It’s 5 a.m. and my alarm is going off. The last thing i want to do is be awake this early on a day off but it’s the first day of the ski season for me. I roll out of bed all groggy and hop in the shower to wake up. Make a quick breakfast and make sure I all my gear ready. It’s a long haul to get up to Mt. Washington from Victoria. 3 hours. I break it up half way to the hill by stopping in Nanaimo to pick up Mark Mawson, a rider from Salomon. He’s part of the reason were heading up to the hill. I will be photographing him this winter ripping up the park and big mountain. I was introduced to him through a good friend Tyler who is the international team manger for Salomon. I finally make it to Marks place at 7:30 a.m. and he’s ready to go. We load his gear and drive the last hour and a half to the base of Mt. Washington. The sun is starting to rise as we leave his place and the skies look like it’s going to be a bluebird day. As the sun rises behind us we are pretty stoked on getting up to the hill for some turns. It’s been over a week since they had any snow so we would be riding hard pack all day.
We finally arrive at 9 a.m. and get out gear on. We are both riding new skis and we excited to try them out. First order we go hit up ski Patrol. Mark has a buddy working on there patrol and we need a tour guide to show us the goods. Dispatch calls trevor and he’s down within minutes. We hop on our skis and are heading up the first lift. The first runs are quick and a little rough getting used to the new gear and for myself not skiing in over a year. After those runs it was nothing but fast straight lines with a few turns here and there. The ski’s grip nicely in the hard pack. We head over to check out the park scene. Being early in the season and relying on all natural snow there were only a few jumps and 4 rails set up. Mark checks out the jumps and on the next run hit’s the rails and pulls out the first cork 720 of the day while I get the camera gear out and document it all.
The day continues and we finally finish the day at 3:00. I get Mark home by 4:30 and I am home by six. next thing I know it’s u7:30 p.m. and I’m passed out for the night.
Marks corked 720Mark pulling a 360 Mute grab. Old school
Mark riding the down flat down rail
Mark killing the down flat down rail
Mark pulling a 360 Mute grab. Old school
