Whistler (BC), Canada – Like a global warming-impacted glacier, the mountain has retreated from the cities of Toronto, Montreal and Calgary, but for one lucky winner of the Old Spice Experience contest, the retreat is only temporary, and she’ll soon be in hot pursuit of the big mountain experience.

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Anne-Claire Villeneuve, of Montreal, took the Old Spice Experience when the Rail Jam hit her home streets on February 24, and walked away with the ultimate shot in the arm – an all expenses-paid trip to Whistler to experience the opening weekend of the TELUS World Ski & Snowboard Festival in all its intensity.

Gravity-challenged urbanites across Canada had the chance to taste the adrenaline-laced tang of the big mountains when the Old Spice Experience Rail tour hit Calgary, Montreal and Toronto in the past month.

Downtown squares were transformed as the producers of the TELUS World Ski & Snowboard Festival descended, trailing truckloads of fresh snow, jib-friendly rails and a posse of the country’s best pro snowboarders.

The Old Spice Experience Rail Tour wrapped its outreach mission in Toronto on Saturday March 3, and will now ricochet back west, to culminate in the Old Spice World Snowboarding Classic at Whistler, April 13-22, where the rockstars and gladiators of the snowboard scene will throw down for the series title. For its twelfth straight year Whistler invites the best riders in the world to put it on the line for the final showdown of the season at the Old Spice World Snowboarding Classic, with Big Air, rodeo-style Stompede and Superpipe events.

“The nature of a great experience is that you want to share it with people,” explained Managing Director of the TELUS World Ski & Snowboard Festival, Sue Eckersley. “It’s natural for us to want to bring the essence of winter in Whistler to the city streets. And it was a chance to take back ‘the grind.’ For these riders, a good rail grind is about play and self-expression and a signature style.”

For ten days and ten nights, Whistler turns up the volume with the TELUS World Ski & Snowboard Festival’s 50 live concerts, major pro ski and snowboard comps, arts events, burn-the-candle nightlife and spring skiing and riding. High-octane meets high-brow, with flagship afterdark events like the Fashion Exposed sensory assault, Pro Photographer Showdown, Brave Art exhibit, Words and Stories jam session and 72 Hour Filmmaker Showdown translating the on-hill energy of some of the world’s best ski and snowboard athletes into every conceivable artistic medium. The Festival takes place this year from April 13-22.