Banks and McRae made something out of nothing when they came across one of the adventure tunnelsthat are littered all over Keystone resort.
We got skunked on night one when mother nature made the meter drop and the fuel lines freeze on Keystone's boom cat, but the park crew wasn't gonna have it. Come frozen hell or high water they were gonna make good on their promise to set us up with sled laps, a bucket to shoot top downs on the jump line and two hours of "hell yeah's" and high fives.
In this episode, the Dahkness, Financials, B Dog and the McRaelian lap Keystone's jib garden like kids in a candy store. But considering that these aren't your average kids maybe it was closer to what it would look like if Willy Wonka's Oompaloompas ransacked your local never ending gobstopper factory on a mission to chomp through petrified hard candies...or something like that.
The magic happens when the lights come on. Banks, C Lo, Phil and McRae lap Keystone's jib garden under the stars. Somewhere in there you can see the shot that made B Dog's 2012-13 print ad.
There were three places on planet earth that had snow in the Northern hemisphere this past winter. B.C., Japan and Switzerland. With trips lined up to B.C. and Switzerland we were lucky enough to hit 2 of 3. In search of a different vibe we called upon a diverse crew that consisted of steeze master and jib legend, Phil "B Dog" Casabon, freestyle / freeride pioneer JP Auclair and rounded it out with France's up and coming big mountain phenom Jeremy Prevost... and we headed off to Zurich with no idea what to expect. When it was all said and done we realized that sometimes when you dive in blind and don't put expectations on things you end up with a whole new perspective, or in our case, the realization that "skiing is only a part of it".
We scheduled a team trip that called for a Swiss family vacation style shred mission hopping trains from Zurich, to Laax Resort and onward to Andermatt, Switzerland over a short 5 day stay. But as the old saying goes, "nothing is to be expected but the unexpected". Despite our plans completely falling into the toilet we were fortunate to be stranded in one of Europe's most diverse resorts which resulted in our stoke meter being pinned at a 10 out of 10. With over 3 feet of fresh falling on night one we had two days of ridiculous in bound freshies that Laax and Flims locals said was "just another storm in one of Switzerland's snowiest seasons on record". We were not hating life. Enjoy the CLIP.
Isn't it a bummer when you get some much snow that it makes it hard to get the goods on an urban mission? No, we're not complaining. According to the Laax and Flims locals, there had been so much snow in Switzerland to date that the landscape literally changed. What were rocks and cliff drops last season had become rolls and filled in ravines this year. Where once stood stair sets and ledges in town, now stood head high banks of blown snow compliments of exhausted locals and their snow throwers. Looking for a change of pace, we headed into the neighboring town of Flims, Switzerland to find something to jib. Phil planned on doing what he does best, JP was on a mission to keep the All I Can street vibe rolling and Prevost was prepped to get his inaugural urban mission under his belt. We made it a few hundred yards outside our hotel lobby and came across a ton of snow and a pretty rad feature... a few hours later with one in the bag we headed down the street for set up number two. Success came in pairs that day. Enjoy the CLIP.
Banks has been on the Orage program since he was a young buck focusing his full attention on the comp scene. Through the years he's taken his own path, created his own set of rules breaking down the walls of the ski vs snowboard haters club and has become what we consider to be one of the hardest working athletes on our program. He can ski anything, slays its on a snowboard, blows minds on a skateboard and is an all around good sh_t. Step into the world of Banks with the self edit produced by the man himself...
It's a simple fact that there's nothing better than skiing under warm, blue, sunny skies. And when you mix 3 completely different styles of skiers into one perfectly sculpted playground of a park, one thing is guaranteed... fun will be had by all. We wrapped up our stay at Laax Resort hot lapping the park shredding like kids. Enjoy the CLIP.
Our annual pilgrimage to share the worlds greatest powder with world class friends once again did not disappoint. Retallack Lodge, B.C. is a gem, and we encourage each and every powder hound on planet ski to make the journey. It wont' disappoint. After all, with the number of day's skied each year by JP Auclair, Charley Ager, Banks Gilberti and Tatum Monod, if this place can make them smile this big just imagine what it would do for your stoke meter.
The Hustle Continues with my extra footage from this season, best year of my life! Molesquad forever! Thanks Slant, and Tree.
