New Owners
It's the start of a new year. There are so many changes I don't know where to start. We have
welcomed two new owners to the Powder Mountain family this summer. Randy Breitenbach and Doug
Ballinger have bought out Alberto Corso and are now waiting for the snow to fall in even deeper
amounts so they can come and experience the Powder Mountain flava! Berto has moved to Sicily
and says "adios and good skiing" to all the friends he's made over the years. The owners of Powder
Mountain are now Randy, Doug, Schwarty, Ken Achenbach and Hilary Achenbach, Ken's mom. We all
dream about powder so you know the experience of skiing and riding at Powder Mountain Catskiing
is going to get even better than it ever has been.
All Pisten Bully Fleet of Snowcats
We've purchased two more Pisten Bully 300's and are now running an all Pisten Bully fleet.
At 100 more horsepower and a lot more fuel efficient and a lot less likely to break down
than our old Bombardiers there is nowhere we can't get to now. We've refurbished all our
passenger cabins as well. We've gotten custom made seats from Freedman Seating in all the
cats. The individual bucket seats recline, have water repellent fabric, armrests, pockets for
your stuff, drink holders, and a sweet Powder Mountain embroidery on the
headrest. Best of all the cats are faster too... faster cats means more skiing.
New and Upgraded Roads
Terminal Forest Products has upgraded our roads so that we can basically haul ass to the
powder. They've done such a fantastic job on the roads, we can't really believe it. Getting out
to our high alpine terrain in Cypress will be at least 20 minutes quicker. Smooth roads + more
horsepower = more skiing. The smoother roads also mean we'll be skiing earlier and later in the
year because all the stumps and rocks that usually poke out are no more. The road to Tricouni has also been smoothed out and with the new Pisten Bully cats its 20 minutes quicker to the first run compared to last year. Faster cats and smoother roads means our average day that used to be 6-10 runs depending on ability is now 8-12 runs. Yeah!
Remodeled Lodge
We've totally gutted the lodge and brought it back to life. It feels like a new building. In
fact Michelle, Ken's wife, thought part of it was a new building. We pretty much tore it down
to the studs. The inside has been completely redone. STOKED! We also added a 16x23 foot deck to the
lodge so those days where the sun is shining you can hang out in the sun. We re-sided the building
and painted everything, literally. We got the paint off the lights so we didn't actually paint
everything. We've added new seats, new carpet, new stories and photos from magazines that
have come out with us have been framed and put on the walls, we've hung flat screens for checking
out all the photos from the days skiing so you can order your photos from the day if you didn't in
advance, hooked up Sirius satellite radio and Bose speakers, and had the whole area landscaped by Another View Landscaping. It really is a new world at our lodge. Epic!
New Runs
We've cleaned out a lot of the "Tree Fences" that blocked a lot of good lines on Tricouni and
now we have so many new runs up there that you will be stoked. We haven't named them yet either
so if something funny or great happens on your day while skiing one of the new runs, who knows,
you might be the one naming them. Terminal Forest Products has also been busy busting a new
road 3/4 of the way up the side of Brew and heading 2.5 kms towards Cypress. We don't know how
far they'll get before the snow shuts them down but however far they get it means we'll have a bunch
of new storm skiing. The trees will be kinda tight this year, but after they log Brew next
summer.... MMMMMMM! Perfect angle tree skiing this year and great gladed runs next year. They
are also planning to log lower Tricouni as well so by the start of the 2008/2009 season we will
have double the skiing we have now in Tricouni. I think we need to make t-shirts that
say "Logging Feeds My Shred". This time next year we'll have a whole new areas to ski.
Awwwwww yeah!
Upgraded Access Road
The entrance to the Powder Mountain access road has been upgraded. Kiewit, the
company upgrading the highway for the Olympics has built a great new lighted parking
lot that's easily accessible by the great new turn lanes they built. Now if you have a 2
wheel drive vehicle you don't have to batter it to get to the lodge. You can just park in
the new lot and we'll pick you up on the way by. If you aren't sure where the PM turn
off is just look for all the new overhead lights and the beautiful parking lot. Our new
sign might even be up by the time you get here. What a year! We've purchased vehicles that
will make Gord, the GM's job a lot easier. We have a new fuel truck and sander/plow/crane truck
. The road up to the lodge will be a lot better this year as we can finally plow and sand it
during and after every storm. A lot of mornings there was 3 feet of snow on the road, so
those trucks will be getting a workout.
New Safety Snowmobiles
We have replaced all our rescue snowmobiles with Summit 700 and 800 sleds so our
emergency response will be even better than ever.
Burton AK Guides Outerwear
Burton Snowboards has hooked us up again this winter with the best guide uniforms ever
made. Burton AK outerwear is the best outerwear we've ever worn. If you are looking for
new outerwear or equipment this winter, hit up www.burton.com and get stoked and
stocked. I've never seen a jacket used by a guide make it through an entire season
without being destroyed by the abuse they get put through. After a full season of
abuse, our AK jackets didn't even have a pulled stitch, some even still looked like
new. Either the guide wasn't working hard or the clothing is amazing. I'm going
with amazing clothes because I know how hard our guides work to give you the
best day ever. Burton's AK line is what outerwear is supposed to be. Amazing.
It's been an amazing fall and the winter is going to be even more amazing. The
snow is coming in deep and another storm is on the radar. We've tried to do
everything we could think of to make the entire experience better for you and
I think we've nailed it. The word seems to be getting out about Powder Mountain
Catskiing, as we have been filling up a bit quicker than last year so if you know
when you are coming to Whistler, make sure you book your seats soon for your best day ever.