mushroom

Trousers to the Left – 3

Posted on by Smoke

Whoa…that just happened.

Trousers to the Left - 3

So, it looks like the epic summer of 2013 is not only over, but we have transitioned through fall in record time to start winter in the alpine just a bit too early.

Trousers to the Left - 3

Still, not much better in this world than a powder day at Retallack.

Trousers to the Left - 3

Funny thing though.  I seem to have a lot of friends around for a pow day.

Trousers to the Left - 3
Trousers to the Left - 3

Gord laying down the law. Funny how it seems like a lot of the time the old dogs are the hardest in the crew.

Trousers to the Left - 3
Trousers to the Left - 3
Trousers to the Left - 3

Goose gets shot of the day.

Trousers to the Left - 3

…and House gets all time recognition for slaying pow laps with only a few months of riding under his belt.  Seriously, those are some big cojones there.  The deep Kootenays are not a place for the timid.

Trousers to the Left - 3

Snowline.

Trousers to the Left - 3

OK, make up your own one liner about what fungi’s are on this trip.

Trousers to the Left - 3

And now it’s time for a little shout out to Ryders for making not only the most affordable goggles on the market, but also the best performing.  I couldn’t get them to fog up, not even once.

Trousers to the Left - 3

They were also handy to have on when I was washing bikes.  I’m a desert guy now; I don’t deal with mud well.

Trousers to the Left - 3

In house jack of all trades Matti Barrett shows off his two page spread in this years Bike Photo Annual.  Looks like the cameral really does add ten pounds.

Trousers to the Left - 3

After a hard day of riding, what else is there to do but play some full contact ping pong?

Trousers to the Left - 3

One more day to go on this one.  We’re gonna make the most of it.

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.

NSMBA Trail Day

Posted on by Smoke

Our last trail day for the NSMBA. It’s a little bit sad, really. Ahhh…..maybe we’ll throw down on another some time. They are really fun events.

They also wouldn’t be possible without sponsors. Kelly Smith is the owner of the new IGA down on Esplanade, and he’s a great guy. Look at all that food.

We also need lots of help on the trail, and although we didn’t get the HUGE turnout like last time, we still had 55 motivated diggers show up.

I think that with the Rat Race on the Sunshine Coast, the Vancouver Marathon wrecking traffic, and a bit of rain it was still a great turnout. That rain made it great to see how to cut the drainage.

Oh look….girls. Awwwww, they’re hikers. Oh well, they’re in some pretty short shorts.

Franco likes them like that.

OK Franco. Back to work.

You too, Dieter.

As always, Barb made a great lunch of drunken salmon burgers, and no trail day is complete without Karen’s delicious cookies or Brewhaha’s cold brewskis.

Thanks to everyone that came out, and if you didn’t make it, there’s still 5 more chances to give back to the Shore.