Brent Hillier
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A Lap In The Loops

7/24/2014

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Words by: Brent Hillier   Photos by: Brent Hillier & Tim Schmidt
After a busy spring on the North Shore, it was time for a change. The coast will always be my favourite place to ride, but one of it's appeals is that a short drive East will get you to an entirely different environment. And so it was off to the desert for a weekend in Kamloops, BC.
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A Day in the BikeSki Life

7/20/2014

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Words by: Brent Hillier   Photos by: Eli Relke & Brent Hillier
A long time "bucket-list" goal of mine has always been to bike and ski Mount Seymour on the same day without any outside help. I pitched the idea to Eli Relke while we were ski touring this past winter and we earmarked the trip for Spring. Thanks to the MEC Rental program, we got our hands on bike trailers, loaded them up with gear and set off.
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Spring is for Ski Tours

3/25/2014

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Words by:  Brent Hillier  Photos by: Brent Hillier & Jordan Drinovz

The plan was to ski one more blast of winter pow, to say goodbye to one of the most unpredictable and unstable winters I have ever skied or worked. My former patrol manager at Mount Seymour told me one day, "the thing with plan is it never goes according to plan." Those words have never been more true.
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Avalanche Skills Training on Whistler/Blackcomb

2/26/2014

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Words by Brent Hillier   Photos by Brent Hillier & John Kearns

Whistler is great in a lot of ways, one theme that reoccurs in my life is the benefit of learning new things on the slopes of Whistler/Blackcomb. Whether it's skiing or mountain biking I've never left the Resort without some additional skills. It's no surprise that an AST course in Whistler always delivers a fantastic learning experience. One Saturday I headed up with my friend John and introduced him to backcountry skiing, with a private AST 1.
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After the Drought: When Fools Rush In

2/19/2014

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Words by: Brent Hillier   Photos by: Brent Hillier & James Dahmer


I
n my article A Winter of Learning, I explained this years unique problem of a Persistent Weak Layer at the bottom of our snowpack which was buried at the end of November. Up until a Melt Freeze cycle and subsequent cold snap, this layer had continued to produced avalanches. On the coast we were dealing with a major snowpack instability, one we were managing by staying out of steep and rocky terrain. It's meant a winter, not only lacking in snow, but lacking in the ability to branch off into steep, challenging terrain.

The crust that developed during the end of January did do the job of bridging the weak layer at the bottom of our snowpack. No avalanches have been reported on that layer since. My prediction of surface faceting did take shape, what it didn't do was completely deteriorate the melt-freeze crust. So our basal layer, although still producing results in Deep Tap Tests, is now unlikely to be skier triggered.

What I did see taking shape on January 29th, as I hiked into the Keith's Hut, was some very substantial surface hoar development. Shortly after we experienced some extremely cold temperatures in the -20°C range, causing faceting. Our next avalanche problem was beginning to take shape.
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Surface Hoar on the approach to the Keith's Hut on January 29, 2014

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Avalanche Awareness: Who's Got Your Back?

12/24/2013

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Words by: Brent Hillier   Photos by: Brent Hillier

Did you know that any guest of Whistler/Blackcomb can take a free avalanche awareness tour? This year I have the pleasure of being a part of this very cool program, and this past weekend all of the guides met for a day of skiing and training on Blackcomb.
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Updated: The Longest Early Season of My Life

12/22/2013

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Words by: Brent Hillier   Photos by: Brent Hillier & Eli Relke


The early season continues! With a new set of wheels, Eli and I decided to go find winter... again.

On December 11th we set out for another mis-adventure to the Elfin Lake area.
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Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder, but if you can't appreciate a 1985 4WD Tercel then their's something wrong with you.

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The Longest Early Season of My Life

12/8/2013

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Words by: Brent Hillier   Photos by: Brent Hillier & Eli Relke

With first snowfall back in September it seemed like we were going to have a quick start to the 2013/14 Winter. That unfortunately, had not been the case, the first ski trip of the season was full of early season pit falls. (Bushy Kickturns, Coreshots and Broken Promises)

Trip number two was was underway and we had set our sights on a much easier approach. None of us were in the mood for a repeat of our Duffy trip.
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Eli Relke, Fraser Pike and myself (left to right) make our way up from the Diamond Head parking lot to Elfin Lakes.

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Bushy Kickturns, Coreshots and Broken Promises

11/24/2013

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Words by: Brent Hillier   Photos by: Brent Hillier, Eli Relke & James Dahmer
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The first ski of the season comes with mixed experiences. Three years ago, I managed to get out on a birthday ski tour on November 4th. To go skiing on my birthday had been a long time goal and I was treated to an early season pow day. The following year my good friend and ski partner, Sean Coyle and I, tried to repeat our success, this time a little later into November. The day was a bust, the snow was garbage and much of the lower bit required hiking in and out. I promised myself to never get that eager again and just wait patiently for the season to really get underway before I started ski touring. A novel concept, one my skins and ski bases would appreciate. As last season progressed and the pow days accumulated I become more committed to this promise.

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    Brent Hillier

    Stories, Pictures and Video of all my adventures, on skis and bike.

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  • Home
  • About
  • Media
  • Contact
  • Blog
  • Reference
    • Bike >
      • Mount Fromme
      • Mount Seymour
      • Cypress Mountain
      • Terrace, BC
      • Squamish, BC
      • Squamish
    • Ski >
      • Trip Planner >
        • Huts & Shelters >
          • Keith's Hut
          • Elfin Lakes
          • Red Heathers
        • Day Trips
      • Snowpack
      • Avalanche Videos
      • Avalanche Deaths
    • Hike
    • Weather >
      • North Shore
      • Whistler/Blackcomb
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      • Duffy Lakes
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      • Coquihalla Summit
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