I have made it down to Bariloche, Argentina, my latest stop on a whirl-wind trip of South America ski destinations, accompanied by my Norwegian travel contingent. We have seen blue bird pow conditions in El Colorado, above the smog of Santiago, more of the same at South America's only cat skiing operation, Ski Arpa Snowcats. I happened upon my brother Les there, high in the Andes, an odd circumstance.

From Riksgransen Christian Bjork and I headed further north and west to the coast of Norway to town called Tromso. The sun never sets there so we took a drive around a couple of small islands and found a nice line for an evening shred above the North Atlantic Ocean.

Tromso is on the edge of Norway and just West of the Lyngen Alps. I highly recommend a trip out there if you like ski touring. The runs, views and access are some of the best I've seen anywhere in the world. Tromso is actually the most Northern city in the world with a population of more than 50,000 and has more skiing than you can do in a life time with an hour or two drive.

Whistler Blackcomb Snowcast #10 is out, featuring Adaptive Alpine & Apres.

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The first day of the Silver King Freeride went down today in snowy conditions, thank the heavens. Under the few inches of new snow is icy hardpack which is really sweet, especially for the snowboard competitors who only have one edge. The riding was strong, smooth yet aggressive with a dash of contrallability, a splash of garlic, and without anyone smashing themselves.

Blackcomb Jan 2008  Skiier: Darren Bennett   Photo by: Ivan Sexsmith

Just when I thought it would never come, my first weekend 6 months after shoulder delivered a cold sunny day with my best friends and light powder.

Jamie telling Calvin and Hobbes how it's going to be.

Of course there was some ice, some rocks and not all the lifts were running. Now my calves, quads and back are screaming. But I can't wipe the grin off my face with steel wool! It's on now, the alpine is open the base is settled and it's all cold smoke from here.

These could be the 3 biggest cliff jumps of all time, with Jamie Pierre's head plant taking the lead of course:P

November 11, 2007. First tour of the season. Drove up to the Duffey and ran into a po-lice blockade. Cop: "It's puking up there!". Us: "Heck ya!, that's why we drove all the way to get here". Cop: "turn around". Tough luck I guess. Instead, we skinned up Whistler. Tough going, but maybe that was the summer legs talking. Either way it was deep, and winter is here to stay. By the looks of opening weekend last week, its a go.