the GATHERING 2014 @ WhistlerBlackcomb
The whole idea behind the GATHERING was to get friends together to snowskate in Whistler, there was to be no contest, no rules, no prizes, and no schedule... We definitely followed the no schedule part well! Sorry to those of you who came and wanted to shred all day, but we are on Whistler time, and well for those of you who live in Whistler, you all know that as long as you are on the mountain before 2pm, you're killing it! Needless to say we were late both days (april22-23), but we did get everyone discounted tickets, so we are now even for being late!
Knowing that most resorts have closed down by this point, and the World Ski and Snowboard festival had just wrapped up in Whistler we thought this would be the perfect time to get skaters to make the trip for a get together. We were right! More than 20 skaters showed up to skate and have a good time over the 2 day event, and we had a blast! Almost the entire Big White crew made it down, obviously Squampton was represented strong, there were a few first timers who got their first taste of snowskating on a Squampton Snowskate, and there was definitely a crew skating en francais out there on day 1 too.
As there were no guidelines for the event we honestly just had fun! We did a lot of park laps for sure but we also did some nice long cruises from the top of 7th Heaven and the Glacier, and made sure to stop in at the Whiteroom Smoke Hut for a group safety meeting.
Highlights from the event for me, would start with the turn out, honestly I want to thank everyone that came out and showed their support. That aside it was really good to see everyone step up and try the rollercoaster jib in the Blue Park, and seeing Jesse stomp his first pop shove-it in the middle of a long jib with everyone cheering him on. I was also surprised to see Nick's wife Cindy trying to jump her snowskate on only her second day on a skate.
Again a HUGE thank you to everyone who came out, we will do it again next year, maybe even with some guidlines... What do you think? - Jon Samborski {Squampton Snowskates}