British Columbia

The 2012 Freeride World Tour season starts on January 6 in Revelstoke, Canada. The elite of the freeride world are getting ready to make their first turns in the fresh powder of British Columbia and begin the race for the crown of world champion. The reigning champions Aurélien Ducroz, Mitch Tölderer, Janette Hargin and Anne-Flore Marxer will certainly not have an easy time defending their titles.

Some fresh snow had fallen on Monday, but not enough to get me seriously excited. Time to write down the last few days and prepare for the first few days in Canada.

Kranked has stood for MTB freeride since the very beginning. Many" years ago, when a group called the Froriders – did the most extraordinary things with MTBs, Kranked was the talk of the MTB scene. Gentlemen such as Richie Schley, Bred Tippie, Carys Evans etc. bravely let themselves out over rocks, rode scree and much more. These were the golden years of the Frorider - the Rocky Mountain team of the time - which had already been overtaken by the new generation a few years earlier. Kranked "Revolve" is the 2009 film by Radical Films.

Freeriding as art. Beautiful mountains, a small group of powder addicts, a cameraman, a musician, 30 minutes of smooth entertainment. That's how you could summarize the US film Hand Cut. No big show, no superlatives, no big moves, no helis. Just a couple of madmen from British Columbia indulging in powder addiction in their home mountains. In addition to small tuition units in pioneering railroad feats, this is what characterizes Sweetgrass Production's first film. With a specially composed soundtrack by musician John Alex Mason (Colorado Springs/Denver) in relaxed US country blues, Hand Cut offers a real change from the ski porn industry.

Flown halfway around the globe, and yet the snow is melting here and there. Our Swiss road trippers torture their aged motorhome over the mountain passes of British Columbia one last time in the Canadian spring. They reap what are probably the last powder shots of their Canadian ski season with a sigh of "goodbye winter".

Catskiing at Island Lake Lodge was on the agenda for the last day of our BC road trip. Also known as a cheap version of heli-skiing, cat skiing involves being transported to the most beautiful peaks in the remote backcountry by a snowcat with a passenger cabin.

At four hours, the stage from Whitewater to Fernie was the longest on our tour. Of course, on a trip like this, it's easy to fall back on one of the countless fast food restaurants in the land of endless expanses. A&W became our burger joint of choice. And what can we say: really tasty! You should definitely try it on a trip to Canada.

Around three o'clock in the afternoon, we set off from Revelstoke in a southerly direction. Our next destination: the small town of Nelson BC with its Whitewater ski resort. We are lucky that we left Revelstoke so early. The road along the Columbia River in the sunshine is simply a hit. Exactly how you imagine Canada to be. The slopes of the Rockies rise up to the right and left of the river and the glaciers twinkle in the distance.

After our first stop at Kicking-Horse, we continued over the Rogers Pass to Revelstoke two days ago. The first surprise: halfway through the 120 kilometers, we crossed a time zone border, which extended our day by an hour.

A snowstorm greeted us when we arrived in Calgary on Saturday evening. Without any local knowledge, we were glad that a Banff Airport cab pulled out of the airport exit directly in front of us, so we simply followed it in good faith. And as we all know, trust is rewarded, we left the city limits with less than 10 meters of visibility and took Highway 1 west. Shortly before the Rocky Mountains, the snowstorm fortunately cleared, so that we reached the Kicking Horse River Lodge in the small town of Golden shortly before midnight, our accommodation for the next two days.

"Seek and ye shall find." This truism has proven to be true to a large extent on our trip so far. In our search for snow, we found Retired heating engineers, car mechanics who can't help, party mad snowboard pros, the nicest ski resort staff, cool locals and a first timer. Only the much-praised Canadian fresh snow is a master at hiding.

Fog. Gray, dreary weather, long faces. Everyone absorbed in themselves. Welcome to the bus heading to the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. Unlike the many students, however, it is supposed to take Michi and me to the "Museum of Anthropology". Museum of Anthropology? Never heard of it! And anyway, what does this have to do with our sport of powder skiing?