Kristi Leskinen

ENTRY 1
Everyone has their own definition of the middle of nowhere. This place has made me change mine. Today we drove nearly 50 miles down a dirt logging road and then took a snow cat even further into the backcountry. A generator runs the entire lodge. The only means of outside communication is by satellite so we have internet to keep us connected with the rest of the world. It’s so beautiful and we are already having so much fun. We have such a great crew and I am really looking forward to the trip and all the experiences that are going to come with it.

ENTRY 2
Today we got up bright and early. We weren’t expecting the sun but luckily it was out. Breakfast is at 7:30 so we are ready to load the snow cats at 8:00. This morning was a little different. We started with avalanche review, probe, and beacon testing. The backcountry is pretty intimidating and it’s always good to have a refresher course. “Safety never takes a vacation.” (See Entry 5 for more on this). I was really scared to put my boot on but my ankle seems to be doing ok. It’s still swollen and sore but once the boot is on it’s really stable. “Taking it off is another story as well”. We started out the ski day with a few warm up runs. I was so thankful since I haven’t had my foot in a boot in more than 2 weeks. Then we got to do some shooting. I always forget how much scarier things are from the top. Everything looks great until you get up there. The B.C. is so mentally challenging. I didn’t know it was possible for something to be so peaceful and so stressful at the same time. When you’re on top of a peak with cliffs and the chance of avalanche in the back of your mind it definitely gets your heart racing. The girls are great. Anne-Flore is so funny about the sweet heart thing. She is our personal traveling karaoke machine. Andrea is awesome. It’s only the first day of riding and I can tell this trip is going to be one that I will always remember.

ENTRY 3
It’s our second day of riding at Monashee powder. Today the weather was amazing! We woke up to blue skies and a couple inches of fresh snow. Days like this make me realize how lucky I am. It is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been. We had a dance party on the way up the mountain with Anne-Flore leading the way. I wish I could remember all the songs that popped into our heads. I think Shin is getting tired of the karaoke. He brought his I pod and speakers today but it only made things worse. All the girls were singing along. I am so happy with the crew on this trip. We are all making jokes and laughing at each other. It’s amazing how much sport can bring people together. We are all from different countries but we have so much in common. Marie-France and I are always joking about “Kelly Let’s get some shoes” on Youtube.com. We had to make everyone else watch it so they could be in the loop. The skiing today was great. I skied a couple of lines and some small cliffs. I love steep slopes and powder. We didn’t get back to the lodge until seven. Eleven hours on the mountain. It was a full day and It was one of the best days I have ever had.

ENTRY 4
I didn’t sleep well last night. I woke up pretty sore this morning. It has been a really full couple of days. We all got to breakfast early ready to ski if the others were up for it. It was a unanimous decision to take the day off. So we spent the morning doing interviews and shooting lifestyle photos. I got to chop wood and use the chain saw. Showing my red neck side. Jamie gave us our hats today. They are totally over the top and hilarious. “So Aspen” it’s great. At noon we packed up and loaded the snow cat to leave. It was an hour cat ride off the mountain and we loaded the cars. We decided all the girls should ride together. I got nominated to drive out the logging road, which I was more than happy to do. It’s all mud with some great puddles and ruts. I had to rally the car a little bit. We were driving a little fast and there were a lot of quotes from Talladega nights flying over the Radio. Jamie said “who do you drive for Red Bull or Coke?” It’s one of the on going jokes of the trip. We drove all day and we even got to ride a ferry. We listened to music the whole way and then just as we got close started talking about boys! When we arrived in Selkirk none of the girls wanted to get out of the car. It was so funny. After a six hour drive we sat in the car for another half hour just to finish our stories. It’s great to be on a trip with such great people. Everyone has something to add. We finally arrived at Selkirk around nine at night. Loaded our stuff into another snow cat and another lodge.

ENTRY 5
Monashee powder runs on mountain standard time and Selkirk runs on west coast time. The extra hour made me so happy this morning. We got up at 7 am and went to breakfast. I like the food at this lodge much better. We had a gourmet breakfast. It’s our first day here so we went over some avalanche safety this morning. We loaded the cat around 9. It’s at least a half hour cat ride in the morning. Ann-Flore and I were singing the whole way. The first place we stopped has one of the most amazing views I have ever seen. It’s what I would picture mountains to look like in Alaska. We didn’t waste anytime this morning. First run down we already picked out lines. The snow is amazing! I had some of the best powder runs of my life. I really want to start skiing some harder lines and hit some bigger cliffs. Riley and LG have been so nice this whole trip. Shin has been amazing talking us into lines and I really trust his judgment. We found a great zone at the end of the day. I have never skied a real pillow line and I can’t wait to try. Riley is really helping the trip move smoothly we talked about ideas at dinner to speed things up a bit. It’s supposed to be sunny again tomorrow so it will be another big day! Bed time…

ENTRY 6
Wow! What a day. It was certainly one that I will never forget. I got caught in a big sluff slide skiing a chute. I learned a lot about where I want to push myself and where I don’t. I knew there would be a lot of sluff when I looked at the line, and I talked myself out of it. Everyone thought it would be ok so I skied it and got taken down the mountain. It was one of the scariest moments of my life. I tumbled 100 yards or more down the slope sometimes being buried and then coming up for air. I instantly got so much snow in my mouth that as I was tumbling I was gagging. I remember the only thing I was thinking was get the snow out so that if I am buried I will be able to breath until someone finds me. When I finally came to a stop I was still gagging. I can’t imagine what it would be like to be caught in a massive slide. I felt helpless. It is weird but I am glad that I had that experience. It was terrifying and I hope nothing like that ever happens again. While I was tumbling I think I was so focused on breathing the only comfort I had was knowing how many people were up hill and that I had a great group out there to help me. When I came to a stop and finally caught my breath I could see that the girls had already started to run up the hill and Haro was already with me. Stuff like that really makes you realize how important it is to surround yourself with a good group of people in the backcountry. I lost my pole in the slide. The rest of the day I was kind of in a daze. I felt exhausted afterward, like I had just run a marathon. I was definitely shook up. The girls were so supportive. They were really scared for me and it is really comforting to know that I have incredible friends. I got hugs all around. We went to a zone later and all the girls got some great shots. Andrea skied a 3 stage pillow line, and Anne-Flore got a nice 360. We ended the day with a free run I switched equipment with Anne-Flore and we went down together. I have never snowboarded in really deep powder so it was an amazing experience and I can’t wait to do it again. After dinner one of the kids that is staying here did an environmental presentation. He is only 15 but has been to a conference with Al Gore. He was extremely knowledgeable. I learned a lot about what we can do to save the snow. Some of the figures and statistics are astonishing. I will definitely be more aware of places where I can make a difference. Night night….

ENTRY 7
Today was another beautiful sunny day. We started out in the same area as the first day. There were some lines that we wanted to get really early. I wanted to jump but when we got to the top Jason (our guide) talked me into checking out a spot. It turned out to be a chute and I don’t want anything to do with one of those for a while! I skied to the bottom and watched the girls come down. Andrea skied an amazing fin. We left there for the jump that we had started a few days earlier. It clouded up for a bit and we decided to go check a new zone. Anne-Flore and Marie-France found a natural spine that they wanted to session so I went with Liesl , Jason, Nicole and Cooper creek Ken haha (Cory) to build a small jump. When the girls finished it was my turn. I jumped 3 times and got a nice 360 mute. Meanwhile the other girls headed back to the first jump. I hopped on a sled and caught up with them just in time to hit the other jump. We hit it 3 times each and all called it a day. We were really happy to get some jumping in. The week was exhausting so there isn’t much chance of skiing tomorrow. I got to get to know more about Nicole on the way back. She is really cool and I am so happy she is working for Freeskier. We got back in time for dinner and a game of blow ball! It was really funny they got me good. They had a giant commercial pan filled with water and a ping pong ball. It was a trick and they soaked us. The real blow ball is played on the ping pong table with each cat acting as a team. No hands the starter rolls the ball and the blowing begins. The goal is to get the ball to roll off the other teams side. First team to 5 wins. We won!!! It was so much fun. After that we played a game of Crud or what I like to call Red Neck Pool. Everyone was pretty wound up so the drinking began. We ended up playing quarters and staying up really late. The guides Lee, Riley and Cory are Canadian party machines. At one point I was hiding under the shuffle board table while they searched the lodge for me trying to get me to take shots. We went to bed around 2

ENTRY 8
I woke up late this morning. It’s all relative late was 7:45! I grabbed breakfast and crawled right back in bed. Somehow Nicole made it out on time. I can’t wait to find out how. She was up late night partying and left before us. That’s skill. Haha We got up and packed. Loaded the cat and I did an interview before we left. The guys brought me my camera back last night and I didn’t look at it until the morning. It is totally broken. Oh well that’s why I buy the warranty. We are doing so much traveling. We loaded the cars and the bottom and headed for Halcyon Hot Springs. Everywhere we go it seems half the drive is on dirt roads. We arrived at the hot springs around 5. As soon as we got the Shin came up the the car and said who wants the first massages! It was great. All the girls got a massage and then we went and relaxed in the springs for a while. We had a late dinner and went to bed around 11.

ENTRY 9
We got up this morning around 8. We had to get some shots in the hot tubs before we left. Everyone enjoyed it. They have a cold pool there. Andrea was so funny she couldn’t breath at all. We got showered and had breakfast. Packed up again and headed for Chatter Creek. To got to ride another ferry today. The ferry’s are a really fun part of the trip. I have never been on one until now. We drove through Revelstoke and had cell service for the first time since we left Kelowna. I called Amanda to have her pass the message along that I was ok. One more logging road. This one is 68 km. Anne-Flore was driving and we had so much fun. There is are so many puddles and we were flying. Getting the back end of the car sideways and listening to Ridin’ Dirty. When we got out of the car at the trail head the car was completely covered in mud. It is caked on. We can’t see anything out of the back windows. We drove so fast down the logging road it turned out we were over an hour early for the cat, so we all piled into the filmers car (Riley and LG) and watched Borat. 7 of us in the back two seats of a ford explorer. It helped pass the time. The cat finally came and we loaded out bags for the hour and a half ride up to the lodge. We got here at 830. The lodge is amazing. It’s a huge place made of giant timbers. I have to remember to take photos. We had dinner at 9 and crawled straight in bed.

ENTRY 10
First day at Chatter Creek. Chatter Creek is on Mountain time so this morning came early. It was snowing for the first ski day during the trip. All the snow days so far have been travel days. We have gotten so lucky. It was fun and it made it seem like winter again. We did our avalanche briefing. Ken is our guide here and he seems really on it. We loaded the cat and headed up the mountain. The snow is absolutely amazing! It is so light just like winter. I think it is some of the best snow I have ever skied. Definitely the best snow I have skied this year. We skied the same area all day from 10-5. All the girls got some great shots. Marie-France got a couple. I chickened out on a pillow line because I didn’t check it from below. I know I would have been ok. I feel a little gripped out on the mountain. I haven’t been able to relax since my little slide. It’s always in the back of my mind. I am excited for tomorrow because it is supposed to be sunny. Hopefully we will get to jump. I have been trying to catch up on emails and things all night. It seems like we should have plenty of time for that since there is no TV or telephone. We get off the mountain so late that by the time we eat dinner and shower it’s time for bed. We had Bison steak tonight for dinner. I think it is one of the best steaks I have ever had. The food on the trip has been amazing. Last night we had lamb chops. Riley is going to edit a little teaser for the trip and we are all really excited.