If I take the lift all the way to the top of my favorite resort I can put my skins on and start climbing up the next ridge, by the time I get to the very top  I’ve already lost enough time for a few runs. As soon as I drop in I forget about the long skin up and how tired I am and start feeling the euphoria of riding powder once again…. but now I’m at the base. DAMN! Time to slap those skins on for another ascent. The tours are beautiful and I love being in these areas with my friends, if only we could get some more runs in!

What about heli skiing you ask!? This would seem like the obvious choice for many, and if I ran a hedge fund or a celebrity plastic surgery clinic this is what I might do. Unfortunately for guys like me the use of a chopper is a little out of my snack bracket. There are some clear advantages of helicopters though. No skinning up the hill, luxury accommodations, great meals, wicked snow and knowledgeable guides to show you around the area and keep up to date on the avalanche conditions. If only I win the lottery this year! This all sounds great, but I’m a little scared of falling out of the sky first of all, and what if I pay all the money to get up there and the chopper can’t fly due to weather conditions…. this is starting to seem like a very risky vacation. Mother nature never seems to cooperate with me.

Now if only there was something in between the hardships of ski touring with the catered heli ski life… let’s think for a minute. Ahhh so this is where cat skiing comes in.

• Beautiful fresh untracked snow
• Deeeeeeep powder!
• Affordable, even for a guy like me? YES!
• Cats operate in fog, snow, high winds…. got you this time Mama Nature!
• All the luxuries of Heli Skiing

Now this seems pretty good, what’s the downside you ask? Well… the only bad part is that your vacation might be a little more relaxed because you aren’t rushing around to try and get into the chopper that’s costing $2000 an hour to run.  Is this a downside? Well the only one I can find.

Why do I want to go cat skiing?

Why wouldn’t I?

If you’re looking for some cat skiing try Mustang Powder located in the Monashee Mountains between Revelstoke and Kamloops.

Cat Skiing at Mustang Powder

Opening was scheduled for Dec 11th and now it will be Dec 4th. See you there.

So much fun on the river!

It’s a good thing you only take pictures of the fun times because just by looking at these pictures I’m excited for next seasons slavery! Happy planting.

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Relaxing after a big drive, the mini Mexico beds are not made for tall boys.

Sandi taking a break from our hike up Cascade Chiffon Waterfall

This is the first of many waterfalls that we got to see.
Just a small part of the 2km uphill hike.
This is the biggest and most impressive waterfall. There is one more observation deck higher up but we couldn’t take any pictures as we were getting so wet.



These are Aztec ruins just outside of Comitan, Tenam Puente. All kinds of amazing history, human sacrifice, massive ball courts and impressive pyramids. This is the view from the hilltop of the ruins looking down on the town below. During easter they march from the town, up to the top of this hill to the cross in the next picture.





After the ruins and before we went to the lagoons the next day we stayed at a little cabana called Pino Feliz, or Happy Pine. There were some really cute kids there and we made the awful mistake of buying them some icecream, they were the most hyper brats after that.
Pino Feliz was also home to some week old puppies we got to play with.
The youngest girl, Papaya.
My favorite puppy, Captain Mo.
The little brats with their icecream.
Sandi having a dance party.
These are the lagoons of Chiapas, we took an hour horse ride around them, ouch, sore butt.
So this is a few days later in Guatemala. This fountain was staring at us as we ate breakfast.
In Antigua, Guatemala we stayed with a family who fed us 3 times a day! It was amazing. This bird of paradise just bloomed while we were staying here.
This is a view from the front of our host house, the busses in Guatemala are a sight to be seen. All old school buses with Jesus slogans and super flashy hood ornaments race through the streets.
The central market in Antigua. The second stall on the left is full of meat, nobody in Mexico/Guatemala has caught on to the refrigeration of meat thing yet…
This is the main cathedral in the central park of Antigua. I’m flanked by our two extremely short Spanish teachers, Rosa and Celia.




This was our dinner table with our family. Thomas, Casper, Maria and Pamila were from Denmark, Areceli our host is at the head. This is Volcano Pacaya just outside of Guatemala city. The hike up this thing is HARD! As soon as our bus pulled up to the base we were swarmed by kids yelling “STICK STICK STICK!” So we felt compelled to buy one, gracias dios (thank god) we did because walking on loose lava rocks is hard.

This was our Valentines day, back in Puerto Escondido. We made a reservation at a hotel for dinner and they gave us fancy baloons and everything. We were very impressed. Here’s Sandi enjoying the wonders of 2*1 happy hour. Yummy Pina Coladas.

We’re currently back in Puerto Escondido staying here for a month. We rented a big fat house and today Ryan Hodgson gets here. In 3 more days Justine and Dustin get here so we’ve got a big month ahead of us.

Sunset at Playa Escondido, not to be confused with Puerto Escondido

Playa Santispic

We got new snorkeling gear and I was really excited to try it out…
More pics will be coming s0on, we’re having an amazing time and miss everyone at home.