It sure has been dumping in the Cascades lately – Mt. Baker, Alpental and Steven’s Pass have received around 100 inches of new snow in the past 10 days! Hopefully you’ve been able to get out and enjoy it – we sure have: during last week’s snowdays and on Saturday at the A-Rob Smash life Banked Slalom. Some of us even skipped class work yesterday and got deep, fresh and crowd-free turns. If you couldn’t make it out, here’s what you’ve been missing:

Now go and get it!

Another HST Whistler Invasion has come and gone and I can safely report that all stoke was fulfilled and then some.  We knew we were off to a good start when we got a free extra night in Creekside.  Then it was time to leave and we noticed that we were planning to bring enough alcohol into Canada for us to classified as importers at the border.  Then it nuked the whole drive Friday night.  Nice!

Whistler 2012 By the Numbers:

• 4 nights in Creekside
• 37 HST members and alums
• Hundreds of beers
• Scores of shots
• Dozens of fifths
• Tens of frozen pizzas
• Many energy drinks
• Two days of pow
• Two nights of naked snow angels
• One broken hot tub (one tradition kept alive)

Photographic Evidence (So many more on Facebook)

Preparedness is very important.

Fuck the dealer!

“Ohhhhhhh shiiiiiiiiiiit get up man, look!”

Top of Flute Bowl, looking back at that top of Symphony Express: Definitely worth the effort.

and… shredded!

Stoking on tomorrow’s pow!

Attractive, talented, and drunk Irishmen!

Radness levels reach critical mass, resulting in localized rad-blur effects.

Thank you officers, you steezy motherfuckers!

See you next year!

This Saturday, 1/21, Alpental is hosting the first-ever Smash Life Banked Slalom;. This event is a benefit banked slalom for our dear friend Aaron Robinson, aka A-Rob, who passed away in the Chile backcountry this past summer. There are only 150 racer slots available so sign up early. You can pre-register for the event by sending an email to SummitSmashLifeBanked@gmail.com. After the race the Smash Life crew will auction off some sweet board gear for A-Rob’s Plant a Seed Foundation. The Foundation helps keep Aaron’s love of all things positive alive, by helping the less fortunate get out on the slopes. There will also be a free showing of A-Rob’s “Manifest Movie”. Finally, there will be a special musical guest. So come on out and support an awesome event for an awesome person and Smash Life!!!

Saturday, January 21st
Alpental Ski Area
Entry Fee: $15 day of, $10 adv
Registration starts @ 8:30, Race starts @ 10:30
Smash Life!!!

Considering the forecast and state of the Cascade snowpack, it’s more likely that contestants will be getting barreled in the deep pow than banked in the slalom, but that’s what A-Rob would’ve wanted. 100% fun times guaranteed for all!

A-Rob smashing an A+ method. Photo: