[by Guillaume Paré]

When arriving in Mont Tremblant, you access the hills by using the "Carouselle", a standing lift that resembles something you would normally see at Canada's Wonderland. While getting on, another snowboarder joins me on this odd ride, probably avoiding the tourists just as I was. Turns out, he is one of the athletes competing in The Canadian Shield, a new slopestyle tour that will become a launching platform for up-and-coming riders. Traveling with categories from rookie to pro and $80,000 total in cash, the series will be visiting some of the best resorts in Canada: Tremblant, Seymour, COP and Blue Mountain. They all have great terrain parks and are willing to accommodate the necessary features for all categories.

Diego Guerrero, bs 180-in, 180-out.

Born and raised in Yellowknife, NT, Andrew Matthews is now living the dream in Whistler and doing the Canadian Shield tour this winter to travel, get recognition and accumulate TTR points. This cool cat had done proper research before coming to la belle province - he not only found a cheap flight, but also scored the best accommodation in town: the HI Tremblant Hostels. Located in the old village, the spot offers the best value for travelers on a tight budget. Along with their comfortable bunk beds and healthy breakfast, you can enjoy the après-ski in the private bar and meet some cute French Canadian girls.

Andrew Matthews, fs 540.

My new friend Andy and a handful of young talents, attended the riders' meeting on Friday night. It was surprising to see the amount of people that traveled from all over the country to attend the first stop. Andrew Singleton, the event organizer, walked us through the course: "Riders come from the start gate and get quarreled by our starter. They have five different features in front of them. The first feature has two different down rails. After that, you've got the cannon box (a wide whale of a press box); remember, it's a speed box, so you want to keep your speed going through that. Then you're coming into the jump section. The first jump, which riders are saying is the best jump, has got some pop on it. It's about a 45-foot big deck, into a smaller feature that's 20 feet. Then it repeats itself; the three jump features are very similar."

Max Parmentier and Philippe Lemieux, judging finals.

Since the Canadian Shield has evolved from eight years of producing the You Look Good Riders Cup, the organizers have developed a good relationship with the resort to run events smoothly and efficiently. In all of those years, this would be the first time where "Mother Nature" was on their side at Tremblant, providing a nice blue sky and not-so-cold temperatures.

Maxence Parrot, front board.

Saturday morning saw the Disney XD X-Elerator (12 & under and 13-15 categories) take on the smaller jumps, which were still considerably big for this group. Around 11am, the qualifications for amateurs and pros started. Everyone was pretty stoked on the schedule, giving them extra sleep or time to ride the three different, and very well maintained, terrain parks.

New Zealand's Ryan Liam, front lip.

In the pro finals, it was impossible to predict who would have the best run out of two among the field of competitors. Local slashers Simon Reid and Jeremy Cloutier had won events here in the past; Tyler Nicholson was going for doubles; Warren Williams brought a clean back 9 to the game. But the king of the hill would be Chris Collard. The DC team rider landed a solid run, consisting of a frontside 180 to switch 5-0 on the down rail, half cab on the cannon, FS 7, BS 9 (which won the SBC Standout Trick) and Cab 9.

Gillian Andrewshenko, classic indy air.

The Pro Open overall tour prize is a surf trip to Eldorado Resort in El Salvador. Looking forward to the next event, the Canadian Shield will land at Mt Seymour, February 17-19.

All photos: Yann Roy

(get the full results with photos on the next page)