 Plenty of good snow and bluebird days are what you will find at Marmot Basin in the spring. Courtesy MARMOT BASIN |
JASPER, AB — After flying into Edmonton, Alberta after a 12 day tour around the coast of Vancouver Island, I found myself immediately making plans to hit the road again, destination Jasper and Marmot Basin Ski Resort.
My crazy schedule of running around Alberta and British Columbia, filming some of the great resorts that are in these two provinces didn’t allow much time to ride with my friends this season. Everytime I got home from tour, they were gone riding somewhere, typically Jasper because its only a three hour trek from Edmonton.
The roommates were set to hit the road the following night, and seeing how my snowboard bag was packed and ready to go I couldn’t resist the offer. Besides it seemed only appropriate to head to the place where I started at the beginning of the season – just to see how the hill had shaped up, of course.
We got into Jasper and found ourselves at the Astoria Hotel for a quick nap, leaving us rested and ready for a day on the slopes. The day started out with a light fog, but it lifted by Noon leaving us with a bluebird afternoon. If you’re looking for steep alpine bowls, Marmot Basin is an excellent choice. We headed up the Knob chair to have some fun in the open bowls, but slicing through the trees on the way down was my personal favourite.
After a gnarly morning of riding, we headed to the Eagle Chalet. What a perfect location for a great place to eat. With a T-bar directly in front, and two other lifts just a couple turns on the snowboard away, what more could you want? We sat down with a snow-seeking friend of ours from the resort, Megan Gibson, Megs, who promised to take us into some of Marmot’s best spots and her favs.
The chalet offers a wide range of food to suit anything you might be craving. I sunk my teeth into a chicken breast on a bun, with some delicious soup on the side. Recharged and ready to go, we set out again to find some good stashes.
We hadn’t been up the Eagle Ridge quad yet, so off we went. Off one side, the earth seems to literally fall off the side of this mountain. With hairy double black terrain and gnarly cliff drops, it comes off very intimidating. So much so, that we never went down it! Not being a very confident double diamond rider myself, I stayed to the east side of the mountain – still some gnarly terrain with great black diamond runs, but at least I could handle these.
Add a five-minute hike and hop, and you got yourself some fresh lines down the east side of the mountain. A few laps around that area and you’re dog tired. A long day to say the least, but a great one as well. It seems crazy that this season is ending so soon, but there’s still plenty of time to get out and ski and ride, because nothing matches a good mountain session with your buddies.
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