Words Ben Ferguson As Told To Ben Shanks Kindlon Photos Alex Pashley I ’m in a snowy parking lot loading up my sled when a big, all-black Chevy Silverado 3500 rolls in. The man driv-ing the truck is visibly angry, but still I wave to break the ice. He shakes his earmuffed head at me. A woman and three children are with him. He parks, gets out and turns to unload two snowmobiles from the back of his hulking rig. Unable to hold it in any longer, he lets us know how he really feels: “Oregon plates? Today? No fucking way. It’s Family Day.” “We rolled up to this from below and Gabe Ferguson eyed up a pat down just lookers left of this frame. Jared Elston opted to hike a bit higher to switch backside 540 the corner of the cornice.”—Alex Pashley It’s a crisp Sunday in British Columbia’s Kootenay Mountains. Recent snowfall has produced the best conditions I’ve seen so far this year. Jared Elston, my brother Gabe and I are somewhere deep in the region follow-ing the Natural Selection Tour stop at Baldface Valhalla. Yesterday a guy in town told us we’re going to ride pow up to “here,” while tapping on his chest. But on our first day out, things are falling apart fast. The man with the Chevy isn’t the only one looking at us like we don’t belong. Apparently on Family Day, this zone is for locals only. A slew of side-eyes makes us second-guess our decision to ride in this area, so we start to pack up the sleds. That’s when a much more intimidating man than the one before starts walking toward us. We should’ve left sooner. He must be six-foot-five. The dude is a corn-fed hoss, a big dog. In a deep voice he says, “Hey boys, don’t pack up the sleds. It’s all good. There’s a spot down that road.” He points us in the direction of some tough luck laps. They’re actually really fun. A few days later we revisit the zone where we got the axe but spend most of our trip riding a spot 30 to 40 minutes farther down the road. Once we’d gotten some good laps in, Sunday’s happenings started to seem funny. Perhaps even a bit awesome. If nothing else, it makes for a good story. Family Day was not our day. And that’s OK. FAMILY DAY 091
The Snowboarder's Journal The Snowboarder's Journal 20.4: Page 91
