An Ontario Recap

words and photos by Pippin Lee 

So, this season may not have been one of spectacular skiing, or epic trips, in fact the deepest snow I skied all season was probably less than a foot of freshie down at Jay Peaks, but I have to say this season is thrown up there with the best of them simple because of the memories. The season started in spectacular fashion, with the earliest start I can remember. Mid-November up in Collingwood Ontario, they got pounded with about 1 and ½ feet of the white stuff, so up we went and started the season with a great backyard booter session with the help of an ATV .

With the earliest season to date in the books, mother nature failed to give many more days of deep snow on the hill, but snow base was always consistent and nothing to complain about.

The parks in Ontario definitely stepped it up this year, and for good reason as it seemed everyone and their mother were ripping twins. I remember going up on the chairlift my first day of the season in late November, and twin-tippers easily outnumber those rocking single-pointed planks. This season undoubtedly showed the largest leap in twin-tip skiing; I think its safe to say as a sport we are officially in the “cool kids club”.

At the end of February, my only real trip of the season took place. A 12-hour drive through the rain to get to Jays Peaks in search of some real snow and not just a hill. Sadly the rain had washed away the meter(just over 3 feet for you Americanos) they had received the previous week, but we were not to be outdone. On the day of our departure back to Toronto they received close to a foot in some areas, so before we packed up the truck we strapped on the planks and ripped a few lines, which felt great. The trip to Jay showed me the true core-skier demographic in which our industry lies; I saw telemarkers kill it harder than I ever will and heard many of the local’s tales of epic days at Jay. Jay peak no doubt has some of the gnarliest terrain this side of the Rockies and I wouldn’t hesitate to go again.

The season at least for me involved a lot of days on the hill shooting and reporting, which for the most part was a great excuse to get up to the hill. There was the odd bluebird day that I would have killed to skiing and not taking photos, but alas any day of the hill is better than a day at the books.

Jib academy also came to Ontario in early March, which was a great success with over 60 young jibbers slaying and showing that their generation will no doubt dominate the sport in a couple of years. Watching the progression of our sport, the growth whether it be in the park or backcountry is simply amazing.
The highlight of my season would have to be the Triple Challenge at Blue Mountain. I left class on Thursday morning to head up to Collingwood and arrived to 5 inches and pounding snow, in March nonetheless. Although this snow made for difficult slope-style conditions, the snow proved much needed as the next 3 days were nothing by blue bird and 10 C. Capped off with the big air and Coors party, the 3 day event was a great way to end of a great season.

I’ve met a lot of great people this season, and spent a lot of time watching the sport grow and I can only see things getting bigger and better. I’d like to end with something I overheard a snowboarder say on a chairlift this season while watching the jib academy kids throw down: “this freeskiing shit is blowing up.”