On Saturday April 19th, The North Face Canadian Ski Mountaineering Championships turned out to be the toughest race yet. But the difficult course and conditions did not deter a record number of competitors participating in all three races at this years’ 2008 National Championships.

On April 25th, Talus-sponsored athletes Ed Viesturs and John Stetson will embark on a 150-mile expedition into the Canadian Arctic. The world-renown adventurers will cross-country ski the entire Canadian Arctic Trek for Earth Health pulling sledges throughout North Baffin Island. The challenging expedition is scheduled to last nearly 20 days with daily progress reports being made via satellite phone and posted on the web.

The final stop of the Subaru U.S. Freeskiing Series and the Freeskiing World Tour wrapped up today at Alyeska Resort, Alaska. The emotional day of competition began this morning as nearly 200 competitors hiked to the top of Alyeska peak to pay tribute to fallen competitor John Nicoletta of Aspen, Colorado.

Skiing prodigy and X Games star Simon Dumont accomplished the unthinkable today, establishing a new world record for highest air on a quarterpipe as he launched 35 feet into thin air at his home resort of Sunday River in Maine.

If things keep up the way they are, some of our favourite Whistlerites will be on the podium. Here's what's going on at Snowbird so far...

This past weekend Crystal Mountain hosted the 6th annual Silver King Freeride competition at Crystal Mountain. With some of the best in bounds and backcountry terrain in the country Crystal Mountain is a killer spot for a competition venue, just check out Crystalmt.com for more. We had our man Reed Purvis on the seen, competing, and uh, enjoying the after party like the true "all-around" athlete that it takes to survive on the freeskiing competition tour. Here's what we were able to piece together...

We came across these guys called Sweetgrass Productions outta Colorado, and they seem to have a wee ski flick brewing for this fall, focusing on back country and the mountain lifestyle. These guys are all about the 'earn your turns' philosophy and have put together a pretty nice trailer for their upcoming film Hand Cut, due out in September.

What can be considered some of the most spectacular in-bounds terrain in the country, Telluride’s Palmyra Peak has opened to the public. Located adjacent to Black Iron Bowl and Prospect Bowl, this unbelievable hike-to terrain includes well over 200 acres and almost 2,000 vertical feet on the north face of 13,320 foot Palmyra Peak.

Now it is possible to find and compare snowparks from all over the world. Mysnowparks.com is an international community for all snowpark people. The website is based on user input and all resort and park information can be updated by registered user to help keeping everything up-to-date. Each park is mapped graphically and users can change the map as the park changes during the season.

Whistler ruled it in Crested Butte this week. Whistler shredders and Doglotion friends Brett Crabtree and Jen Ashton both won the competition! Yeeeeeehooooo. Nicely done guys, way to send it. Here is the update from MSI...