it thoroughly thought provoking. It definitely got my mind thinking and asking questions even more than it usually does while reading.

The timing of reading the book was also a happy coincident. Spending the ski season in a small BC ski town, and embracing the mountain lifestyle, was the perfect setting for me to read this 1970s’ classic. It helped me think about what a quality life would really mean for me and my family, and where we are most likely to find it.

==> Click here to buy: Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance <==

The book tells the story of a motorcycle journey through the North West United States, while on the road trip the narrator takes you on an intellectual expedition of discovery into philosophy. He asks some fascinating questions about quality, technology and education. It also gives insight into the narrator’s struggles with mental illness and his relationship with his teenage son.

As many in my generation, my idea of technology is sometimes limit to what we experience today. So when he talks about how technology changes the world in a book written before I was born, it serves as a reminder that technology transcends our lifetimes.

The way he talks about working on a motorcycle in the book reminds me what great cricket batsmen always say they try and do while batting. To live in the moment, they look for that state of mind where you don’t think about anything else than the next ball you have to face. This ability to completely embrace in what you are doing is something I want to work on.

==> Click here to buy: Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance <==

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance was also the first book in a long time, maybe ever, that I have read written in the first person. As the author explains in the introduction to this edition, that limits the reader to the narrators view of the world. After finishing the book, I had to read the introduction again. This got me thinking how the same limitations apply to own thoughts and the way we view the world.

I can see how Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance became a classic. Take the time to read it, you will not regret it.

Startup Life – Review

I have really enjoyed all of Brad Feld’s books I have read. Venture Deals and Startup Communities were two of my favourites. Startup Life co-authored by Brad and his wife Amy was the next instalment in his Startup series. For some reason I was a little hesitant to read it. I was not sure I wanted to get the balanced life and relationship advice I thought it would offer.

==> Click here to buy: Startup Life <==

Luckily Brad had a competition a few weeks ago. He offered a dinner with two couples and their partners as the prize. All you had to do to enter was to buy the book and send him proof. I obliged entering for both the amazon and B&N competitions.

So when I finished the Founders Dilemma’s, I started to read Startup Life. It turned out to be a really awesome read. Brad and Amy offer some great practical life to help everybody in the family adjust to the pressures of startup life.

They’ve also included some advice and inserts from other entrepreneurial couples. Since they don’t have kids, most of the chapters on kids was contributions by others who do have kids.

They have a big focus on communication, which forms a central theme throughout the book. They give some great examples from their own relationship on how to work on improving communication. They have some great suggestions like four minutes focused on each other each morning, life dinner and quarterly vacations off the grid. Many of these suggestions came when Amy renegotiated their relationship years into their marriage.

I am really glad I read this one. Next step is to get my wife to read it as well. It will definitely help us have a better relationship going forward. Especially as I get ready to do my next startup.

==> Click here to buy: Startup Life <==

Thanks Brad and Amy for going to the effort of writing Startup Life, and being so open in sharing many of your personal thoughts and solutions. I look forward to the next instalment in the Startup series.

Castle Mountain

This weekend we had one of our best ski days ever while on a road trip to Castle Mountain, AB. More than 20 cm of fresh powder helped to make this a really memorable road trip! Castle Mountain is tucked away in the South West corner of Alberta, close to the BC border. It is about a 2 hours drive from Fernie.

After we’ve finished our CSIA level 1 course this week, everybody on the bus to Castle Mountain was very keen to play in the powder that had been accumulating all week. As we were getting of the bus, a guest services representative announced that there were more than 35 cm of powder at some spots on the mountain.

View Larger Map

Not even the extremely slow lifts or long lines could damper our enthusiasm. We wanted to get to the top to explore one of the many black and double diamond runs on the mountain, but after riding up the blue lift, we found the red lift still closed.

We were still hearing some explosion being set off by the ski patrol to make parts of the mountain safe. So we did a quick run down to the bottom to warm up. This time around we thought we should try the T-bar up, since the line was much shorter, which was a big mistake. The T-bar is very long and steep, and my legs were burning by the time we got to the top.

But then we had our first real taste of powder of the morning, skiing some fresh lines down to the red lift, which had since opened. The red lift was an even slower two person’s chair with long lines all day.

But the wait was worth it, we skied fresh powder all day. Every time we were going up the slow lifts, I would wish for a faster quad lift, but every time we skied fresh powder I realised the slow lifts keeps the really big crowds away, which allowed us to still make fresh tracks at 1600.

Had my best ski day ever in the POWDER at Castle Mountain. Photo: skicastle.ca

The resort has some amazing runs, steep black and double blacks are all over the mountain. My personal favourite was one of the dense tree runs we did on the right hand side boundary of the resort, thigh deep in fluffy fresh snow!

It is unfair to really try to compare the day we had in Castle Mountain to the time we have spent in Kimberly or Whitefish. On a powder day like we had, Castle Mountain was the best place in the world to be! Castle Mountain also have ‘the best’ cat skiing in Alberta, but there was no need to get a cat to make fresh tracks on Saturday.

There are two lifts servicing the lower parts of the mountain where beginners can ski green and blue runs. There are also a few blues from the top part of the mountain, but you should be a confident intermediate before attempting them.

If there is powder around Castle Mountain it is worth the drive to go and have some fun!

CSIA level 1 Ski Instructors

This week we went through the CSIA Level 1 course. We are both now officially qualified to be ski instructors. YEA! NonStop prepared us really well for the CSIA Level 1 course. The CSIA level 1 course span over three days and is based on continuous evaluation. You had to show an acceptable level of competency in your own skiing as well as teaching the basic of skiing.

Although it was a little painful at times to be demonstrating a snowplow while fresh powder was calling, I am glad we persisted. We both had great course evaluators that help us not only improve our own skiing but also master the teaching aspect.

My CSIA level 1 Group, with Louisa our Instructor Photo: Courtesy of Jonathon Ralfe – http://www.drduvel.net

As part of the course we got a copy of the Canadian Ski Teaching Manual. The manual covers all aspects of ski teaching; the way the Canadians believe it should be done, including guest services. A big part of a ski instructors job is to make sure the guests have a great time and come back in order to make the industry more viable.

Motor learning happens is 5 stages: Initiation, Acquisition, Consolidation, Refinement and Creative Variation. In order to pass CSIA level 1, your own skiing has to be at the Acquisition stages for all 5 of the basic skills in skiing. The basic skills are:

Stance and Balance
Pivoting
Pressure Control
Edging
Timing and coordination

By applying these skills appropriately to skiing it creates three basic competencies: A centred and mobile stance, turning with the lower body and balance on the edges of the skis.

We also had to learn how to teach a real beginner, somebody who has never skied before, and get them to skiing parallel. This process is called “fast track to parallel”. There are 5 steps to achieve this:

Mobility. Getting guest familiar with the equipment and conditions. Including safely carrying the equipment.
Sliding. Getting comfortable with sliding on the skis. Usually starting with one ski, then the other then on both skis.
Stopping. Getting comfortable with stopping in a snowplow.
Turning. Doing slow snowplow turns, first to one side and then to the other.
Linking turns. Linking left and right turns together.

Once a guest can link two turns they are ready to go up one of the chair lifts and get some mileage. They also need to be taught to get on and off the chairlift.

We also worked through the 6 steps to for a great lesson: Assess the students, consider terrain, assess basic competencies, choose development tactics, evaluate progress and guided mileage.