WIN A NEW SEAWARD KAYAK COMPETITION

Seaward Kayaks have come out with a new 14.5 foot sea kayak for 2010, problem is, they are great at making boats, not so great at naming them, so they are looking for your help. Click on the banner below to be directed to their 'Name our boat and win a free kayak' page. Good luck, and let us know if you happen to be the person to come up with the winning name.....

Backcountry Skiing - Highway 93 South

Just a quick update from a ski tour I did yesterday with Dennis Newsome out somewhere along Highway 93 South. Skinning in we werent super inspired by the breakable sun crust, though upon our ascent the avy chute had been cross loaded a bit and the crust was supporting our up track nicely. The 2 runs we did were so SICK, first run was 11oo feet of descent and the second was 1400 feet. The top tree run was approx. 400 feet at 45 degrees, and the bulk of the chute weighed in at around 35 degrees. Such an awesome day.......... Simon

Check out the video below

Blairs Latest

Hey Team X-stream,

Thought I should get on here for an update from the Great White (and very windy) North. I have made it up to Terrace here in northern BC after what I must say has been an epic last 3 month's or so. Life has definitely been pretty good to me with the Africa Trip and then straight into some super sick back country POW in Revelstoke 2 days after my return to Canada.
So Terrace is a awesome place. My first few days in town were kind of mind blowing, I don't think I have ever been in a place with so many friendly hospitable people that will go out of their way to help you out!!!
I stayed with a family that I got in touch with off couch surfing (http:www.couchsurfing.org). They put me up and helped me out a lot!!
So I found a place to live with a local paddler and thought I had a job at the ski hill but they reneged as they are going through some pretty tough times financially I believe. None the less the ski hill is wicked and definitely a secret little powder stash.
Mind you the only time I see the ski hill is when I'm skinning up it in the mornings to get to the sick back country access off the top.
So I'm still on the solid job hunt at the moment and basically being the ultimate ski bum. Ski during the day and eat and watch movies and sleep....well today I may be watching a large number of weeds episodes as I slept in. But hey life is good....
We juts need a bit more slow and some good conditions to stabilize the back country..it is pretty intense out there at the moment. The wind has just absolutely hammered the hell out of everything and if it didn't get wind hammered its got surface hoar like no other. Snow baby snow.
Anyhow here is a couple of photos of the PJ's in Africa which I will get to you guys in the spring and some of Revelstoke and up here!
Hope all is well in the land of the beef and cowboys. Look forward to seeing you all in the spring.

Peace

Blair

Me having a wee break. The Gorge Xmas Day

This sweet Ridge I skied then popped off down this Chute to the right. Xmas Day

The African Sunsets that never...ever grow old!!

Shames Back Country, Terrace BC

Bruce, Raging Thunder, Tana River, Kenya

The big D, Mission, Tana River, Kenya

Is that Mike???....flying?, Raging Thunder, Tana River, Kenya

Do you Recognise that Dawg???..Blair & Pipita Watson, Smithers, BC

Gotta love the up, Corbans Pass, Revelstoke BC
Trevor looking good, Mission Waterfall, Tana River, Kenya
My Xmas Day, Just me not another soul in the whole Place!!
Ice Fishing, Lakelse Lake, Terrace BC

Enjoy the Winter. Snow Snow baby Snow. Peace

Blair

Pyrahna Molan Video

Gday Guys and Girls,

I hope you all enjoyed the Holiday Season and are slowly easing back into regular life. Those of you who are in the Northern Hemisphere I hope you are getting plentiful amounts of skiing, boarding and other such Wintry endeavors. You southern hemisphere chargers, I hope the surf and whitewater is treating you well.

Just wanted to add a quick You Tube link of Pyranha team paddler Dave Fusili ripping up the new Molan playboat. Looks like the thing has good foot room and flies like a bird.......click on the link below and enjoy........

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE MOLAN IN ACTION

Ski Touring and Jumpin' in K-Country

Gday All,

Just a quick holiday blog update from the Aquabatics Calgary/Adventure Trippin crew. Blair has made it to Terrace, and is loving life up there, ski touring his brains out and pretty much loving life. Mitch is well on the way to a full recovery from his back injury (as some of these pics will attest), and he has been ski touring, coaching and generally tearing it up. Peter is in Mexico surfing with his folks right now, and Nikki, Talia and myself have been out in the mountains, relaxing, and enjoying Talia's first Christmas. So that's whats going on in a nutshell.....

We have a new website due to go live in the next week or so, this is super exciting for us as it has a fully revamped product cart, a new layout and combines the Aquabatics retail, instruction rental and the AT trips into one nice looking site....stay tuned.

Here are a few pics from the last week, one day is from a touring mission Mitch and I went on in an undisclosed location on the Icefields parkway and the second is from a family and friends tailgate party and backcountry jump session we did the other day, lawn chairs, BBQ, sodas and some good jumps and even better crashes......

I hope you are all having a great holiday season, and we wish you all an awesome New Years Eve and an even better 2010.......

Simon trying for the front flip (landed on my butt on this one...)

Ryan K, styling out a frontside 360

Cruisin' powder turns in the sunshine

Ryan pre grab and flying through the fluffy stuff

Nikki laying down her first post pregnancy powder turns - stoked

Mitch - post stomped 360, showing everyone the base of his new LINE skis

Mitch tweakin' it out, early in the session

On his way to the bottom for hot dogs and Coca Cola

Mitch and Nik enjoying the sun and the snow....

Cindy R, first pow turns on her new (color coordinated) Burton snowboard

Top of the bootpack up to the jump, Simon, Mitch and Nikki

Mitch carving ridgetop turns on the Icefields parkway

Point and shoot cameras dont tell the story, we had over 1000 feet of turns like this

Earning those turns, Mitch's youthful legs blazing a trail upwards

Merry Christmas, Happy New Years and Holiday Hours

NOTE: We are going to be closed from 2pm on December 24th until 10am on January 6th, we will be checking emails and phone messages daily so if you have any questions, or are interested in special pre season orders please drop us a line and we will get back to you within 24 hours.

Gday Everyone

Simon checking in here, I just wanted to take a minute to say thanks to everyone who has visited the shop, website, blog etc over the past 12 months. Also wanted to say a Merry Christmas and an adventure, fun filled and awesome New Year to you all.

Nikki, Talia (our latest family addition, 3 months old today) and myself would like to take the opportunity to say a HUGE thanks for the support, stories, enthusiasm and laughs from many of you guys in the past 12 months.

All things considered we had a great first year of running the shop and kayak school here in Calgary and this is in large part to all of you, so for that we are super grateful.

We’ve had a great (busy) year and look forward to the years ahead and hope we can keep up the ‘good job’ that many of you have commented on. So again a MASSIVE thanks to you all and I hope you all get plenty of good skiing, snowshoeing or travelling in over the winter months and we look forward to hearing from/seeing you all in the Spring....

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Pyranha Molan Playboat: New For 2010

Just a quick post guys to give all you freestyle (or budding freestyle) paddlers out there a quick look at Pyranha's new playboat the Molan, the first one is arriving in North America today.

We will be getting some in (including demos) for mid March, so just in time for the weather/water to start warming up (a bit). Pyranha have also revamped the Burn for 2010 so will post some more info on that soon......

On to the pictures........