Chilcotin

On Location

Posted on by Smoke

We did some location scouting today for Kranked 7. A little expedition to scope the lines that Rennie and Bryceland were going to hit. I kind of knew ahead of time what was in store for us, as I’ve spent a little time in this canyon before.

Here’s Rennie being menaced by Harley. He shold have taken that as a warning.

Josh on recon…

Nathan tests the line.

So, the line took about 30 seconds to ride. Then the hike out started.

Pics never do it justice, but suffice to say, this line was EXPOSED. A solid 45 degree pitch of unstable clay and sand that you were constantly slipping oon. The bottom dropped off about 60 feet into a shallow glacier fed river. Suffice to say, if you fell you were done. Coming from the industrila heartland of England, Josh has never done anything like this. He did pretty well considering.

While I was helping Josh with one of the gnarlier parts of the traverse, Nathan got WAYYYY ahead and tried to make a shortcut. He got within 20 feet of it, but had to turn back. Here he is on the verge of falling into the icewater….

If you look cole at this shot, you’ll see Nathan returning from his “shortcut.” We’d already scaled another hill to get around the cliffs.

Hanging out and waiting for Rennie…

Josh and the “MoHo” back at camp in the background.

Sunset in the canyon, and we’re still over an hour out from camp.

Typical Canadian adventure. 21 minutes of riding, and 3-1/2 hours of hiking. Good times….good times.

PinkBike FunTour – Day 2

Posted on by Smoke

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Hello Mug….making friends?

Time for yet another fresh trail. Prime and Endless is the new trail off of the back of Desous, and it’s just what it says…..

although we did manage to find one reason to stop for trail maintenance. Leave it to Tyler to have a saw in his pack.

The key to this whole trail is this section right here. Shreddies said it took him two years to find the route through this rock band.

The mist was more than just eerie today, too. The moisture made for some seriously slick conditions. I was seriously concerned that we were going to get skunked on my plans for the afternoon.

Somehow we slithered down to the bottom in more or less one piece. You can just make out the Fraser River there in the background.

OK, gambled and won. Farwell Canyon, dry and sunny.

Lap one. the Classic line.

These guys haven’t seen Farwell before, which is the best way to experience it.

Just like ROAM, but in person.

See em? Way down there, those specks are…..us.

Todays guide, driver, and all round solid rider Cory drops in.

Barb, as per usual, keeping pace.

Oh, and she can also sleaze it up with the Mug.

Too bad Tyler has bigger tits….

His ass leaves a little to be desired….

Go get him, Kat!

The rest of the girls heading down the Fingers.

That’s me….

…and my truck.

Time for round four (we ripped another Classic when you weren’t looking)…

With an interlude for a UFM (Unidentified Flying Mug…oh wait, that’s Dan’s mug).

More killer freeriding across the Chilcotin grasslands.

OK, tighten your sphincters. It’s Godsmack time.

I was having some serious fear issues today, but I still went for the thumb.

Can’t figure why I’d be scared….

At least I got it over with. Those chumps are still waiting for their turn.

OK, there they go.

Cory had the only clean run on this spine.

Simon wasn’t so lucky. He kind of smeared out at speed.

Tyler chose a more tech line.

The boys spotting the rest of the crew a few spines over.

Cory leads the way down the chutes.

Simon warps down after him.

This line just keeps on giving.

Meanwhile, back up the ridges, the rest of the crew is still working the spines.

Kat is in there someplace. That girl has some serious guts. She was almost shaking at the top, and went for it anyway. Real courage……cool.

Tyler, not sure what’s coming….

Finally, he spots the key to the line and sends it.

Barb, in full control, was just waiting for a clear run.

Our lin
es, with the Mug for scale…..

Kat meanwhile, had gotten hung up a little. Seems she’s never ridden without an actual trail before. We went back up the gullies to help her out, but by the time we climbed up she’d extricated herself. Still, I managed to get this nice pic, and Barb found a toonie in the sand. Silver linings…..

That bike getting any lighter, Ty?

And so ends the biggest single post in Bush Pilot TripLog history. 50 pics.

Cheers…..and a very happy birthday to my Mom.

FourTwentyThree

Posted on by Smoke

Yeeehaaaa!!! Farwell Canyon and some jetboating onthe agenda today. First we hit a couple of classics in Farwell. This shot is a total fluke. I was playing around with the white balance in low light and forgot to reset for the bright sun. Sorta cool….

Steve hanging out…

Dan gets vertical on one of the many chutes in the canyon. It’s way gnarlier than it looks.

Kevin (I think) on the same line. Everyone was spooked enough by this one that there were no takers on it the second time around.

After a couple of runs, we hit the xc for the tour out to the Fraser. It’s about 30 km’s to the confluence of the Chilcotin and Fraser Rivers, which was our destination. We were supposed to start at 2PM, but we hung around waiting for stragglers for another 45 minute, just in case. Remember this, as it became more important later.

After about 20km, wee got out to the canyon. Before we dropped in, a little fortitude was called for. (like it isn’t wild enough out there).

The first part of the descent is pretty mellow, still following an old doubletrack.

That ridge is where we had lunch.

Once you get down a ways, the trail gets a little radder.

It’s more like backcountry skiing than anything else.

Well, except that it was about 30C at this point (remember the -8 from a couple of days ago?).

Unique hazards for Canada in April, especially this far north.

Ahhh, the shuttle vehicle.

We went downstream for a ways, just to burn some more time in case there were any stragglers. It was a wicked ride. Lots of standing waves, some 360’s, full on redneck style. Still, we saw no other riders come in to the beach.

Which was sort of funny, since Johnny Bejoin decided to chase us out and missed the ride. I heard he got back at about 4:30 am…..

Wade Simmons Freeride Experience
July 9th to July 27th.
Click for details….