The crew consisted of Steve Hjorlefson(from Canmore), Emma Mains(From Fernie), Cory Horton and myself(Chris Barker from Hope-Home of "Rambo").

Our trip began in beautiful Edmonton where we stayed at the Fabulous Fantasyland Hotel. Unfortunately we didn't make it in time to get to the Hooter's in the mall.  The two rooms we got were huge. We had the Train themed room and the Sports one.  Both had their own special charm.  After a few episodes of Dog the Bounty Hunter we hit the sack for an early wake up.

    The next morning came quick and we were on the very punctual Via Rail Canadian train by 10. Our first stop was Jasper.  The scenic ride there began with oil wells and factories, which eventually turned into huge snow-capped mountains.  The train is a very unique way to travel.  There are cars with sleeping quarters, 2 bubble cars, a dining car, activity car, and most importantly a bar car.  We spent lots of time stumbling between them, not because we were drunk but because it takes a while to move gracefully when the train is flying down the tracks. You can tell all the staff on board have it dialed but I had a lot more trouble. After almost going head first in an elderly couples table I decided it was time for some stationary sightseeing.

    We rolled into Jasper in the evening, to the Marmot lodge. Not to be confused with the Jasper Park Lodge which the cab drivers all call "the lodge". After mistakenly taking someone else's luggage outside we were on our way to our new accommodations. We all got our own room, which worked out well because I'm told I have a bit of a snoring problem.  We ate at Jasper Pizza for dinner and then it was light's out.

    The Next day brought sunshine and we were able to bag shots all over the mountain. We did a bit of a hike up "Turbo Bowl" and Cory had a good angle from across the valley. It was obvious that Marmot Basin hadn't gotten snow in a week but our local guide Jonah was able to get us as close to the goods as possible.  Marmot has tons of terrain and looking around we all imagined what a pow day would be like.  The park was in good shape too. Steve really started throwing down with his 360 spread eagle's he titled "the Migrating Mallard".  For dinner that night we went to Ember's Steakhouse right across from the hotel.  Good stuff.

       After shooting some town scenic 's we packed up and headed down to Kamloops for the next leg of our journey.  On the train we had different arrangements, which included our own private rooms. Small but very cozy. The toilet was located directly under our bed, which made taking that midnight piss extra difficult.  We got into Kamloops that evening and caught a cab up to Trapper Landing, our 3 storey  ski in/ ski out condo located in Sun Peaks.   The place had 3 big bedrooms, full kitchen, laundry facilities and a hot tub. After deciding that I snore the loudest I was given one of the master bedroom's.

     The next day we explored the mountain a bit while Corey documented the insaneley extreme speed-skiing World Cup race.  I've been to Sun Peaks once before along time ago and it was obvious they had made a lot of improvements.  They have lots of good steep tree terrain and the bike courses in the summer turn into some of the most fun berms and jumps on the hill.   After checking out the mountain we headed over to the Speed Skiing race course.  They had it it set up on there double black run, which they had groomed about 15 cat lengths wide.  Straight down with a huge run out and lots of rows of fencing.  The top speed for the weekend was 174 km's.  We found out that the world record holder was in the race and his fastest time over in Europe was 251km's.  Emma even managed to snag his autograph.  One of the winner's for the weekend was a local guy so that made everyone super-stoked.

    After the race we shot some funny scenic's in the village at the base of the hill. We were able to get all our supplies for very low prices. The Sun Peaks grocery store especially.  We then caught the t-bar up and skied right to our condo.

     The next day we were fortunate enough to ski with Gold Medal Winner Nancy Greene.  She showed us all the secret stashes and even on a dope berm run throught the trees.  She stills kills it on the skis and Steve and I had to work to keep up!  When we were running late in the day shooting, she took us to the closed daylodge and hooked us all up with sandwiches!  Definitely the highlight of the trip.

    On our last day we checked out the park.  They obviously maintain it really well and after a few practice runs we started to hit the big table's.  The scariest moment came when Steve hit the second last big table top and did the largest spread eagle to flat.  He calmly leaned back, lost his touqe and popped back up like nothing happened.  A nice ending to the day!

    That evening we cleaned up and then took a cab back to Kamloops.  When the train came into the station the very friendly staff showed us our rooms and we were on our way Vancouver.  This time we got our own private bedrooms with toilets in a separate room.  Very posh.  Unfortunatley all the cool scenery was covered in darkness so the first light came when we rolled into Vancouver.  My sleep was awesome and it was nice to wake up to a huge window looking out into the city.  Upon arrival at the station we hopped into our big pimpin le Burbon, and from there we headed straight up to Grouse Mountain.  Going from cold Edmonton to summer Vancouver put us all in a relaxed cheery mood.  Cory seemed really at home swerving between cars and screaming obscenities.  Whenever someone would give him a dirty look, he'd just yell back "I'm From Alberta".  He assured me that this was written somewhere in the Alberta's driver's  manual on how to deal with driving in a foreign city.

    The folks at Grouse were all set up for us and within minutes we were ascending up the mountain.  One of the cool things about Grouse is that you can park down in town and take the "Skylift" up to the mountain.  No sketchy mountain roads to contend with.  We were fortunate enough to have a sunny day and the view on Vancouver was amazing. The conditions were soft and spring-like so we carved some slush.  It was hard sometimes to pay attention to where you were going because you'd be staring out at the city.  Grouse, like the other coastal mountain's isn't huge but it has a bit of everything.  We checked out the park on my request and were stoked to see they had some fun jumps and rails.  The backdrop of the city and Mt.Baker in the background made the shots look even better.  As the sun set we decided to head back to our hotel for dinner and then come back later for a night session.

     We stayed at the Georgian Court Hotel in downtown Vancouver right across from BC Place.  We each got our own room again looking out on the skyline, well just Corey's.  The rest of us had a view of the footings being put in for a new skyscraper.  Still very nice and we couldn't complain.

     After dinner we headed back up to Grouse for a night session.  We met my brother,(Tim) up there and he slayed the park.  Although there was a light drizzle we still made the most of it and the city lights of Vancouver were very cool. Quite a full day for just arriving on the train.

     The next day we went up to Seymour and shot as much as we could before the valley cloud rolled in and the visibility turned into like  being in a giant ping pong ball.  The snow was soft and we still had a good time.  Cory especially, he said he was so over powder and this was the change he needed.

    At dinner that night I noticed something that caught my eye, a swimsuit bikini model search, tomorrow at noon.  When I pointed this out to Cory his eye's lit up like a kid on Christmas morning.  After talking to the bar owner we were in business.  With a front row table reserved, we are all stoked.  Well, Emma was only kind of stoked.

     The next day we shot the odd "middle of the day bikini show with  the business lunch crowd".  Cory captured the magic and we are wrapped.  Our two week epic journey was over. Oh there was also the 24 hour train ride that we had to take to get back to Edmonton where my truck was.  Cory opted out of this trip and flew home.  He was actually  home before we even boarded the train.

     The trip home was still really fun and we enjoyed ourselves. Riding in the bubble car was definitely the highlight as we cruised through tunnels and by mountains.  The moon was fully out which added to the trip.

     We rolled into Edmonton the next day and to my sweet truck.  The trip was awesome and I'm really stoked to be able to have gone on it.  Even though I was an alternate.  I met some cool people at each hill and got to know a bit more about what makes up the complex workings of Emma, Steve and Cory.

Drink of choice on the trip-  Ceasers and Pilsner Theme Song-  Josie by The Outfield