Wade Simmons Freeride Experience – Day 3

Posted on August 3, 2007 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.

Wade Simmons Freeride Experience – Day 2

Posted on August 2, 2007 by Smoke

Oh…it’s a travel day. Gotta get to the Kootenays, ya know.

There’s always something to look at on these drives. For instance, this was a nice view. Too bad we missed the sideboob shot…

We got to Nelson in plenty of time to crack off a little ride on Bedframe.

Total crap views. The forest fire situation was lending a bit of haze, but other than that it was fine.

George pretending that there’s a trail there.

Another stock angle for me.

Ahhh..the man of the hour. Hard to get a shot of him until he flats….

Oh wait..there we go.

Nicole just had to follow suit.

Oh, and George too.

Short post for today…..we got to town sort of late. Then we had to get beer and check into our little house.

Yeah…little.

Wade Simmons Freeride Experience – Day 1

Posted on August 1, 2007 by Smoke

Ah yes, time to get your Experience on again. This year, it’s Nelson and the Kootenays. Although to start, we’re hitting up the old fathful, Powers Creek.

Wade of course, is late. But George is along for this trip and he’s keen on making an impression. Here he is impressing on the wall ride on Powers.

As usual, Nicole is with us. Also along is Mike, who if you remember blew his knee out on the second day of last year’s tour. There are also newcomers Niclas from frankfurt Germany, and Ian Millar of Mountain Biking magazine (and one of the most out of date websites I’ve seen in a long time).

Not a bad way to start the tour, with some rippin throwdowns from girl in the crew. Amazing to see the progression from year to year with the regulars. When Nicole first started, she was all tense and full of questions and ….. hey, I guess not much has changed. Well…

She’s throwing the airs without much difficulty now. It was good to see how Mike actually rides now too. We barely got started on the trip last year when he went down with a freak injury. Fingers crossed that we get through this one clean.

Nicole, styling the airs AGAIN.

New guy, Niclas, showing us some Teutonic styles.

Mike and some beetlekilled timber.

Here’s a full crew for another lap, including Wade (finally) and Barb. The only missing person is Luke, who pulled out of the trip at the 11th hour at the behest of his workplace. Considering what’s on the agenda for this one, I’d be looking for another job if I was in his shoes.