Gregg Davis

Brad Farmer from Future Snowboarding rips a toeside powder wheelie at high speed. Brad rode with us, and posted stories and some great photos at the Future Snowboard Magazine website.
Future Snowboarding: Baldface Adventure, Part 1
Future Snowboarding: Baldface Adventure, Part 2
Future Snowboarding: Baldface Adventure, Part 3

I'm taking the first few clients who want to join me for the Burton Learn to Ride Powder program, at Baldface Lodge next winter. If you want to get in on it next year, you better talk to me soon.

February 3-4, 2007. We flew in from our various locations from around the country to Spokane, Washington. Three rental vans staggered at intervals drove north through the border to Canada, and into Nelson, British Columbia. We stayed in Nelson and were scheduled to fly via helicopter up to the Baldface Lodge, about 3000 feet higher into the mountains, isolated from any roads and any access except for heli and snowcat.

We arrived at the lodge and met the amazing staff and moved into our beautiful chalets. Shaun and Burton have really lined us up with a great trip, we're realizing. if you come up to Baldface, pay the extra money to stay in a brand-new chalet - it's much nicer than staying in the main lodge.

February 5, 2007, our first riding day. We woke up to high clouds, warm temps and delicious food in the lodge. We did a quick avalanche safety, and beacon practice session before heading out in the snowcat for our first experience with our guides.

Mark Stuart was our main guide, with Yuske from Japan taking up the rear. Graham joined us in our cat for our first day, to photograph us for the lodge. At the end of each day, he presents a slide show before dinner in the lodge for everyone. The daily shots are always fun to see, especially if they're of your group!

We were all amazed and humbled by the mountains, the views, and the terrain. The ridges let us access some STEEP terrain! We were all very excited about the bottomless powder and steep runs, of course. The photos tell the story most accurately.

February 6, 2007. Our second day of riding we had become comfortable with the terrain, our guides, and the system of loading and unloading the cat. Our goal was to get as many runs as possible, and we did. We were on a mission when unloading and loading the cat. Our guides noticed a big difference from the day before: we would help load and unload the boards, heckle each other if we were holding up the group, and were always shouting about hurrying up and getting more runs.

Mark told us at the end of the day that we had done more runs in a day that any other group this season. Yes! We did 15 runs. Beautiful powder and jumping off lots of things in to the deep snow. You really have to come up here and do this if you have any desire. Do it at least once!

February 7, 2007. Riding day 3. Self explanatory.

After the day, though, we had planned a short hike up to a ridge above Baldface Lodge where there's a cross and a memorial view for Craig Kelly. Every snowboarder's hero if you're older than 30, Craig was a long-time Burton rider who was probably the single most influantial person in snowboarding for more than twenty years. He died a few years ago in an avalanche close to here, but not at Baldface. He was a friend of Baldface and loved the lodge and the terrain as much as all of us. We brought some appropriate toasting drinks (Patron) and had a moment of silence for Craig. May you rest in peace in the big powder field in the sky.

February 8, 2007. Our last day of riding we had some great powder that morning because it had snowed about 10 cm (6 inches or so) and blew in light and fluffy on top of what had been a bit wetter and heavier in most places.

We jumped off a cliff band into a gully from several places - our largest cliff find of the trip. One of the best moments of the trip for me was sliding over a snow bridge between the cliff top and a large tree next to the cliff holding a huge snow pillow on top. I dropped about 25 feet off the top of the tree to the fluffy slope below. Outstanding.

The cloud lifted just far enough for the heli to come get us in the afternoon to get back down to Nelson. If it had not, we would have had a few hours of snowcat ride and boat across the lake to get us back to Nelson. That's me in the last photo in the front seat of the helicopter. What a ride.

This is the short version: 15 minutes

This is the long version: 30 minutes