Revelstoked at Tailgate BC

Rollin' into Banff

On March 4th Orange Extreme Team rolled Northwest to the land of Big Snow, with trucks and sleds, to join the crew at the first annual Tailgate British Columbia in Revelstoke.  Twenty-two hours on the road took us on a scenic tour through Jackson Hole, greater Montana, Calgary and Banff National Park... and the legendary Powder Highway.

Downtown Banff

After all that driving, we took a day off to shred Lake Louise, which just had a good snowstorm.

How a base lodge should be

The spectacular scenery of Lake Louise was eye candy as we explored this huge mountain of 4200 acres on a powder day.

There we met a new friend, and sick rider, Ian Crawford. He happens to be Andrew Crawford's brother, who retired from professional snowboarding to pursue a career in aerospace engineering with NASA. Needless to say, Ian and I found the goods and shralped the gnar. Ian is an entrepreneur who started a visionary business designing custom furniture from recycled wine barrels, you can check out his unique work at Vinoture. He has a fabulous smile and is pretty much a rockstar, to boot.

Ian Crawford and Onna Konicek stokin' on Lake Louise tree runs

The stellar day at Lake Louise was followed by a stop at Snowpulse in Golden, BC, where we picked up our new avalanche airbag packs. We are thrilled by the awesomeness and high quality of our new avalanche airbags. Equiping our team with Snowpulse packs was made possible by Chuck Gorton at Snowpulse who supports the Orange Extreme Big Mountain Snowboard Team.

Snowpulse office in Golden

On March 8th we all started trickling in to the scene of action at the Great White North, where things were in full swing with snow safety education, snowmobile tours, and heli bookings.

Mark and Liz Sullivan and the Tailgate Crew had tons of fun in store for us Revelers, with parties, lift ticket deals, and exclusive heliboarding access to 270,000 acres in the Monashees provided by Eagle Pass Heliskiing (they fly in snowstorms...hardcore!) Aron arrived on March 9th to join the fun.

Our guide, Chevy, coined the term "Unbelievabiliality" to describe the epic off-the-charts stoke we experienced riding bottomless powder, an infinite supply of giant pillows and playful gullies in the famous Monashee trees. Aron and I were fortunate to have him all to ourselves for several runs and some of the best powder riding ever.

Heli Day: Aron Ralston and Onna Konicek with their guide Chevy.
Revelin' in Unbelievabiliality

Aron and I were blown away by the exceptional skill of the pilots, who flew in the buffeting winds of a snowstorm, skirting peaks and skimming just above the pine tree tops for reference. We had a blast, and will definitely be back next year for Tailgate BC 2013. We hope you will join us in the Revelrie!