Canadian Snowboard Team - Training at Sunshine Village May 2012

[MJB]

Spent the past week at Sunshine Village training. Good snow, good weather. We have 2 more days on snow, then a break until late June at Mt. Hood.

[Puddy Tat]

Nice pictures. When they groom up on angel there is some fantastic carving. Most epic carving I had this season was when they groomed bye-bye bowl. Steep blue into steep black and so smooth and wide.

I personally find it a little annoying that Sunhine didn't take pictures of the team training or even just some freecarving shots while you were on site for a week. Instead their Facebook page has more crappy park shots.

Cheers,

Dave

[MJB]

Sunshine Village took care of us, and we plan to return next spring. Heres a few more pictures.

[Neil Gendzwill]

Nice pictures! That one from behind the racer in yellow pants is really good - was someone following?

[MJB]

Hi Neil, Its a still picture, so no need to follow. It was taken from that angle, to keep sun behind. It's a cool angle with Wawa in background.

[lowrider]

Closed with snow like that! The Family that runs that resort on public land should be booted out and run by someone who knows how to run a real public asset.

[Neil Gendzwill]

Closed with snow like that! The Family that runs that resort on public land should be booted out and run by someone who knows how to run a real public asset.

It's just a matter of economics - people in Calgary are golfing now, not skiing. Keeping it open past the May long weekend is a non-starter. Most years I've been in late April it's been uncrowded to say the least even with good conditions.

Plus I'm sure there's all sorts of logistics - you hire your staff based on a certain season end date, and extending that is going to be problematic.

Also it's not a public asset - it's a private business in a national park, kind of a wierd combination.

[Puddy Tat]

+1 to Neil's comments. Even last season when we had great snowfall at the end of season Sunshine was "thinking" of opening for the July 1st long weekend, but the logistics were impossible for them. There was no way to get maintenance, safety, operational staff, and equipment running for that single day.

Dave

[Neil Gendzwill]

+1 to Neil's comments. Even last season when we had great snowfall at the end of season Sunshine was "thinking" of opening for the July 1st long weekend, but the logistics were impossible for them. There was no way to get maintenance, safety, operational staff, and equipment running for that single day.

They've done it before though, usually with Standish running for about 2 hours on July 1. It's just a big party.

[Allee]

It's just a matter of economics - people in Calgary are golfing now, not skiing. Keeping it open past the May long weekend is a non-starter. Most years I've been in late April it's been uncrowded to say the least even with good conditions.

This is pretty much it. A lot of the multi-use resorts have to finish up by the end of March to mid April, to get the golf courses running and/or start maintenance on the bike parks. Sunshine's a little different in that it doesn't have to worry about golf and biking, but the attendance numbers are way down by April, and there can't be much, if any, money to be made.

If it stays cold the snow at Sunshien can be good until pretty late. If it doesn't, it can be a very large and very steep ice rink.

[MJB]

Caroline Calve training at Sunshine Village yesterday. Sunshine opened divide lift for private training for us this week.


Mark Fawcett sneaks in a few turns while coaching at Sunshine.

[www.oldsnowboards.com]

Caroline Calve training at Sunshine Village yesterday. Sunshine opened divide lift for private training for us this week.


Mark Fawcett sneaks in a few turns while coaching at Sunshine.

Great posts. Great photos!!!

To see Mark still RIPPIN it is worth the price of admission.

Hope you continue to post when you get to Mt Hood.

Love to see the photos after the camps start. Good luck in your adventures!!


Yep, Mt Hood Meadows closed with over 130" base. Can't blame the areas too much when no one is paying for the lift tickets??

[Puddy Tat]

Mark,

Lovin' the updates! Keep us posted throughout the summer. Man I want to turn like Mark that is amazing looking.

Dave