Tenacious Rides & Runs: The Picks of Destiny

Alberta’s snowboarding scene is gaining notoriety as some of Canada’s best freestylers and freeriders push the sport’s limits amid stunning scenery, incredible terrain and deep powder snow.

Below are picks of awesome runs by some of Alberta’s top riders, including tasty advice sprinkled in for freestylers and freeriders.

The sport’s progression is attracting riders from all over the world who come for the laid-back atmosphere and huge diversity of terrain. They come to learn, they come to improve and they come for the thrill of a lifetime.

For some freestylers the thrill of a lifetime involves large, arcing turns down soft groomed runs cut through stands of deep forest. Freeriders prefer the exposure of steep chutes facing wide-open powder bowls and for others still, the thrill of a lifetime comes from stomping a new trick in the terrain park at one of the province’s numerous resorts.

Andrew’s Bliss: Whitehorn 3 and North Cornice

For Andrew Hardingham, one of Alberta’s best-known and most highly accomplished snowboarders, bliss is Whitehorn 3 and North Cornice at Lake Louise Mountain Resort.

Both are heavy-duty black diamond runs that are accessible from the Summit Platter T-bar. Ski straight off the summit and veer hard left to get to Whitehorn Three. North Cornice requires a moderate hike along the top of Boomerang Bowl to Hector Ridge.

“They’re untouched,” says Hardingham. “There’s a lot of expert stuff out there and people probably still won’t ride it because they’re not committed enough. So it will remain untouched.”

When he’s not charging the Lake Louise back bowls, Hardingham cools his heels on Wiwaxy. This undulating run is accessible from Top of the World, a high speed six-seater chairlift that moves skiers too quickly to ever have line ups. From the top, head left on Juniper Jungle to Good Intentions, which leads into Wiwaxy. The family-favorite run provides breathtaking views of the valley below.

“It’s my origins. It’s what I used to do,” says Hardingham. “There were two days each year when everyone got together and that was Christmas Day and Wiwaxy 500 on opening day. That’s the only time we get to ride together is on Wiwaxy 500 on opening day. The rest of the year all my friends are too busy with traveling and competitions.”

Hardingham got into snowboarding as the sport began to take off in the late 1980s and early 90s. He says he worked hard to buy his own gear and chose boarding over skiing because of his past. He admits he would likely still be a skier if he had been enrolled in ski racing as a child, but because his parents couldn’t afford to he never got the chance.

“I didn’t want to put my money into a sport that wouldn’t accept me because I didn’t have enough money,” he says. “So I chose snowboarding.”

Advice from the Top

Andrew’s advice to those looking to follow suit is to get a job as early as possible, save the pennies and buy your own gear, he says, adding that that builds respect for the equipment.

“The best way to improve is to just get out there and do it and be passionate,” says Hardingham. “Like me, I skipped a lot of school to go snowboarding.”

Freestyle snowboarding has its roots in skateboarding. Many of the tricks, as well as their names, are taken from the skateboarding world. Things like rail slides, half pipes and terrain parks can be traced straight back to skateboarding.

Guillaume’s Game Plays

Guillaume Fortin moved from Quebec to be closer to the freestyle snowboarding scene in the Alberta Rockies. Though he’s still an amateur rider, he managed to secure sponsorship and won a recent amateur rail jam contest on the streets of Banff.

The contest involves sliding off a platform raised on scaffolding and leaping onto a five-metre handrail. Contestants are scored on the difficulty of their tricks and the style with which they ride the rail.

Fortin’s victory secured him a spot in the subsequent rail jam for professional riders.

Though he didn’t win, he was happy to be able to compete at the next level.

“With street jibbing, you have to concentrate on one trick or one item,” says Fortin. “You have one chance to do this, so it’s all about style. The best way to learn and get better is to practice on the ski hill, because there’s snow all around the rail.”

It’s All About the Halfpipe

James Beach agrees. He’s been plying the snowboard-contest circuit and was recently filmed for the snowboarding movie Flavor Country. His home hill is Calgary Olympic Park, just minutes from downtown Calgary. COP hosted numerous freestyle events during the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics.

“COP has a solid beginner park with great features,” says Beach. “But it’s all about the halfpipe. They got a new pipe dragon and the pipe is set up true to the fall line.”

When he’s not practicing his freestyle tricks, Beach likes to do his freeriding on Boomerang, an intermediate powder run on Lake Louise’s backside. The run’s relative isolation, coupled with being accessible only from the Summit Platter T-bar, means it’s often got powder when everywhere else is skied out, says Beach.

When he’s looking for something more challenging, Beach applies his snowboarding talent to Sunshine Village’s Delirium Dive, a double-black diamond, heavy-duty bowl that’s laced with cliffs and rock bands and very challenging terrain. It’s accessible by short hike from the top of Continental Divide chair.

“I’ve had some deep snow there,” says Beach. “It’s breathtaking scenery once you’re at the top and every turn after is breathtaking as well. I think we’re really spoiled having those hills so nearby.”

Paradise Found: Get Punchy and Show Off

Marmot Basin, Central Alberta’s premiere ski resort, is in Jasper National Park. For the last seven years, Ross Jonah has been teaching beginner and intermediate snowboarders how to ride better on the resort’s incredibly varied terrain. To this day, his favorite intermediate run is Paradise. To get there, ski left off the top of Paradise chair.

“It’s got a bunch of little rollers and on powder days you can pop in and out of the trees on the side. It also accesses Punch Bowl, which has got banked slopes like a natural boardercross course. It also holds powder a bit longer and there are little bumps in there you can play around on.”

When he’s done warming up his advanced clients on Paradise, Jonah takes them over to Show Off, a wide-open expert run in full view of the riders on Paradise chair. To get there, turn right off Paradise chair and ski underneath it.

“In the morning, if they just groomed it, you can lay down some fast turns,” says Jonah. “If you get there early on a powder day you’ll get first tracks and it makes everyone else jealous because they can see your tracks from the chair.”

Advice for Freestylers

When it comes to freestyle, Jonah’s strongest recommendation to riders is to ski within their limits.

“You see a lot of kids go through the terrain park even though they can’t properly control their boards yet,” he says. “They take a run at a jump even though they haven’t figured out how to properly land it yet.”

The best way to learn is to take a lesson and break down the basics, he adds.