Issue link: https://bluemagazine.uberflip.com/i/25165
As a kid, I remember I never liked win ter. T hat is, until I discovered snowboarding. This exciting new adventure added a whole new dimension to the sea- son, changing my former distaste into anti cipation. You can never relive the ea rly days of fa lling in love with a new sport-the glee of your first few days of riding. But the fun's not over once you've mastered it. The addictive challenge of seeking new terrain keeps you pushing beyond the familiar. More than just a new trai l or a new level, exploring the different mountains of the world is a great way to continue th e enhancement of your snow experience. That's our focus here in this year's annual sno\X issue. You'll fi nd not only more varied terrai n, deeper snow, d iverse mountaintop vistas, but different snow cultures worldwide. Dive rsity that goes beyond th e predictable promoted megaresorts . Las t winter, on blue's two-week winter break, I went exploring the snows of Western Canada. I found, throughout two provinces, some of the most inspiring terrain I had ever seen. We ventured from the Coast Mountains of Whi stl er, BC, deep into the Canadian Rockies, to Banff and Lake Louise, Alberta. In between, our snow journey took us through the Kootenay Mountains, Selkirk Mountain s, Purcell Mountains .. . th ere's a lot of snow up there! We explored the small towns in interior BC and found our favorite spot along the way: the artsy community of Nelso n, where the local mountain lodge (at Whitewater) serves organic homemade food, not to mention the slope's special breed of air/sun- shine/powder (this mountain rates #3 in Far from the Maddening Crowds-Deep Powder and Big Terrain: The Top 10 Gems of the ALpine WorLd, page 56). Christmas Eve, Fernie Mountain, at about 3:30 PM, my fr iend and I caught the last li ft to the top. Moving up in elevation , we traversed different altitude zones th at were literally hues of light blue and purple. The only way I can describe it is feeling as if I had entered a photo we'd previously run in blue. As we nea red the top, we rose through the cloud cover and th e sun was sti ll shining. Then we descended , the mountains to ou rselves, through blue skies, powder-covered evergreen trees and a color spectrum ranging from blue to lavender to snowy white. Make a snow pilgrimage this win ter. AMY SCHRIER EDITOR-IN-CHIEF We want to hear abour your snow adventures, emailletters_to_th e_editor-SNOW@bluemagazin e.com. Send us your ideas ... we plan to publish some in next year's snow issue.