Fresh Powder and the Kootenay Cold Smoke Festival (Hardwear Sessions)

See more photos from the event at Flickr

By Andrew McLean

The concept of the Kootenay Cold Smoke Festival was easy to understand—get a bunch of backcountry skiers together, throw in some demo gear, hold some clinics, have some movies and slideshows, add 18" of new light density powder and light the fuse for a great backcountry party. About the only thing that confused me was why it was held at the Whitewater ski resort in Nelson BC, which is not the easiest place to get to. The reason for this became clear when I heard that one out of every three residents of Nelson holds a season's pass at the resort. It's a skier's town in the truest sense. If Nelson was a ski cabin, it would have a huge "Skiing Spoken Here" sign above the door.

The ski resort of Whitewater is more of a backcountry portal than a commercial venture. Skin tracks take off from the top of every lift (all two of them) and the down-canyon road is filled with skiers hitching back up with powder jammed into their hats and huge smiles on their faces. Half of the people riding the lifts were on touring gear and the surrounding terrain was artfully decorated with fresh tracks.

The inaugural three day event was held over Feb 23-25th and attracted about 200 people to the various clinics and parties. Clinics ranged from beginning skiing technique to advanced steep skiing terrain assessment and everything in between. After entering the ski mountaineering race on Saturday, it was clear that the easy pickin' days of that sport are over. Everyone has the light gear, knows how to do fast transactions, carries the minimal amount of weight and knows to get out front on the single track now. Damn!

The festival ended with the stoke-o-meter pegged after three days of excellent skiing and great weather, which is a good indicator that it will become an annual event. Once you get there, the hard part is over and the rest is all downhill. Literally.