I love the smell of jet fuel in the morning.

Yup, it’s heli time in the Kootenays, and we are hangin’ loose.

Me, Mary-Kat and Galena got up on the first round.  Ran into Ramin and crew already up there.   They took 3 and a half hours to get up from town.  We took about 8 minutes.

It was a nice morning to hang around in the alpine, too.

Take a good look around, there’s plenty to look at.

As we flew up, we had to take a bit of time for portraits.  So sit back, there’s a pile of ‘em here…

That was the set from the top, now we’re about a half click down.

…and here’s the end of the alpine.  It’s all in the woods after here.

Now that I’ve done this ride a few times, the hike a bike sections seem pretty short.  Not everyone agrees, though.  Funny how you seem to question taking a DH bike at this point, but nobody mentions that at the bottom.  From this point, it’s pretty solid descending to the end.

Like this gnarly little rock section.  Spent a bit of time here with the girls, and they nailed it.

We also spent a bit of time on these tailings piles.  This was a difficult section for a few of the ladies that were here last time, but they had it dialled this year. Although Sarah did manage a spill, but then again it’s only her second day out this year and her first time on Powerslave.  Galena on the other hand, SENT it.

What a day.  I think we must have had some angels watching over us.

Even a little bit of the God Light for the last part of the ride. 

Another solid Retallack day.