About
Like a good pub-crawl, Ski Crawl is all about having a good time in many different places and then telling all your friends about it. Just as no pub can be ignored or overlooked when one is crawling, no ski hill is too small, too barren, too glamourous or too over or undervalued to ignore.
Ski Crawl will provide a little insight into an epic crawl, involving almost 100 mountains, skied and enjoyed by two people who found each other because they love skiing and who have continued their quest to ski and enjoy mountains everywhere they can get to.
If you are looking for critiques or cons, look elsewhere because it is our belief that while some have better things than others, all ski hills are fun and fun can be had no matter what the circumstances when one is skiing.
The awards are simply a summation of our favorite places and indulgences and we want to hear from fellow skiers about what gets them up in the morning for first tracks and keeps them going all night for Après. Share your thoughts, your views, your favorites and please…where to find the best chicken wings.
We will continue our quest and hopefully in the next 10 years ski 100 more hills and spread a few more tidbits on how to pursue the joy that is skiing.
TERRA
Born in raised in Calgary, Alberta to skier parents, Terra was still in diapers when she made her first descent at 17 months old. For the next decade, every weekend was spent skiing then training then racing at Panorama. Terra later attended boarding school in Leysin, Switzerland where she was blessed with the concept of ski days. (If there was fresh snow and sunshine, they got the day off school). Continuing to race through high school, Terra got her first addictive taste of skiing in Europe.
Returning to Canada for university, Terra joined the McGill ski team. After four years of being unable to learn how to ski on flats and ice, Terra joined some guy in Vancouver so that she could spend her weekends in Whistler.
After several blissful years of skiing western powder goodness, Terra moved to London Ontario to pursue her Masters degree in Journalism and then on to Toronto to work in said journalism.
While work was swell, the opportunity to move to Spain was just sweller.
Terra now resides in Madrid, hoping to make some cash to support her expensive skiing habit.
MARK
As a kid growing up in Ottawa, Canada, Mark used to build ski hills out of powder in his back yard. True to the engineer that he would later become, he would then map and name all the runs on his Commadore 64.
Mark’s early skiing motto as he ripped it up at Callabogie Peaks, was: ‘go fast and catch air, if the chicks can’t keep up, so what.’ (Some things never change).
Getting into ski racing a little late in the game, Mark quickly excelled. Racing for the National Capital Division he was a force on the Canadian junior scene. Mark then went on to race for McGill university and was named MVP his second year.
When Mark finished university he hung up his racing skis in favour of powder skis. Passing up job opportunities near his girlfriend, he followed the snow and the mountains west and moved to Vancouver. After spending and enjoying the next five years of weekends on friends couches and later in his Volkswagen van in the Whistler parking lot, Mark moved kicking and screaming to Toronto, to be close to said girlfriend.
Following four years of five hour drives to New York, nine hour drives to Vermont and overtime inducing trips to Europe to ski, Mark finally made his dream come true, landing a job in Spain and moving next door to the motherland of skiing in Europe.
While clearly devoted to skiing powder, after recently coming in third at an indoor ski race in Spain, Mark now aspires to owning slalom race skis.
MARK AND TERRA
Mark and Terra met at the McGill ski team ski sale. Mark wanted to chat up the new bird, Terra was so excited the hot veteran was talking to her. They went to a ski team party, decided they should be together and from that day Nov. 15th, 1996, they have been.
Mark moved to Vancouver. Terra followed. They skied Whistler, Cypress, Baker, Mt. Washington. They went on trips with friends to Fernie, Kickinghorse, Whitewater and Red. When they made a little money, they flew to Kitzbuhel and skied Schladming and Garmisch Partenkirken and then in February 2004, with all their ski friends and family, they got married in Panorama.
After that, living in Toronto, they made trips to Killington to Whiteface, to Blue Mountain. They spent Christmases in Panorama and skied Sunshine and Revelstoke.
And then, they moved to Europe and skied Flims/Laxx and Andermatt and Zermatt and Grand Valira. The list goes on. Mark and Terra currently reside in Madrid, Spain and are just super-pumped to explore the rest of Europe and ski every free weekend this winter.
KOKANEE
Kokanee, named after both the glacier and the beer, is a literal powder hound. Having already visited 9 countries and countless mountains, she knows a thing or two about having fun in the snow. While Panorama is her home hill and one true love, where she met her boyfriend and fellow powder-pooch Jackson, Kokanee also made fast friends with the local dogs at Val D’Isere. Her favorite things include hanging at ultimate tournaments in Canada, riding the trains in Switzerland, being fed duck under the table at restaurants in France, and jumping in the canals in Amsterdam while visiting her auntie Dani. After touring around Europe, she is proud to have recently climbed her first ski hill in Spain. While her new favorite place to visit is her Uncle Steeve’s pad in Ruschlikon near Zurich, Kokanee now resides, for the most part, in Madrid.
A big special warm fuzzie thank you to those who helped us with the awards:
Monica, Carl, Erin, Danielle, Steeve, mom and dad.
You guys are Double Blacks in our books.
