Big Sky 2026-02

Big Sky 6,

Feb. 10, 2026,

Hi Everyone,

Last evening we had the conference banquet. The conference has been going on for 46 years and I have attended many of them. The atmosphere is very relaxed and many of the urologists bring their wives and children. Everyone is dressed in ski centre casual. The food and wine were adequate and everyone was in a very good mood. The conference, although the numbers were decreased compared to recent years was very successful. Personally, I prefer the atmosphere of smaller conferences where you can speak freely with the conference presenters. I met some old friends as well as a couple, Marty and Ellen from Denver. He is a paediatric urologist originally from Winnipeg and almost took a position in Montreal. Ellen is an excellent skier and we arranged to ski together today.

One of the conference leaders, Brian, who I knew from previous meetings, asked me how many conferences that I had attended and if I could say a few words. Never at a loss for words, I told a little story. Dr. Ralph Hopkins organized the conference until 2013. At the conclusion of the conference, in Jackson Hole,while I was putting on my ski boots, he came up to me and addressing me by my first name, asked me how I had liked the conference. I was rather surprised that Dr. Hopkins, the conference leader would even recognize me. After all, I am not very important in the urology world. He then asked me if I enjoyed the skiing and would I be back next year. I replied affirmatively and we shook hands promising to see each other the following year. 3 months later he had a cardiac episode and passed away. I month later I had a heart attack and a quadruple bypass. I can only imagine him looking down on me from above and muttering to himself “Hey Brian, where are you, we had a deal!”

Ellen and I met at 10:00 at a prearranged area at the bottom of the hill. It was a bluebird day, 5C and sunny. The powder that had fallen the day before and though broken, still gave adequate coverage with no ice showing. We followed the sun, skiing from one end of the mountain to the other. We did blues, blacks, tree runs, powdered bowls and trails. She is an excellent skier and can go down any type of hill. At around 1:00 we arrived at the far end of the mountain and after doing some tight powdery tree runs we stopped for hot chocolates and cookies.

To get back to our hotel we had to go up and down several trails taking several chairlifts. We were on top of the last run, at 3:00 pm, a black trail with moguls, sunny with broken powder, challenging but certainly doable. The trail narrowed at one point but I should have had no trouble getting through. I then experienced the absolutely worst fall of my 65 year ski career. I was skiing at moderate speed in good control when the tip of my ski hit a hidden rock. I fell straight forward over my skies and continued tumbling head over heels gaining more and more speed. I spread my arms and legs out, trying desperately to dig in and stop. It was no use, I just kept sliding and sliding. I wondered in my head if I would get badly hurt and hoped that I would not hit a tree on the side of the trail. I eventually stopped in powder snow, one ski on and one ski off 100 meters down the hill. One ski had fallen off and had accompanied me in my fall. Ellen picked up my pole which I had left further up the hill. The ski stop on one ski was bent. Two buckles on one boot were open and bent out of shape. The edge on the tip of one ski is badly bent and may not be reparable. I was gasping for breath but thankful that I had not been badly hurt. I have a minor sprain on my ankle and am limping. I pulled myself together and we skied slowly down to the bottom of the hill on an easy blue. What an experience!

Tomorrow I will fly back to Montreal.

Love,

Brian

2025-02 Jackson Hole

Jackson Hole 7,

Feb. 8, 2025,

Hi Everyone,

Today was my last day at the conference and my last day skiing. The conference was excellent as usual. I really enjoy the smaller conferences which are more personal than the larger ones with 10,000 urologists present. Tonight I will attend the banquet. It will be the last one at Snake River Lodge as there will be a new hotel for the conference next year.

I met my ski buddies at 10:00 and we skied together until 1:00. In snowed 30 cm (12 inches) 2 days ago and 25 cm (10 inches) last night. The sun was out and the luminosity was excellent.

We skied one tree run after another on black diamond slopes. The snow coverage was amazing, pow-pow (powder) all the way down the mountain from top to bottom. It reminded me of the last time we came here with all the kids, pre-covid when we stayed on the slope in the big mansion which was offered to us at no extra charge as our condo was not available. With the excellent snow conditions, I used my semi powder skis all week. The 3 fellows that I skied with were super skiers and knew the hill very well. They seemed to know where the untouched powder stashes were hidden away. However, no matter how good we think that we ski, on these black diamond tree trails, there are always better skiers to admire. Most of the time, we were pretty much alone as it takes a certain amount of skill to do deep powder tree runs. On the pictures showing the trees, we actually skied between them. I bid farewell to my friends and did the last few runs on groomers to finish the day.

Love,

Brian

2025-02 Jackson Hole

Jackson Hole 5,

Feb. 6, 2025,

Hi Everyone

Today was an epic day, bluebird all the way. I was up at 6:15 for my breakfast and conference at 6:30. I met my new found urology ski buddies. We left the conference at 9:00 and met up at the Bridger Gondolla, the main gondolla at Jackson Hole. The tram takes you up a little further but you have to stand in line and then stand in the huge gondolla with 60 skiers. I have been seriously allergic to standing in line my whole life. Usually, except at ski resorts, if there are more than 2 people in a line up, I come back when the line is shorter. My wife says that I have no patience. I do, just not for line ups.

One of my ski buddies showed me how to download and use the Jackson Hole app. It is quite amazing. It shows you a map of the ski area and tracks your skiing all day. We formed a group and if someone gets lost, the app will tell us exactly where he is. It also tells you the conditions, which lifts are open and where there has been grooming. By the end of the day, the app told me that I had done 16,950 vertical feet, as well as which trails I had taken and which lifts I had been on.

We skied on all types of terrain today including groomers, the steeps, the steeps with moguls and powder, open powder bowls and tree skiing. I might be improving my skiing as the trees seemed to have been moved farther apart by the ski guru. One of the fellows noticed that I was jumping my turns on the powdery steeps. He showed me to carve out my turns more round and finish the turn before beginning the next one. I did this and it was much less exhausting. I went down runs that I would not have done alone as there is safety in numbers especially in the steeps with moguls and trees. If you get hurt, there always should be someone to call for help.

We had lunch at noon and then skied until 3:30 to get to the conference in the latter part of the afternoon. The sun was out all morning which made the visibility considerably better. It clouded over in the afternoon which may mean snow overnight. We had 6 inched of snow last night which was really good for skiing.

Love,

Brian

2025 02 Jackson Hole

Jackson Hole 4,

Feb. 5, 2025,

Hi Everyone,

I woke up at 6:15 so as to get to my conference at 6:30. There is a nice wholesome breakfast before the conference gets underway. The conference, which is called the Ralph Hopkins Urology Seminar, has been going on for over 30 years. It usually takes place at the Snake River Lodge. I am staying right next door at the Alpenhof which is under the same management which is convenient. They have just announced that both hotels will be closing for 16 months to 2 years for major renovations. That is rather surprising as I really like the Snake River Lodge. We are all wondering whether the conference will be held next year in Jackson Hole in another hotel or move to another location altogether.

The morning session finished at 10:30 so I put on my skis and away I went. The wind was howling at 30-50 km/h at the top so a few of the lifts were closed. There were driving snow pellets to keep you awake and visibility was zero at best. I skied on the blue (black) trails in the morning and really wondered if it was worth while to keep skiing. I have a little device called Carv which attaches to my ski boot, bluetooths to my iphone and then to my apple airpods in my ears. As a ski instructor, I get it at half price and the yearly membership for next to nothing. I am a walking-skiing advocate for the product. The device can analyze if I am skiing on packed powder, moguls or deep powder. It does this by analyzing the boot angle on my ski, my speed, direction and angle of the ski laterally, vertically and horizontally through AI. The nice lady on Carv can talk to me in real time, in the language and accent of my choice. She gives me a better performance score if I am carving rather than sliding my turns. I can set it to talk to me on every turn at the end of the run. She will give me advice on the pressure of my boot on the ski, the angle of my ski on the snow and give me a ski IQ for my performance on the run. It keeps a record of my daily performance which I can review at the end of the day. An IQ of 100 is average. I usually score about 130 for the day which is quite good. Given the difficult conditions my performance was less than spectacular, so as not to be too discouraged, I shut her off after a few runs. I hope that she was not insulted.

I had lunch at the restaurant at the top of hill to contemplate the rest of the afternoon. I met up with 3 urologists who I know from the conference. They had been skiing in the powder in the trees and said that the visibility was better there. I skied with them for the afternoon which was really fun. We did some great tree shots which for safety reasons I would not have done skiing alone. The wind lightened up and the snow pellets turned to powder improving the visibility. They are really great skiers and I was happy to spend the afternoon with them. There is nothing more rewarding than bombing down a black powder run when you know that you have full control. The sensation is really exhilarating. They are all skiing on dedicated powder skis ranging from 100s to 110s and even 116s in the middle of the ski. I am skiing on Salomon QST 92s which are pretty good except for deep powder. I will probably buy a pair of 99s for next season. I hope that this is not too technical for my non skier followers. We finished the day at 3:00 and I was really satisfied with the day. A ‘bad’ day skiing is better than a ‘good’ day at the office. Today was a great day.

Love,

Brian

2025-02 Jackson Hole

Jackson Hole 2,

Feb. 3, 2025,

Hi Everyone,

Last evening I was exhausted. I was a little under the weather to start with in Montreal. That being said, and combined with the long flight, my eyes were closing at 9:30. Considering the time change, it was really 11:30 so being tired was understandable.

I slept well, got up early and headed off to the slopes. Americans always like to arrive at the slopes early to get first tracks. At 7:45 there was a half hour wait at the tram and a ¾ hour wait at the Bridger Gondola. Neither one opens until 8:30. I skied over to the next gondola but had to wait until 9:00. It had been snowing very heavy wet snow all night, at least 10 inches and they could not open the hill on time due to avalanche danger. There was a small snow slide that covered a transverse track so they had to send up a snow tractor to clean it up.

I waited ¾ hour for the first gondola and then 1 hour for the Caspar chair half way up the mountain. I got fed up at that point, skied down and had a soup for an early lunch. By that time the avalanche danger had passed and the whole mountain was open. Jackson Hole is so big that once the crowd spreads out there is never more than a 3-5 minute line up.

I had arranged to meet my 27 year old friends that I had met last evening at the Mangy Mouse Bar but there were so many people at the bottom of the hill that we did not see each other. I skied alone for most of the day and then met one of the fellows miraculously on the slope. He recognized me so we did a few runs together meeting up with his buddies on the slope.

Jackson Hole is a tough mountain at the best of times. It is not a mountain for beginners. When you combine the steepness with 10 inches of heavy powder, you are in for a challenging day. They do very little grooming here so the moguls at the end of the day are 3 feet high. We skied on black diamonds for the rest of the day and they were impressed that I was able to keep up with them and even lead the crowd. In heavy powder with moguls, you have to jump every turn which for me is much less elegant than carving on hard packed Quebec snow.

At the end of the day we went for beers and nachos at the Mangy Moose. It was packed as usual but we were able to find a table and reminisce about our ski accomplishments. We will meet tomorrow at a cafe for breakfast at 8:30 – 9:00. I often have breakfast at that cafe when I am here. I usually order a cappuccino and a muffin. Surprise, surprise, there were no muffins. When I asked why, I was told that they no longer had a cook. I wonder, was he deported already?

Love,

Brian

2025 02 Jackson Hole

Feb. 2, 2025,

Hi Everyone

‘All my bags are packed I’m ready to go, I’m standing here outside your door, I hate to wake you to say goodbye,’ Thank you John Denver. I know how you must have felt. I am sitting in Trudeau Airport in Dorval getting ready to board a plane to Jackson Hole. This must be my 35th or 40th ski trip out west. Alone this time, I always start to reminisce about other trips many years ago. I am quite lucky as I am able to combine a ski trip with a medical conference.

Every year there are urology conferences in Vail, Aspen, Jackson and Whistler in the past. The conferences begin at 6:30 am and run to 10:30. Then there is a nice break to ski. Half the people who come here don’t ski but love the atmosphere of Jackson Hole. The conference resumes at 4:30 to 7:00 pm. A good breakfast and a 4:00 pm hearty snack is served. There are usually 80 urologists here and the lecturers come from high power university centers such as Harvard and the Mayo Clinic. I would rather come to a small conference such as this one where I can talk to the professors, rather that being lost in the crowd in the major conference where there are 10,000 urologists present.

The first time that I came to a ski-urology conference, I came alone as the kids were too young. Antoine was the first one to accompany me as it was his Bar Mitzvah present. Melanie came next and we stayed at Chateau Whistler, a Fairmount Hotel. Dominique came next with the twins and we rented a condo. Eventually the whole family came and the condo went from a 1 bedroom to 3 or 4 bedrooms. Then came the boyfriend and the girlfriend. We were always broad minded in our family. Each couple took turns cooking the evening meal and we packed lunches to save some money. The rules were very simple, I pay, they cook, and we all eat and drink. A few years ago we were a group of 8. For the last few years I have come alone as my kids have young babies and it would be impossible to fly with them. Soon however, when the grandchildren are older our family trips may start up again.

I was up at 4:30 and a taxi picked me up at 5:00 am. I like to go to the airport early with 3 hours to spare as you must pass American customs in Canada and it can take some time if you don’t have a nexus pass. I got through customs very quickly and had a breakfast at one of the private lounges. The flights went well with no delays and I arrived first in Denver for a quick cappuccino and a muffin and then onwards to Jackson Hole.

They warned us on board that there would be a lot of turbulence as the weather was stormy. The last plane had to fly around Jackson Hole Airport a few times as the visibility and strong winds made landing difficult. Needless to say the landing was bumpy!

We arrived in Jackson Airport and it was raining. Apparently it has snowed a lot the last few days. I took a taxi to the Alpenhof Hotel where I am staying. It is next door to the Snake River Lodge where the conference will take place. The 2 hotels are under the same management so I have privileges at both hotels. It is less expensive and made sense as the American dollar is very high.

I am sitting in the Mango Moose Bar where I have been many times before with friends and children. I am 30-40-50 years older than the other patrons. There is live music with what I would call hard rock country music. I can’t hear myself think but it is really fun to be with the younger crowd. There is a slight drizzle outside but my table mates assured me that they had skied today and it was snowing up top. The snow at the bottom of the hills is somewhat mushy spring like conditions so I will use my wider powder skies tomorrow. I am sitting at a table with about 10 fellows who were in high school together 7 years ago. Apparently they do a ski trip to different ski centers every year. I will meet them at the Bridger Chair Lift at 8:30 tomorrow morning and will do some runs together. Hopefully, I can keep up with them. They also play a lot of hockey and one of them made a 70 x 40 ft rink in his back yard.

Love, Brian