Sun, Kickers and Natural Lines

After over 2 weeks of snow and clouds we finally got to see the sun for three days in a row! Sunrise in the Backcountry before an unforgettable day on the first of three jumps.

Some last fine tuning on Jump #1

The landing of our jump probably had the seize of an average ski slope in Finland...

 We were having a nice session on this one and thanks to the huge landing and Elias shutteling me up with the sled I could ride this jump for 14 times within a couple of hours. I think I have never a hit a single backcountry jump that often!

 And the next day was acutally even better! We hit a jump which is called "the perfect one". And this is just what it feels like. Smooth take off and perfect landing.

Elias was killing it on this one! Be sure to check out his part in this year's People movie!

After another epic kicker session the day wasn't over yet but the most fun part was still to come. With the last light of the day we were shutteling each other up to some short but perfect natural lines.
This is what my first line looked like from the bottom:

 And this was the view from where I dropped in:

I have never ridden such steep terrain before. Thanks to the wet climate due to the short distance to the sea the snow in Whistler just sticks to the rocks like glue.

 Elias picked out a really nice line just 50 meters next to my one:

 

Of course we are not the only people here who want to enjoy perfect conditions like this and therefore you have to get up early to claim the spots. This means getting up at 4.30 am in order to have a decent breakfast:
 
 And then be ready at the parking lot at 6.30 am which is already packed with people at this time:

As the snow was already sun baked on most slopes after 2 sunny days we had to scout for some north facing landings for our third day. At first it seemed liked every kicker spot with good snow had been hit within the last two days until we finally found another perfect spot:



After only three hours of shoveling we had already set up a decent jump thanks to Cameron Hunter's ambitious shoveling!

              
Although we just had two amazing kicker sessions the days before this should be the one blowing our minds. The landing was as soft as feathers and the sunset was overwhelming!

We have had such a good time on this jump that we just did not want to end it even after the light was gone. The last time I hit this jump was at 8.10 pm and this is what the conditions looked like at this time when taking an iphone picture:
This was the perfect ending session of an amazin week full of experiences. We've been snowboarding six days in a row getting up at 4.30 am and arriving home at 10.30 pm!

Now I am looking forward to finally getting some sleep for more than 6 hours a night and letting the sore muscles (neck, shoulders, arms, thumb, back, legs,...) rest for a couple of days and wait for the next snow storm to bring fresh snow again!

We'll be waiting for you Whistler's Backcountry!