Continued...

After another breakfast at The Pancake House we decide to head north to British Columbia where it has snowed 29 inches in the last week. The drive takes us through a tight valley with walls that have slid out during the this winter's wet weather. Houses, or pieces of houses litter the side of the road. The slides have left many of the residence in this valley chopped in two after the land beneath gave away. Another example of a place I'd hate to call home.

We arrive in Coeur d'Alene and check out the local skatepark near the lake. It's Saturday and a lot of kids are skating around the puddles and piles of snow--dedication. After Tom borrows a skateboard for a few minutes we regroup at a local brewery (surprise) and tackle another pinball game. Our path continues through Spokane, Washington and up to a place called Colville where we get hotel rooms and hit the hot tub. Artie volunteers to sleep on a cot for the night.

In the morning we rush up to the US/Canadian border. It is totally clear and warm for a February morning. Red Mountain is a medium sized resort just outside of Rossland, BC. This place is cool, there's lots of hiking, and the in-bounds stuff is killer as well. We run into some locals on our way out of bounds and Alex points out a good place to build a jump. On our way we find a run full of rollers and eventually make a hip jump of a gully wall. We shovel for nearly 45 minutes and come up with a nice wide highway jump. We probably each hit the jump 15 times before it gets too dark to see it.

The ride out of Red Peak is the tightest trees I've ever been down. We side-slip between trees no more that 1 or 2 feet apart for what seemed like forever. It pops out onto a run and we unstrapped and ran around trying to relieve our foot cramps. The way down to our cars was the only run we actually took inside Red Mountain. All the way back to the lodge was packed with frontside wall hits (regular) some of them 15 feet and bigger.

Ross Peterson flying the friendly Idaho skies.

Everyone gets pretty tired after hiking all day and we wanted the closest hotel room. Two rooms at the Scotsman Lodge and Artie's plan had paid off, he would get his own bed while Jason and I cuddled on the smallest double in the world. Everyone passed out before dinner to Robin Williams in Paradise Cove, a crummy movie where someone is trying to buy up a whole island, but Robin won't sell his little resort full of nerdy guests.

We finally end up eating at this funky cafe in Rossland. After ordering a meal, the waitress brings out your food, knowing it is screwed up, and simply says ,"I'm sorry, this is how the cook decided to make your sandwich." It happens to everyone's meal, really weird.

Back at the hotel, Tom and Jim tell us about a place they had seen to build a jump the next day. Our group falls asleep to visions of hucking dancing in our heads.

Jason and I wake up and put on our boots to check out this jump. Directly across from the hotel is the entrance to a mine with tunnels running underneath all of Rossland and down to another town called Trail. In total, there is more than 85 miles of tunnel underneath these two towns. An aerial tramway still exists to cart the ore from the mine shaft down to be loaded on trains. We hike up under the tramway until we reached one of the huge piles of discarded rock now covered in 4 feet of snow. There we find a perfect place to build a jump. Plenty of room for a nice runway, good lip and a long steep landing.

We go back to the hotel, get everyone going, and head back up to start building. Tom comes down with a nasty sore throat and decides to kick back for the day, he can barely talk. Our friend Alex comes back to join us and brings his buddy Chris. They say that they'd always thought of building a jump there, but have never seen anyone do it.

This time the jump building takes a little longer but pays off with a great kicker session for the afternoon. Everyone is riding well and landing in the deepest slush I've ever seen. When the snow starts to harden up due to the sun setting, we pack up our things, say our good-bye and head back for the states. Artie, Jim, Dave, and Tom leave us for their trek back to Tahoe, and Jason and I head for Bend. Perfect end to a perfect trip.

SOL | Snowboarding Online