Life can be full of unusual experiences. Not to sound all "Forest Gump" here, but you do indeed never know what you're gonna get. In my case, I spent last weekend in Manitoba, taking part in the 10th anniversery celebration for Asessippi Ski Area, a small-yet-big resort in Russell, a town about three hour's drive from Winnipeg. To encapsulate the circumstances, several years back while editing Snowboard Canada Magazine, we sent a crew of riders on a cross-Praries mission called the "Under 500 Tour" (meaning all the resorts were under 500 vertical feet and each of the riders had only a $500 travel budget). With Peter Andersen at the helm, and Rich Odam snapping shots, the misfit crew of riders had a sweet time specifically at Asessippi: jumping a bison, shredding the park, and partying like vikings. I stayed in touch with the resort's marketing director, Roz Pulo, since then, and a year ago she invited me to come speak at Asessippi's 10th anniversary bash. The other speaker would be none other than Senator Nancy Greene Raine, Canada's "athlete of the century", so I would clearly be in good company. Scroll down to see how my weekend unfolded...

Nancy Greene Raine, boarding our four-seater plane for the trip to Asessippi from the Winnipeg airport. I got to sit "shotgun" on the little Beechcraft. All I could think of was Buddy Holly, Ritchie Vallens and The Big Bopper... I met Nancy for the first time at the airport, just a few minutes before this; definitely a very cool lady and a genuine Canadian icon. Me? I just work for a website.

The plane's yoke was right in front of me... No, I did not touch it.

So far, so good... The flight took an hour, and was smooth sailing the whole way. Thanks to our pilot for answering my dumb questions.

This is the town of Russell. They have these cool wooden arches that run the length of the main street. There's also a great skate and snowboard shop called Switchboard in town, just down the road from this shot.

The first view of Asessippi: No, this is not the entire hill, but just a small extension they built above the valley so they could host FIS-sanctioned races. The resort itself extends into the valley below this shot, and is surprisingly vast, with more runs than you'd expect.

There's a slew of cool, privately-owned ski chalets all around the resort. One area has a nice little skating rink for maximum winter magic.

Here's a shot of the terrain park, specifically of the stair-case rail. There was a nice jump line, lots of rails in different sizes, plus a really well-designed wall ride feature at the bottom. There's also another beginner-style park that had super fun boxes to jib. I went riding with the guys who run the park, plus some snowboard instructors and the local snowboard club. They were all really cool and friendly, not to mention very talented shredders. Thanks for the runs, guys. Good times... oh, and Andrew Geeves used to ride here. And before I forget, thanks to Cab Clothing skate and snow shop for hooking me up with a nice Burton Dominant to ride during my visit.

The sun came out in the afternoon. Here's a view from the top of one of the chairlifts. Notice how you can't see the bottom? All the runs are intentionally designed that way.

This is the base lodge area. Even though this looks like seperate buildings, they're all connected on the inside. It was one of the coolest lodges I'd ever seen at a ski resort.

Back at the Russell Inn, where I stayed during my visit, I couldn't help but notice a welcome sign.

Back in my room, I was able to unwind a bit before the big banquet dinner. The Korea FIS World Champions happend to be on TV, so I caught a few runs. I think that's Marku Koski on the screen.

At the banquet, a ritual of cutting everyone's tie after they spoke on stage began. I hoped I'd be immune, but I was ambushed stageside and my tie got the chop. Next time I'll wear a cheapie from H&M instead of my nice one from Band of Outsiders.

Here's the back of the program with my bio. Thankfully I spoke before Nancy did; I'd rather be the opener than the closer in this kind of esteemed company! I spoke for about 10 minutes about my experiences working in the snowboard media and how it all began for me. Nancy gave a cool speech after that, sharing some good stories and jokes. She even gave props to snowboarding for giving growth to the ski industry and refered to me as a "class act".

Here's a shot of me with Nancy. She's the director of skiing at Sun Peaks resort. Minutes after this, we packed up and hit the airport for a flight back to Winnipeg. All in all, it was a whirlwind weekend and a great experience. I couldn't have been more impressed with everyone from Asessippi, and it was a pleasure and an honour to take part in the party and celebration.

Check out: Asessippi Ski Area