I moved back to Vancouver last week leaving behind the sun and surf of southern California for snow and face shots back in BC. But winter hasn’t quite arrived here yet, none of the local mountains are open and the base at Whistler Blackcomb was pretty low. Regardless, I headed up to Whistler on Friday with SBC scribe Sara Tollestrup for our first day shredding of the season! Upon getting to the lift at Blackcomb we ran into recent Whistler homeowner Natasza Zurek and her boyfriend Steven, and father to the O’Brien sisters, Brien O’Brien. We waited to hook up with Mike Stastook and his Avenue Athletics crew including lone female shred Brooke Voight and we headed straight to the Blackcomb park.

It might have been rainy and the snow base was low but there was plenty of fun to be had on the various rails, boxes, picnic tables, a jump and hip. Brooke was keeping up with the boys laying down various 270 on combos and going for backlips on the down bar. After a solid shred session, Sara and I headed over to Blenz to hook up with SBC Women’s Annual contributors and pro riders to talk about the current issue and go over the plans for next year. The girls were hyped and a lot of great ideas were generated from the meeting plus it was a good chance to catch up with all the ladies.

Next up we headed to a local favourite, Sushi Village, for dinner and discussion with Natasza Zurek and Steve, COC’s Fabia Laura Gruebler, Jeff Keenan, and photographer Chris Owen. Capping off the evening Fabia and I headed to the Longhorn for Powder Mountain Snowcats' Miss Powder Mountain Contest. It was definitely good humour to see girls competing in karaoke, dancing contests, moustache contests, all and all good time!

Saturday morning before heading back to the city I hooked up with K2 Team rider Brooke Voigt, K2 Canadian Team Manager Lauren Howard, and K2 International Team Manager Kevin Winkel for breakfast. After, they cruised up the mountain in the rain while I got in my warm car and headed back to the city!

SBC's Sara Tollestrup was amped to ride

Natasza Zurek proving even pros ride in the rain

Brien O'Brien snowboards more than you!

Mike Stastook runs things at Avenue Athletics

Chair ride party: Brooke Voigt, Sara Tollestrup and Roberta Rodger

Meeting time! Jess Kimura, Sara Tollestrup, Natasza Zurek, Marie-France Roy, Roberta Rodger, Meghann O'Brien, Natalie Langmann, and Molly Milligan

The Miss Powder Mountain Contest got pretty wild

Fabia and Roberta had some good laughs that night

Breakfast time with K2 rider Brooke Voigt, K2 Canadian team manager Lauren Howard and K2 international team manager Kevin Winkel

SEE WHAT I SEE

There is nothing quite like waking up to 40 centimeters of fresh snow, but what are you supposed to do to get hyped for a day on the mountain when conditions are less than perfect? May I suggest Runway Films' See What I See. Yes, the guys' videos are sick, but as a girl I get extra inspired when I see what ladies like you and I are capable of.

See What I See is filled with progressive riding from 30 of snowboarding's top female shreds, and though it's impossible, all of them deserve a mention. Natasza Zurek earned closing part thanks to her ability to adapt to all kinds of terrain and to ride it all with style. Zurek's smooth spins in the park, stomped backcountry tricks and solid pillow lines make me proud to be part of women's snowboarding. Sunset 360 tail grab -need I say more? Calgary girl, Raewyn Reid's rookie part looks more like the work of a seasoned pro rather than that of an up-and-comer. Reid jokingly says "this might be dope," before she pops an on-the-spot-tail-stall, but all jokes aside, her part is dope. Other notable newbies include Robin Van Gyn and Meghann O'Brien. Speaking of seasoned pros, Janna Meyen's snowboarding and snowmobiling are insane. I always hear guys say that girls can't hold their own in the backcountry, I guess they haven't been out there with Meyen. Desiree Melancon's part adds the urban flavour that every well-rounded snowboard film needs. Japanese superstars Izume Amaike and Hiromi Takahashi may not be well known in North America, but their riding is top notch, props to them!

I love that Runway incorporated footage of the cultures the riders encountered. While the Runway film might not satisfy your desire for borscht, sushi or wiener schnitzel it will give you a taste of mountain life in Russia, Japan and Austria. If foreign countries and Super 8 camera shots aren't enough to dazzle the artiste in you then perhaps the awesome soundtrack complete with tunes from The Black Keys, Shout Out Louds and She & Him will do it for you.

The only bad thing I have to say about the film is that there isn't a lot of  variety in the jib sections. Yes, the pyramid urban jib is cool, and the rock jib too, but I could have done without the repetition of riders and tricks on those.  Go ahead and see what I see every morning while lacing up your boots. I guarantee you will be pumped to get out and strap in. —Sara Tollestrup

Hello everyone,

It has been snowing everywhere in Europe and I have just been traveling like a mad woman, I went to les 2alpes where I received the Award of the best French international rider (with both male and female riders) I guess they gave me that just because they still don’t know that I am French.. for those of you who didn’t know it yet, I have 3 passports, I am French, I am Swiss, and I am Liechtensteinerin -- that’s a mini country between Austria and Switzerland..

Anyways after that I went to Stockholm for a Billabong photoshoot, it was freezing there..
The funny thing is that they put me in between 2 pretty and very skinny models.. which was quite interesting.. I mean for my big muscles and I! Haha we went to the ice bar where we ended up playing soccer with our ice made glasses, we went karaoke in some random empty bar and went dancing in a club which felt like we were in someone’s high ceiling apartment. The music was fun and we had a good time!

From there I flew to Brazil for the Oakley sales meeting in Florianopolis. I thought I was gonna surf and tan on that trip but it was pouring rain the whole trip. Luckily Oakley had invited some other athletes with who I got to test all the local activities the resort was offering from samba dance class to beach volleyball through poker game with the hotel staff.. On top of that I got to meet Oscar Pistorius, by far the most inspiring Athlete I’ve ever met, he was emputed from both legs at a young age and is currently braking all world records of his condition. He will run in the “normal” Olympics in London. This guy is king funny and runs faster then anyone I know!
you need to check him out! www.oscarpistorius.com

On one night  we had the premiere of the Oakley movie and once it was finished and when I thought it was time for bed, brazilian drummers and samba dancer came out of nowhere and got me to samba till my feet burnt to death!

Well with Oscar and Lolo Jones (world’s number one’s hay runner) we went quad driving in the pouring rain! And it was really cool cause all that water had created tons of puddles in the sand dunes and Oscar and I got tons of handbreaks while Lolo was behaving and blocking the view of our guide while we were kicking it at the back!

After Brazil I was back in California for another Billabong photoshoot.. We landed in Orange county flying over all the fires of the santa Anna’s wind.. The sky was so dark from the smoke it really looked like an apocalyptic vision.. I found it really scary. Everyone else seemed to be fine with it “yeah it all burns each November” I mean houses were burning to dust! Photoshoot done and Tara Dakides’life documentary movie premiere and back in the plane to Europe..

I went to say hello to the Billabong euro crew in Bilbao for their sales meeting and flew to Barcelona for a shoot with Les Ettes.. oh yeah did I tell you that I am currently working on my pro model perfume? It smells really good and it will be ready in February!

I just got back from all these crazy travels and I still haven’t seen the snow yet.. everyone has been telling me about their sick powder days already while I was just stuck in airplanes and photoshoots.. which made me super excited for the winter...

I'll be driving my Fiat 500 to the Alps tomorrow cannot wait until I m in the mountains again! I'll see you there!!

-- Anne-Flore