Epic start to the new year! Kristin and I arrived in Nelson at 11:47pm and run into Mike's Place Pub. Goal: to get a tasty beverage in hand for the ever important toast as the ball drops. We get the tops popped from 2

(Nelson Brewery IPA's) as the 5 second countdown begins!

Day 1, A recon day of sorts:

Beginning with single digit temps at the car sucks! The burning sensation in our hands as we struggled to equip our boards with skins was almost enough to call it quits for the day and head to

Ainsworth Hot Springs.

The day ended up being awesome, near bluebird skies with all world stability within the snowpack. We figured out the lay of the land, and fine tuned our approaches for the zones to be shredded on Day 2. Oh ya and we did get in a 1800' and 1000' run on this "recon day"

Day 2, Sick Sick Sick:

After leaning our lesson in the single digit tmeps the morning before, we equipped our boards and got everything completely ready from the comfort of the

Whitehouse.

We then spent the next 7 hours touring Five Mile Basin / Half Dome, climbing and riding over 6000 vertical feet over 8 miles. The best part of the day was climbing out of Five Mile Basin as the sun was setting over the Bonnington Range, and wondering if we were going to get down to the pub before it closes! Both days we skied the final 1000' line through Ymir Basin eventually ending up "in-bounds" at the Whitewater ski resort, with a final destination Johnny Coal's Pub.