Coldsmoke Powder Fest Round-Up --Yee Haw

The Coldsmoke Powder fest continued today at Whitewater Resort in Nelson BC. The fest is winding down  with a bang, thanks  to a 10cm plus dump today, Sunday. It all kicked off with a Thursday night festival opener at the local museum, Touchstones, where G3 showed winners from their Ski Graphiks comp. Topsheets as art form — why not?  Thanks to G3. Saturday was cold but not too cold for the racers who took part in the ROAM Rando Rally. As the rando rally wrapped up, the Valhalla Pure Powder Keg Slopeside Comp began. The backcountryskiingcanada team (that's us) volunteered to work with the ROAM folks  and the Nelson SAR group, on making sure the Rando Rally ran smoothly. As well as being able to cheer-on the racers, we also were in prime position to take some quality snaps. Check them out below.

(Click on the various images to make them biggerer)

What a way to start a race. Bagpipes accompany the rando racers at the start.

Here's a racer about half-way up the boot-pack section of the Rando Rally course. At this point in the race, the contestants varied in their appearance from totally bagged to fresh as a daisy.

Mmmmmm. Beardsicles. If I remember correctly, this guy was in denim head to foot. Some contestants did the race with giant fat skis. The two guys in first place were sporting all super-light gear and lycra unisuits.

Trace (or we think it's him) huckin'a big back at the slopeside. It was incredible to watch how big the competitors went. No fear. Great spectator sport, fer sure.

Getting up to get down. Here's the bootpack the competitors followed to get back up to the ridge from which they threw themselves. Everyone had two runs down the slope.

And so much gear to demo. It was good to meet people from Arc'teryx, G3, Voile, Black Diamond, BCA, Scarpa, Dynafit and more.It was especilally good to sample some of the new backcountry gear for the 2011/2012 season. Thanks to everyone for making the trip!

The snow is a still falling here in Nelson-town Sunday night. The folks who opted to stay and check out the clinics on Monday will likely enjoy the best skiing of the weekend. We'll be there too.

Thanks to everyone who came to the fest and also thanks to the sponsors. Check out  the Coldsmoke site for more photos.

Here below are a couple more photos for your viewing pleasure. There are no captions but you'll figure it out.