We came. We skied. We tested.

About 35 skis later and we’re drinking a glass of wine looking over Baie-St-Paul.

Today wasn’t the epic day we were expecting. The weather was predicted to be 9 degrees and sunny, instead it was about 4 degrees and cloudy but that didn’t take away from the experience.

These skis were meant for cruising

Today I had short-turn carving skis and Phil had more of a cruising type ski. As the day warmed and the snow really softened my skis didn’t like the conditions but that didn’t stop me from testing their limits. Because I’m so light and because most of those short-carving skis have such fat tips I can use them to plow through the crud.

But Phil was on cruisers that just allowed him to really go through it all. I spent my day just trying to keep up while my skis just wanted to make all these little turns.

As we handed in our booklets with our notes about all the skis we had tested I couldn’t help but smile. What an amazing four days – amazing skis, the great people I had met, and skiing with Phil for the most consecutive days all season. I can’t wait to go back again next year (well at least I hope so)

Every great beginning should have a great ending

As we were finishing our day the sun came out to shine. Phil and I finished the day with one of those epic bump runs – huge, but super soft, bumps with blazing sunshine as I chased Phil down to the bottom. We said good-bye to the great friends we met and headed our ways. No matter where we all came from, we all had a common value; we all loved to ski.

We’re going to ski Le Massif for a couple of days together; apparently Saturday is their Reggae Festival. And then we’re off to Old Quebec city for a night of luxury before we head back to reality.

After two days of mostly cloudy, foggy and what could be described as Ontario hard pack conditions, we finally saw blue skies on day three – although you’d never know it by the picture above which was taken in the morning.

Unlike day two, I had a full schedule with 9 skis to test while Sasha had 7 skis to test. We were both testing carving categories and although I was told most of my product would be geared towards intermediates, I ended up riding several top end skis that were well suited for experts.

With an average of 40,000 feet of skiing vertical a day, my body was reminding me that I was not in peak condition. My lower back tightened up as the day went on and my T bands were so tight that i was getting knee soreness.

Our legs were both feeling a bit rubbery by the end of the day – but we were also skiing hard and tracking at least 3 runs per ski…. while many others cruised in a lower gear and averaged 2 runs per ski.

Our reward for a long hard day on the hill was a scheduled massage at 5pm. Unfortunately there was some confusion over scheduling and a french tester ended up taking Sasha’s spot! Knowing I was in worse shape, Sasha insisted that I take my scheduled massage which I gladly did

Wednesday night was also our last night together as a group, so we decided to do a group stir fry dinner at our neighbors condo. Sasha volunteered (well maybe volun-told since i suggested it) to cook while our new friends both bought the food and prepared it for her.

Needless to say, dinner was a big hit with the 12 assembled – even the french tester who had stolen Sasha’s massage slot who ironically showed up for dinner was appreciative.

After finishing up on Day 4, Sasha & I are heading to Baie St-Paul where we are staying at a lovely chalet just outside Le Massif. We had planned on booking something last minute and as it turns out, one of our friends from Collingwood happened to own a rental property and offered it up at a great rate.

Our first day started out as an adventure. We got to the top of the mountain fairly early and decided to take a run down the south side. Since we’ve arrived there has been some rain and it’s been warm.

We scooted over to the top of one of our favourite runs, the super s, and we found un-groomed ice bumps with a trace amount of dense powder in some of the troughs. It made for a tough warm-up run.

Our first test run was one of the epic runs – perfectly groomed and firm

After our ‘warm-up,’ or survival ski, we headed over to the tents for some more testing. Our day was to follow the theme of yesterday and test some more big mountain skis. Phil had a few ‘holes’ in his day, so he threw on his world cup slaloms and I chased him down the hill.

With all the test runs we’re doing we’re doing over 40,000 in vertical per day

The wind had died down so all the manufacturers had their tents lining the ‘catwalk.’ It was a great site, all the big ski names, some smaller ones too, and a whole bunch of people lining up to get their next skis to try.

On our way down the mountain after our day on snow we skied by the Super S and noticed that they had closed it off! We sped down the mountain and into the apres-ski where I won a long sleave shirt from Icebreaker. Most of the testers ended up at Laventure for dinner, but unfortunately they couldn’t handle the group and we spent 3.5 hrs waiting for dinner. All we could do is sip decent wine… so needless to say we were pretty much ready for bed after dinner.

Next we are trying the carving skis. It should be an epic day with the promise of warm weather and blue bird skies.

Our first day started at 8:15am at the bottom of the Gondola where we met our groups and were given intructions for the day.

Because of the varied conditions up top, we were going to spend the day testing all mountain skis in the performance category. Both Sasha & I had 9 pairs of skis to test – giving us about 30 minutes per manufacturer to test & write our evaluation.

That translated into about 3 runs per ski – or about 27 runs on the day.

We carried around blue evaluation books that were two pages for each ski. We had to test things such as stability, edge grip, energy, ease of initiation, forgiveness and performance characteristics around short and long turns.

There was also a spot for written comments – so we tried our best to summarize the ski in short & wity comments that may make their way into the magazine.

At the top of the Gondola we had what looked like a 75m fashion catwalk. This allowed the testers to slide to the assigned manufacturer and have the skis quickly adjusted for the next test. Some manufacturers had flags setup while others were more low key.

In all 17 manufacturers were setup including some I hadn’t heard of before like Vist – who are better known for developing bindings and binding plates.

Although we were restricted to the North site of Ste-Anne, the day flew by as every 30 minutes you were trying something new.

Even though Sasha & I were in separate testing groups, we were able to ski together the entire day.

Writing your comments in pencil with gloves on proved to be a bit challenging, but over the course of the day we found that writing our comments and evaluation at the bottom of the chair was more relaxing (and warm) then doing it on the chair.

In addition to testing skis, we are also evaluating under-garmets and socks from Icebreaker (made from Merino wool), next generation Leki poles, and next year’s Alpina goggles. First impressions of each were very positive – although the Icebreaker socks were too tight on my massive calf muscles

We both really enjoyed our first day as ski testers and we were both surprised at how different skis could feel and perform in the same category.

We were also pleasantly surprised that the forecasted rain became snow and that today’s weather is promising 4 degrees and sunny.

Day two has a similar schedule – although we won’t know what category we are testing until we arrive at the top of the Gondola. We also have a scheduled apres-ski today where we’ll get a chance to order Icebreaker gear with pro discounts. Apparently we’ll also be getting Swany gloves this afternoon to test for Wednesday and Thursday.

Look for Sasha’s day two summary next.

With car trouble adding stress to what was already going to be a stressful 8.5 hour drive in the rain to Mont Ste-Anne on Sunday, Sasha & I cashed in some travel points and took a much more civilized route to Quebec yesterday.

We were able to book flights on Porter airlines for $69 (plus fees & taxes) each way the night before and flew out of the Toronto airport.  Besides being my favorite Airline for total experience and civility, the added advantage of flying out of the Toronto Island Airport was that we left our house just after 11am for a 12pm flight.

We were checked into our condo at the foot of Mont Ste-Anne by 2:30pm.

We even had time for a quick 30 minute run before grabbing some groceries for the week. The rain that was hammering Ontario (and some of our friends on the Level 3 exams at Devil’s Glen) finally found it’s way to Quebec around 7pm – the time we would have arrived had we driven from Toronto.

Last night was orientation for the Ski Test for Ski Press magazine which included a 45 minute product demonstration from Icebreaker and take home samples of next year’s Leki poles and Alpina goggles.

Stay tuned this week as we blog each day on our experience!

This week Sasha & I were notified that we have been selected to join the high performance demo team at Mont Ste-Anne in Quebec City next month to test next year’s lineup of skis for Ski Press Magazine.

This will be our first time as ski testers and we can hardly wait to spend a few days ripping the top runs in the east on next year’s gear. Our feedback and ratings will be part of Ski Press’ annual buying guide for gear. We’ll post more details as we receive them… and will be blogging about our experience as we go through it at the end of March.

The timing works out perfectly for us as the annual super camp for active level 3 and 4 course conductors begins right after, making for a week of high performance fun!

Time flies… when you spend all your non-working awake time on the slopes

It’s hard to believe that 2 months have passed since my last post – and so much has changed. For starters, my shoulder is healing nicely and I’m now pain free all the time. I still can’t sleep on my left shoulder, but i’m able to ski without restrictions – although it’s not strong enough to carry gates.

According to my surgeon, I’ll go back under the knife around April – or when I’m sure the ski season is done. Apparently the second surgery is pretty simple. They slice open my scar and uncork the 4 screws then slide out the hook plate.

The healing process should be fast – and apparently i’ll be swinging a golf club within a month.

I’ve already worked two level 1 courses this season and will be starting a third tonight at the North York Ski Centre. It’s a night course – so I’ll be traveling back and forth three nights this week and next. I’ve really enjoyed teaching the courses and had the opportunity to run the whole show (as a master course conductor) over the holidays at Mansfield.

I was given the opportunity to shadow part of a level 2 course over the holidays as well and hope to do more of these this season.

I knew my original season plan would change after my accident, but I’m surprised by the fact that despite everything, I’ve already been on snow about 25 days.

The other change in my season plan is that I’m no longer working at Alpine Ski Club.  I’m unable to coach and I was told they had plenty of instructors already.  I was hoping to fill in occasionally and do bell and run some sessions, but unfortunately it hasn’t worked out and I’ve become a free agent.

For the first time in years, I’m free to ski and go wherever I want.

Sasha & I just came back from a level 4 camp in Ste-Anne and I’m booking a weekend trip to Whiteface in two weeks. I’m loving this new freedom and plan on doing 2 more camps at Ste-Anne and at least one more weekend road trip.

Apparently some traveling ski clubs do upwards of 5 trips a year to Quebec, Vermont, and out West. This will definitely be something to consider for next year.

I’ve also decided not to go on the level 4 exams this year.  I’m realistic with where my abilities are at, and although I’m skiing better than I ever have right now, there are obvious gaps I need to overcome first.

I’m focused on the big prize – but I’m patient enough to wait my turn

Sasha & I are in Mont Sainte Anne this week taking our level 4 Instructors course. Located about 8 hours north-east of Toronto or about 3 hours north of Montreal, Ste Anne is a great proving ground for instructors looking to achieve skiing’s equivalent of a kung fu black belt – the level 4.

We spent our first day working on ski improvement and skiing mostly on the front side (or the steep side) of the mountain. With over 2 feet of fresh snow on the ground from the last 24hrs, the conditions were fantastic.

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