Funhogz News

Skiing Snowcrest Mountain

Funhogz Gear Exchange — Wed, 22 Feb 2006 15:58:18 -0800

The crown jewel of St. Mary's daytrips, Snowcrest's elusive East Face has foiled all of my attempts to lay tracks on it. It has been a long-time dream of mine to ski this magnificent piece of Kootenay real estate, but co-ordinating safe conditions, good coverage, and partners work schedules has always stood in the way of a successful trip.

The magic combo for success on this descent is mid-season high pressure with a deep and stable snowpack. Late-season attempts are generally not possible due to large sections of the access road melting out. A trip up to a nearby route on Monday the 13th revealed that conditions were looking ideal for another attempt so partners were coerced, sick days were arranged, and we were set to have a go at it on Wednesday February 15th.

A pre-dawn departure from town followed by a half hour drive and then a freezing cold hour on the sleds found us gawking up at our objective gleaming in the early morning sun:

We were all a little nervous as we discussed routes and alternatives and a tiny bit of doubt about bagging the most classic line started to creep into our conversation. We eventually decided that we'd just have to go up there and have a closer look before deciding exactly where to ski.

We dropped one of the sleds at the creek that drains the east face and continued up the road to a spot that provides better access to the summit. It was a bit of a mad dash to get the skis skinned up and get moving as things were a tad nippy on this bluebird morning. After about an hour and a half of skinning and bushwhacking through mature forest, we were rewarded with our first glimpse of the remainder of our route:

The east face proper (our intended descent route) on the right side of the photo and our climbing route on the left. The snow looked fantastic and not nearly as wind-effected as we were expecting. We dropped down a short distance and entered the winter wonderland that we'd spend the rest of the day in.

Going up:

And up:

And up:

And finally a bit of a bootpack to get past the crux of the climb:

We spent a bit of time on the summit discussing our options and eventually decided that the snow quality and stability were suitable to give'er. Looking down it sealed the deal:

That's just under 1100m (over 3500ft) vertical to the runout zone at the bottom. The whole run back to the sled is about 1400m (4500ft).

The crux of the downhill portion of our day:

Nice powder snow on the lower part of the descent:

A foreshortened view of the whole face:

A bit of a bushwhack back to the sled was followed by high fives and a Kootenay Classic is finally bagged.

Skookumchuck Creek - Short Shuttle

Funhogz Gear Exchange — Fri, 28 Oct 2005 15:40:21 -0700

You may have heard rumors, and now that a trail has been cut, its time to share this with the rest of the paddling community.

A new put-in has been established about 1km downstream (still in the flatwater section) of the traditional put-in. Access to it is via a completely different road system and it only involves about a 20km shuttle. The only real catch to using this put-in is that it involves a 450m mostly flat walk. The walk is a little longer (~700m) if you don't have a high clearance vehicle as there is a deep cross ditch just before the parking spot. (Note: this cross ditch is the only spot on the whole access that cannot be driven in a 2wd car)

Directions:

From the take-out bridge (by the pulp mill), head North as if using the traditional access. Turn left at the first junction (you would normally turn right onto torrent road here) and start heading towards the Skookumchuck lookout. There is a Rec site at Tamarack Lake (approx. 5km from bridge) and this is where the Skook Lookout Forest Service Road (sign) starts, this is also the start of the km markers.

Carry on up the Skook Lookout FSR (staying on the main road) to about the 9km marker (~14km from bridge) where you will turn Left on a road that is signed "BR C". Stay on Branch C (basically just go straight) until you come to a junction with a road labeled "SP E" and continue straight onto Spur E (~16km from bridge).

Once you are on Spur E the road starts to drop steadily. At some point you will see the creek on your Left and it will become apparent where you are going. Stay on Spur E until you are at the bottom of the hill and hang a left at the first junction you come to (somewhere around the 15km sign or about 19km from the bridge).

This road switches back and you will follow it for a short distance (~600m) until you come to yet another junction where you will take a right onto the lower of the roads. Follow this road to it's end where there is a landing and a good place to park. (~20km from bridge) Beware of the cross ditch mentioned earlier that is a couple hundred metres short of the end/ landing.

Now get geared up, shoulder your boat, and head off the end of the landing and into the forest. A trail has been cut and is flagged in blue and pink / black candystripe ribbon. You will go down through the forest and cross a small stream on a fallen log (this stream might be a bit of a problem at really high water but if you are paddling the skook in really high water I'm sure you'll figure out how to get across it)

After crossing the creek, you will emerge into a flat cutblock which you will cross until you hit a road. (no you can't drive to here the way you just came) From this road you can see the Skook and the trail continues down off the road and through the forest to the edge of the Skook.

I know it seems like there must be a spot where the road is closer to the creek, but trust me....there isn't. Have fun and remember to beware of logging trucks, especially on weekdays.

Sully Challenge - July 17, 2005

Funhogz Gear Exchange — Fri, 22 Jul 2005 11:04:34 -0700

A buddy of mine puts on a kickass skateboard race every year during Julyfest in Kimberley. This is the fourth year now and 48 racers showed up from all over the place to compete on one of the hairiest courses on the longboard circuit.

Some of these guys are pretty serious about their longboarding:

Funhogz had a bit of a booth set up to show off some of the latest goodies from Canadian longboard manufacturers Landyachtz and Kebbek:

Here is a shot of a group of racers about to enter the final corner:

The man who put it all together AND raced, Jody aka Shnitzel:

And finally, a bit of a group shot filled with assorted looneys from all over North America:

Funhogz Gear Exchange — Thu, 21 Jul 2005 09:39:07 -0700

I posted a new photo to PlayPhotos.

Skookumchuck Creek

Funhogz Gear Exchange — Sat, 21 May 2005 13:13:43 -0700

I recently made it out for my first run of the year on Skookumchuck Creek. We are incredibly lucky to have this as one of our local runs. It has more rapids than you can shake a paddle at and is pretty much continuous class 3 and 4 whitewater. People travel great distances to paddle this fine run and its right in our backyard. The pictures are from Sunday May 15, the level was medium, and the paddler's name is Shawn.

At the put-in getting ready for action:

Part way through "Shot in the heart" one of only two rapids that are actually named in the guidebook:

Shawn about to get munched in "Pinball", the other named drop:

A clean line through a drop we call "The Punchbowl"

One of a few nice surf waves that appear at this level:

In the middle of what's probably the toughest rapid on the Skook. We call it "The Screaming Right"

Honeymoon in the Alps - Apr.3 - May 9, 2005

Funhogz Gear Exchange — Thu, 19 May 2005 16:29:50 -0700

My lovely wife Denise and I were married last September and decided to postpone the honeymoon until this Spring so we could go skiing in the Alps. We booked our flight in and out of Geneva and knew we would spend at least a little time in Chamonix, other than that we planned on travelling to wherever the skiing seemed best. We figured that at that time of year there wouldn't be too many people around and if we were lucky, we'd even get a few good spring storms.

In the weeks prior to leaving, I was beginning to have a few doubts about the skiing we were about to spend a whack of Canadian pesos to do. Europe was experiencing extremely warm temps and It looked like the snow was disappearing fast. I tried not to let it get to me and went ahead as planned having faith in the snow gods who've treated us so well in the past.

When we arrived in Geneva the temp was in the upper 20s and it looked like full on summer. Upon arriving in Cham, we found ourselves digging out our shorts and enjoying beers outdoors in the sun, looking up at the sparse and rapidly disappearing snow......UGGGGGGHH not at all what we were hoping for. To top it off, everyone we talked to kept going on about how the season was over and that it was the earliest ever and so on. All this information at the end of close 30 hours of travel and jetlag to boot and we weren't particularly happy honeymooners.

Feeling much refreshed after a good night's sleep, we awoke to another bluebird day so we headed straight for the Aiguille du Midi and had an awesome day skiing the Valley Blanche in the scorching heat:

Lunchtime is one of my favourite parts of skiing in the Alps:

The trip up the Midi renewed our faith a bit as there was still ample snow above 2000m and even if we spent most of our time touring the Mt. Blanc massif the skiing looked acceptable. The next day was bluebird again, so we spent the day corndoggin at Brevent and Flegere and had a ton of fun on the rapidly dwindling snow:

The next day it was overcast and started to rain a little...the forecast was calling for it to continue raining for a few days and the freezing level was supposed to drop...hmmmmm..this looks better. Well it didn't let up for like 5 days and by the 3rd morning Chamonix looked like this:

The skiing up on Grands Montets looked like this:

There was up to a meter of new snow up high and when it finally cleared this is what it looked like on the top tram at Grands Montets:

The next day Denise slept in and I had a quick blast down the Rond with a guy named Matt from Oregon:

Then we headed off to the Argientiere hut for a couple days ski touring:

Then another major system moved in and we decided to use the weather days to travel to Engelberg:

Like all of the latest ski mags and vids will tell you, Engelberg was awesome. We found affordable accomodation, a quiet town where most of the ski bums had gone home, and spring passes on sale for less than the price of a 4 day pass...ohya and it was dumping...big time. So we spent a few days skiing incredibly light deep snow in varying degrees of whiteout:

During these days we were two of only a handful of actual skiers on the mountain. The majority of the people riding the lifts were Asian tourists many of whom had never seen snow or skiers before. At first it was kind of entertaining watching them marvel as you step into your skis, but it got old pretty fast:

Then it cleared and we got to sample two of the classic runs that E'berg has to offer (The Steinberg and the Laub):

The Laub....simply one of the most incredible ski runs i've ever seen:

I can only imagine what it must be like when there is deep light powder all the way down this thing. When we skied it there was nice snow about half way down and then it turned into something that looked a little more like this:

After about 8 or 9 days in Engelberg we were ready to try somewhere new. Following a little internet weather check session it appeared that we might be able to score a few powder days at Andermatt. We hopped the next train and were standing in downtown Andermatt in the pouring rain by about noon. It certainly looked like the skiing would be good over the next few days, but nothing seemed to be working out too well (all the affordable accomodation was shut for the season, ski passes at full price for 2 lifts, rude people, and to top it all off, a pay toilet ate one of our francs). So, we took it as a "get the hell outta here you dirtbags" omen and hopped a train back to Argientiere at about 2 oclock the same day we arrived. Well, as it turned out, there was a reason....the next day at Grands Montets was unreal....25cm fresh, blue skies, top tram rides free, no crowds:

An afternoon weather check revealed that there was finally a bit of a window of clear weather in the forecast, so we decided that it was now or never for the Haute Route (one of our goals for the trip). A few phone calls to the huts and we were good to go. We organized all our gear, bought maps, and were off the next morning. We did the Verbier variation (not as technically demanding as the classic route) which i'd recommend based strictly on the quality of the huts. The weather held for the whole trip and we had a positively outstanding time....definately the highlight of our whole trip:

We spent one night in Zermatt and went out for dinner with all our new friends (two other unguided groups that we teamed up with and had a ton of fun). I imagine they are probably used to it there, but it was good humor going out to a fancy restaurant and walking around Zermatt wearing touring boot liners instead of shoes. We took the train back to Argentiere the next morning and finished off our trip with...you guessed it....more powder days and the season end party at Grands Montets:

Spring is Here!

Funhogz Gear Exchange — Sat, 19 Mar 2005 10:45:15 -0800

Spring has sprung in the East Kootenays and Funhogz has everything you need to get out and enjoy yourself in the great outdoors. We've stepped up our bicycle services big time with the addition of journeyman bike mechanic Darin Massicotte. Darin has 15 years experience wrenchin bikes and can handle all your bike repair needs with confidence:

We also carry a full line of new and used parts for BMX, Mountain, and Road Bikes:

As well as an ever changing selection of used bikes:

Some of the local driving ranges are now open and the courses will follow shortly. Funhogs has an excellent selection of single clubs, sets, bags, shoes, and balls...everything you need to get you on the links affordably: