They are Matty Richard, Dominic Melanson and Kris Cormier.

It puked 25cms overnight and Matty is already up and cooking eggs.

He rolls his eyes and shrugs, wondering what the hell he is meant to do.

Someone gave me twenty bucks yesterday, another one hundred.

A stranger gave me a car.

They practice more than they preach and people who encounter them arenAAATMt star struck; they are impressed.

In an atmosphere of stardom, there is a deep respect for their cause.

They went out with ten bucks in their wallets and woke up with five.

ItAAATMs on the house- gratis.

They are six in a three-bedroom house and they donAAATMt stretch or do plyometric-dry-land training in the fall.

They just skiAAA everyday.

One afternoon I phone to see if they were interested in hitting the hot springs in Pemberton.

Slicer answers and through the crackle of the wind on the chairlift, he says they are skiing.

AAADonAAATMt you guys ever take a day off?

ItAAATMs shit up there right now,AAA I retort in bewilderment.

ItAAATMs like back east.

We are having a great time.

He shakes his head at their jibber.

AAAIt was after the epic 98/99 year so Chainsaw was still filled in.

Another muse was a half built ski hill.AA Slicer describes it with little or no hint of nostalgia.

Skiing with each of them individually, you gain an insight into how they fit together as a group.

Matty plays the role of the eldest brother and wears the pants in the trio.

He was invited to the inaugural Freeride World Tour last year and traveled to Russia and Europe.

Dom describes him as AAAthe most energetic and creative skier I know.

Dom on the other hand is almost solely concerned with the present.

There is very little mention of what the winter holds except the hope for an abundance of powder.

At the top, he drops straight down the fall line, blinded by blower, Kooteney gold.

Dom is the gentlest and most passive of the three.

He only got his license this last year and Slicer taunts him about having AAAno comprehension the real worldAAA.

He got the name AAASlicerAAA from Matty after a night gone bad years ago and it stuck.

For all his initiative, he is also a complete hypochondriac.

If it isnAAATMt his knee, itAAATMs his moustache or back.

He drops in, launches it, and stomps the landing to their applause: a family tradition.

You might say they function as a married trio, or that they are a band of brothers.

The relationship is a solid one though.

It is the product of growing up together and living under the same roof for the last nine years.

From the outside looking in, sometimes you canAAATMt help but wonder where they will end up.

The question of the future doesnAAATMt really bother them though.

AAASo long as our kids grow up together, itAAATMs all good,AAA they answer univocally.

In their favor they all have their joints in one piece: not a single knee surgery between them.

They are aspiring ski-pros.

AAADonAAATMt get me wrong.

Only at home can they ski together, spot each otherAAATMs landings and watch each otherAAATMs back.