Conor Hurley

I enjoy growing food for my family at our homestead in our garden and orchard.  I also love to explore the mountains through alpine climbing, running and gravel biking or picking mushrooms.

The Valhallas and the central Selkirks are my home ranges.  What I love most about them are the wilderness experiences they offer. That and the quality of the terrain and snow they offer.

It’s hard to nail down one particular event—the days I get ski with my daughter are certainly highlights of my winter these days.  Some of the other recent highlights were a basecamp I guided in the Valhallas, where we accessed a remote part of the range by foot and camped and skied for four days.  Another was a ski and sail trip I guided in Troms county—exploring the outer islands by boat and ski was exceptional!

BC, Canada has held my heart for nearly twenty years.  The vastness and variety of terrain and quality/consistency of the snow could provide many lifetimes of adventure.  Troms County is pretty amazing too—the accessibility of the terrain is incredible.  One of my more memorable reco days of skiing happened when I took a bus from Tromsø and skied the east face of Tromsdaltinden and then went back up and skied the west face.  I finished the day by skiing back via a nordic trail to a bus stop and took the bus back to Tromsø.  For a North American, to be able sort of backcountry skiing via public transportation and Nordic trails was an incredible experience.

I am excited to work with a small company that is passionate about building great skis and skiing on them.  I’ve enjoyed working and skiing with Asbjørn over the years.  His stoke for skiing is infectious while his enthusiasm for sharing his passion and knowledge with youth is awesome.  We had a great time working with the Molde Folkhøgskole in the Kootenays last winter, teaching the kids about backcountry safety and enjoying some exceptional Kootenay powder skiing.

I use the Hurrungane as a spring ski or for a lighter weight ski for bigger days.  Generally the snow is quite soft in BC, so I tend to ski a minimum of 102mm underfoot.  The versatility of the Hurrungane is exceptional—it’s playful in powder, yet it’s responsive and holds an edge well if you hit some firm snow or stiff spring conditions.

My daily driver in the winter is the Soleitind.  At 109mm underfoot it provides plenty of float in the deep BC powder.  Its weight is such that I can use it for long days of breaking trail during my busy guiding season.  It too, is a versatile ski that performs well in all conditions.