SkiBig3 Ambassador Vince Goyette has done it all.
The next time you spot a terrifying looking cliff feature from your cozy chairlift, there’s a very good chance that Vince has ripped down there more than once.
So when Vince asked to write a guest blog about his latest adventure, we had to say “yes”!
Here’s his story.
Words and photos by Vince Goyette – On Thursday April 13th, I met up with Sunshine Village Ski Patroller Rémy Mollaret at the top of The Great Divide chair. Remy hails from France, where he was previously working as a “Pisteur” (the french equivalent of a ski patroller) in the Charteuse Mountains.
Today’s plan was to go ski Delirium Dive – one of the most challenging ski runs in Banff National Park. Remy and I are both expert skiers and we’ve already skied “The Dive” several times this year. The only difference is that this time Rémy had a friend visiting from France that was coming to ski “The Dive” with us.
Stéphane Vincent was an avid skier in France, but four years ago he got into a paragliding accident and lost the use of his legs.
He only started sit-skiing two and half years ago and now he was about to drop into an expert run that most skiers and snowboarders try to avoid.
He made his way to the top of “The Dive” with the help of a pulley system set up by Sunshine Village ski patrol. He was then lowered into into “Bre-X” using a rope. Once he got bellow the top cliff band in “Dive proper” we detached the rope and we started ripping.
My mind was blown! The conditions that day were challenging, but Stéphane made his way down that run with more control and fluidity than a lot of people I have seen in there all season.
We shredded all the way down to “Dive Meadows” and when we came to a stop the stoke levels were pretty high! We all had big smiles on our faces and we slapped some high-fives. I could see in Stéphane’s eyes that he was exhilarated!
It was a really inspiring experience and reminded me that with willpower, anything is possible.
Big thanks to Sunshine Village Ski patrol for their amazing work.
– Vince
Vince Goyette is a member of the SkiBig3 Ambassador team. He hails from Saint-Stanislas, Québec and has been calling Banff home since 2011. You can follow along with his adventures on Instagram @TheOlGoat
He manages to shred so hard with help from: @skibig3 @blizzardskis @technicaskiboots @flylowgear @banffsoul @banffavebrewing @barbershoppeclothingco
