Della Creek Birthday Heli Mission

Posted on September 14, 2014September 17, 2014 by Smoke

Ya know, every once in a while you gotta go out on a limb and have an adventure. As it has been over two weeks since my last heli ride, I was figuring it was past time for one. Luckily, Andrew has been busy up around Lytton cleaning up an old classic at Della Creek. He and Brant and a few other standout individuals put in some serious time on the long weekend to buff the upper trail to Askom Mountain. To celebrate Andrew’s, Chris’s, and Ryan’s birthdays, we got a crew together and heli’d the peak.

Access is an adventure in itself, with this reaction ferry at Lytton part of the program.

Views like this are constant. This is the back of the Stein area, so it’s about as pristine as you can get in southern BC.

We rolled into the pickup point around 1, with various random individuals converging from all points of the compass. Ashley almost missed it, but showed up in the nick of time with a little help from our friend Tyler over at PinkBike providing some directions via sketchy internet hotspots in Lytton. Just a side note, if you’re looking at a cell provider in BC, Rogers SUCKS.

And just like that, we’re airborne.

The birthday boy got the front seat. It had a nice view today.

Kevin was already waiting for us up top. Our pilot gave us a bit of a ride, and I really thought Andrew was gonna blow chunks. It was close, I’m sure of it.

It was kind of a nice day out today.

Thanks for driving today, Dave. I can always count on you to be in for the good ones.

Another epic vista with the gang.

Yay! The bikes are here!

Of course, Andrew’s brakes took a bit of a hit on the sling…as is tradition. Luckily I had my Allride socks, so we got if fixed in no time with the help of our pal Ja and a couple of pointy tools.

Alright, time to drop in. It’s about 7900′ back to the bottom according to my GPS. Brant takes the lead here, followed by Geoff and then Jordan and Ja.

Another good one of Jordan.

That last one is Kevin, preceded by Dave. You can see Stein Mtn in the background towering over everything at 9300′. The next one is McKenna doing some big mountain moves on the summit ridge of Askom.

It’s definitely very steep up here, and also quite loose compared to the other drops I’ve been on lately. You didn’t so much steer down these pitches as just hang on and deal with it. Like Dave is here.

Alright, time for the postcard gallery. In order; Chris, Jordan, Kevin (twice), Ashley, and Brant.

We left it a bit late in the day, so we dropped in to the forest with little daylight. The new sections of trail that the boys cut are pretty impressive. As usual, no pics when we’re too busy shredding. Considering that we had over 5 grand left to go and it was already getting close to sunset, do you blame me?

Those beers at the bottom sure tasted good.

Made it a bit tricky to change the flat tire on the way out, though.

At least we made it back to the ferry before the day ended.

Wow. That was a sick day. Pretty sure that’s the biggest vertical drop in Canada right now. Let me know if you know of a bigger one, and we’ll come check it for ya.

Make It Reign – 5

Posted on August 1, 2014August 9, 2014 by Smoke

Heli time again? Sure…why not? 4 heli drops in a week sounds about right to me.

Here, enjoy the spectacle of landing a bunch of bikers in the alpine of BC.

Seb Wild, one of the hardest working dudes in the bike business, gettin’ the job done with Brice.

Nate and Adam doing trailwork? Nah…they’re just trundling some rocks, as is tradition.

Made ya look!

Beer in the alpine, as also is tradition.

Not beer. Alpine water through a straw.

Yeaaaaaahhhhhhhbooyyyyyeeeeeee!

Yeah, it’s time we saw some riding shots. Lots of lifestyle today.

A few more postcard pics for ya, including a rare one of Sterl.

…and another rare one of Brice.

Almost to the lake.

Is that a chick over there?

Another rare shot of Sterl.

Yo Brice…that’s not how it goes. It’s an easy trail over all, but little mistakes can cost you. While I was helping Brice out of this pickle, other shenanigans were afoot.

Although most of us made it out in one piece…

…Clayton had a bit more of an issue with the consequences. Such a bummer, as it was apparently a fairly innocuous bail. I guess he had a previous injury that complicated things, but he still did manage to somehow fracture both elbows. Here’s hoping he has a quick and straightforward recovery.

Well, that was still a full on epic week. Thanks to Giant Bicycles for having the vision to do something this rowdy for their product launch. I gotta say, I’m more than a little impressed. Not only with the itinerary this week, but also with the bikes. The Reign is quite a rig, and I think I’m even more stoked on hearing how they were developed. Meeting the designers was very cool. They are really on the right track over at Giant.

Thanks to Colby, AJ, and Tabetha for the call. Kevin for all the knowledge. To Adam, Nate, and Silas for setting the tone. To Sterl for some good reminiscing out there. To all the journos and new friends I made this week. And to Seb for saving my bacon when I was so tired from not sleeping. Couldn’t have done it without ya, buddy.

OK, gotta roll. Germans are coming and we’re going to the Coast Gravity Park!

Retro Heli

Posted on July 30, 2014August 5, 2014 by Smoke

Looks like I have a day off. What should I do? I know! I’ll go heli Disneyland with some guys, like Connor!

And Wade!

Yeah, we crammed everyone and bikes into one load. It was sort of cramped, but we got there. Haven’t been up here since 2008, and honestly I didn’t think I’d ever be coming back. Since I was here last the area has been logged and burned, and it’s just not like it was.

I’ll tell you this much…it’s still super gnarly. After 18 years and roughly 60 laps in here, it’s just as terrifying as ever. Looks like the Britannia Trials guys have been doing lots of hours keeping it going. If you’re riding out that way, you might want to consider throwing them a bone. They’re kind of grumpy about bikes out there, but they like beer and gas money just as much as anyone. Can’t spend all your cash on helicopters…

Here’s Max figuring out how to ride on snow with a huge pack.

“What do you mean? You’re on the other side!”

Connor still hasn’t figured out the big pack riding on dirt (and he got a pretty good raspberry on the knee from this one…).

Anyone need to check their white balance?

Connor finds some flow down on the Lion’s Back. Although lots of the area has been logged, this zone is still OK…for now.

In between the arduous ups and the insane downs, there’s vistas like this to blow your mind.

Here’s one of those insane downs now.

Hard to believe that after all this time, this sucker is still the king. We actually filmed this particular little adventure for a little Crankworx project. I hope it doesn’t look too lame. After all, this kind of riding just isn’t that popular anymore. Sure is fun, though.

Bush Pilot Biking

Savage mountain bike adventures in the heart of the freeride capital of the universe: British Columbia, Canada.

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Della Creek Birthday Heli Mission

Make It Reign – 5

Retro Heli