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Hey Winter, Thanks For Showing Up: Horseshoe Valley Opening Day
Posted On Dec 09 2009, 02:33 PM by asayer

There is only one road to Horseshoe Valley: Highway 400. Just a flat-out high-speed burn through Barrie, passing exactly one Tim Hortons/Wendy's combo, a McDonalds, and zero Starbucks save for one off Mapleview Drive. But there's no time for such unnecessary detours: It's December 8th and it is time to snowboard. Finally!

Andrew Skelhorn and Jeremy Ing greeted me in the parking lot. I filed down my board's Ginsu-sharp edges even though it was icy. Skelhorn felt over-gunned on a 156; the poor guy still thinks he is in Whistler. Jeremy makes his own stickers so he can pretend he's sponsored. (Jokes: he works for The Program).


Andrew and Jeremy.

A female representative from City TV ran over and asked what I was doing to my board. "Can you pretend to do it again? Our viewers will get a kick out of it."

"I don't think so lady, beat it," I replied. My audience laughed and guilt set in, but we didn't come up to Horseshoe on opening day to pose in front of TV cameras. Karma kicked my ass when I fell about five seconds after strapping in for the first time.


The crew for the day.

"Loose" is the word that first comes to mind to describe the riding I witnessed, as riders tried to get used to new gear and not riding for months. Many riders subscribed to this style, including: Steve "PH" Powling, Ryan "Smolik" Helstern, Skelhorn, Brody Pigeau, Craig Gouweloos, Blair McKinney, Andrew Rusk, Jon Rusk, and many more. There are probably five web videos already posted of sub-par, but good-times riding.


PH Powling on the feature of the day.

The highlight of my day, however, was taking the chairlift with Mike Scott. Not the No Limits soldier/Push.ca columnist Mike Scott. I'm talking about O.G., artistic recluse Mike Scott. The best switch rider in history, Michael-Jordan-tongue-swagger on every air, Mike Scott. He rode hard in six-year old gear, but left early. There must have been a karaoke session starting up in town.


Blair McKinney and Andrew Rusk keeping the park in check.

A quick wrap-up: Pole's were jammed. New outfits were shown off. Crotches were ripped out of brand new too-tight pants. Balance was shaky due to rider's narrowing their stances. Death cookies were pillow-dropped. Helmets weren't worn. Horseshoe will definitely be the place to ride this year. Brody and Kea Mowat looked cute in their matching but opposite outfits: black and red, red and black. Both were ripping, making it easy to tell who spent time in Whistler over the off-season. The crew in the old, muddy Tech Nine gear was riding hard. I think a few hockey rink sessions were to blame. Smolik was the man in black. Trevor Harris wasn't. Both looked handsome.


Break out the old gear...retro is in.

As far as terrain went, the offerings were meager with one red mailbox receiving the brunt of the crew's stoke. Luckily Pony Trail was one of the two runs open, a personal favorite. With the cm's about to get stacked by this weekend, a full park offering should be available by Friday. The Rome Premature Jibulation is set to run on Sunday, so get up to Horseshoe over the next few days and warm up those legs. The season started late, but the park will be taking shape very quickly now.

Thanks to Matt Baird and the rest of the ‘Shoe crew for catering to snowboarders this season. Get up to Horseshoe ASAP! Winter is finally upon us.

Ontario photog Richard Roth sent over these shots from the secret Sunday session that went down even before the hill opened to the public:


Tyler Ashbee. Richard Roth photo.


Andrew Rusk. Richard Roth photo.


Andrew Skelhorn. Richard Roth photo.

Ruskasode Sunday session edit:

 

Powling Sunday session edit:

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Related:
Unexpected Turns with Andrew Skelhorn
Opening Day Ontario 08/09
Down With Horseshoe

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Andrew Sayer - The tan will fade. The snow will melt. The volume will go down. When the wolves are at the door, put the left foot forward and howl. There is a green light that never goes out.

 

 

Comments
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The time has come. I've been quoting Game of Thrones for the past four months, saying "winter

posted by Evan Rissi's Column | Nov 18 2011, 04:11 PM

The initial Horseshoe Open Ski and Snowboard Festival, currently Ontario's only large-scale, mulit

posted by Andrew Sayer's Column | Mar 14 2011, 06:20 PM

Maybe you knew that the Horseshoe Park was called 'The Paddock' and maybe you didn't. Either

posted by Sayer's Blog | Apr 28 2010, 04:59 PM

Spring is in the air... can you smell the charred tube-steak and toasted white buns? To me, hot dogs

posted by Matt's Blog | Apr 13 2010, 10:46 AM

Ontario photographer Richard Roth teamed up with filmer Brian Hunt to document a few days of shooting

posted by Matt.CMgr's Column | Mar 19 2010, 03:44 PM

Ontario may have been hit by winter a few weeks late this year , but if you are a borderline obessive

posted by Sayer's Blog | Feb 03 2010, 02:12 AM

Brothers Rusk, Andrew and Jon , were in Vancouver last week performing in some pre-Olympic downtown jib

posted by Sayer's Blog | Jan 19 2010, 01:10 PM

Pingback from  Check out Andrew Skelhorn in this article «

posted by Check out Andrew Skelhorn in this article « | Dec 17 2009, 03:16 PM

Pingback from  It’s ON in Ontario | NuuLife Cinema Company

posted by It’s ON in Ontario | NuuLife Cinema Company | Dec 11 2009, 09:40 PM

Pingback from  nlintel  » Blog Archive   » Check out Andrew Skelhorn in this article

posted by nlintel » Blog Archive » Check out Andrew Skelhorn in this article | Dec 10 2009, 02:38 PM


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