baldface

Rilor – Day 3

Posted on by Smoke

Ahhh yes, the helicopter.  I just can’t get enough of these things.

Plus it’s a nice day for it.  Well…it’s actually snowing at the top, so I’ll just let everyone else go first.  No point in hanging around in the alpine if it’s cold, eh?

Bye Kelly!  We’ll miss you!

And there go the bikes…

The West Arm of Kootenay Lake.

Capt Serious, so happy to be here.

Our destination is the top of BaldFace.  This sure beats the usual approach of an hour up the gravel road and another 40 minutes of hike a bike to Cherry Tops.  An 8 minute flight with views of the mountains (and illegal crops dotting the mountainsides) is far more preferable.

Surfs up, yo.

OK, we’re ready to drop in now.

Darren, what did you do to our nice blue skies?

Riley, showing some Viking like disregard for the climate.  Red heads are weird.

Mama Tillman, again with shot of the day.  Damn girl, you’ve got the photogenic thing figured out.

Another random Tillman.  Hot bike, but cold hands.

Dad on the steeps of the Meadow Trail.

There’s been a lot of work on the trails up there this year.  Much improved over last time I rode it.  Here we are back at the creek, having a snack and preparing for the climb up to Shannon Pass.

Shannon Pass was the usual collection of shit eating grins.  One of my favourite Kootenay trails for sure.

Of course, that wasn’t enough for the boys, so I took Dad over to NRG to meet some locals that were having a post Triple Crown BBQ.   Damn, does everyone around here have red hair?

DOUBLE RAINBOW!!!

As is usual with mountain bike groups, we had a sausage party.

Nerds.

Hurtin’ For Vert – Stage 2

Posted on by Smoke

I did NOT get enough sleep last night, but I think I still did better than everyone else.  A wicked thunderstorm rolled through after midnight, and while some were sleeping outside I managed to score a sweet trailer with a huge memory foam mattress. 

Still, we all had to get up really early to catch the ferry at Galena Bay.

A nice cruise on the lake was a nice reward.  Check the smoke from all the forest fires that are still burning around BC.  Margus was more interested in cheesy trick shots.

Ja Mario, the camera still loves you, even in the morning.

OK, we’re off to Baldface today, and with some help from Pat at Dirt Tours.  While they can’t shuttle us all the way up, they did manage to get us up the first 5000’.

Here’s the specs…

So while we got close, you still have to hike the last bit to the top.

Here we are at Cherry Tops, the high point of the day.  If you look carefully, you’ll see Tyler hurtin’ his way up to the top, way in the background.

And now, a selection of different riders doing the same thing.

After that, the trail got really steep for a long time. Check out the arm pump on Wade.

Time for a whiskey break.

Then it was back to sick steeps for another hour.  Here’s Tyler, catching some rare airtime.

Everybody say thanks to Pat. 

“Thanks Pat”

Now all we had to do is wait for Kinrade to bring my van back. Luckily, there was some kind of hippie fest going.  I think a lot of these shrubs only get out of the Slocan Valley a couple of times a year.  Very entertaining.

The Muffin Tops did some dancing for us.

Parking is expensive in Nelson, so we put all our bikes on one parking meter.  Anyone who’s ever had a run in with the meter maids in Nelson will appreciate this one.

Bikes, beers, bros, now we just need some food.

Oh, and Carys says “Hi!”

**Bonus

Google Map View

Wade Simmons Freeride Experience – Day 3

Posted on by Smoke

Settled in to our mansion? Check.

Fueled up with a massive breakfast? Check.

Hooked up with the local cat skiing lodge for a 6500 vertical foot singletrack adventure with one of the owners? Oh yeah, check it….

Baldface Snowcat Lodge is getting in on the summer action, and we got to be the very first commerical crew to go through their area. It’s pretty raw at the moment, but it will get much better as time goes on. With this much terrain at their disposal, it will continue to improve for many years to come.

As it stands right now, there’s a little bit of uphill to deal with, but compared to the size of the down….whatever, man.

A nice littel view from the top. That smoke in the distance is a small forest fire burning in the West Kokanee Creek. As we sat up at the top we watched it jump the ridge into Springer Creek.

Our local guides included Jeff Pensiero, one of the owners of Baldface. He’s got soe style, that Jeff. Check out those shoelaces. Oh and a button down is de riguer when you’re at 7200 feet.

Also along for the rip was local trailbuilder extrodinaire Mark Holt, who also owns a local shop called the Sacred Ride in Nelson. This next pic isn’t Holt though. That’s Niclas, our token German.

As usual, George was flying high. Did I mention that he’s a helicopter pilot for the Canadaian Armed Forces? Sort of seems appropriate…

Mike was also getting his gap on today. He’s been ramping it up a little bit every day. Could be interesting later in the week…

Oh right, that Wade guy was there too. These trails were cut by another freeride legend by the name of Mike Kinrade. We were looking at some of the jumps that Mike’s been building and even the illustrious Wade was struck by the HUGE size of the hits. Like 60 foot stepdown gaps in the alpine huge.

Hey Nicole, that’s a gap. Surprise.

Jeff, just another day at the office.

Mike, trying out for his assistant position.

Not much in the way of stunts up there, but there’s the occasional bridge where necesarry. They get so much snow up there that a little plank system isn’t gonna last very long.

Around the halfway mark we stopped for a little “swim.”

I love flat tires. Can’t you tell?

Oh look, it’s our old friend Ronny Red! Hi Ron, got any Kokanee?**

**Ron appeared in a commercial for Kokanee about a hundred years ago where he went skiing, mtn biking, and kayaking all in the same day, with the same beer. “Same guy, same day, same beer.” Get it?

Oh, and that fire that blew across the ridge at lunch? Well, it exploded into some seriously dry timber and went on a massive run. At this point (August 30th) it’s still burning and doesn’t look like it’s going to be completely out for another month or so.

We came down the ridge with the shadow on it on the left. Thanks to our buddy Dickie for the shot o
f the mushroom cloud.