Kootenay Pow

Well Apex was fun, but I haven’t been to Nelson in a couple of years. For those of you who don’t know yet, staying away from the Kootenays is a stupid thing to do. I was originally going to go skiing with an old buddy who has been working as a ski guide up there, but he got injured in an avalanche the week previously so he couldn’t go. Luckily I could hook up with some other guys so I spent my time with Joe on the sofa drinking way too much beer.

Here’s the view from the lodge of Ymir Peak. I had the pleasure of skiing most of the lines off of the peak a few years ago. Our destination for this day was the bowl over the ridge to the North (left), also known as 5 Mile Basin.

We started early to get above the ski area before the lifts opened. Here is Mark Holt from local shop The Sacred Ride and Skinny Seniuk of NRG Enterprises.

Of course, the first run was deeper and better, so as usual I didn’t get any shots. Too busy skiing it, eh? It was a 1200′ run through nice open trees and knee deep fluff at minus 15 C. Maybe a little colder at the bottom.

For the second run we went a little higher to the summitt of White Queen (Elev. 7100′). Here’s Judd showing how to hold the tele’s tight.

…and Skinny with his postcard face on.

…and Holt throwing out a wave….

It was a short day, as Mark and Skinny had to go to work. I went for a walk down by the lake and found these eagles enjoying the day.

Next up, the nightlife. Stay tuned……

Interior Freeride

OK,so I’ve been ignoring my updates for a while.

After the Cypress ride we got cleaned up, loaded our gear, picked up the Germans from the airport, and went to Penticton.

Some of these shots are a little sad because currently the area is on fire and some of these trails may disappear.

That’s still in the future at this point.

Here’s what we woke up to in Summerland.

Everyone was a little worn out by all the travel, so we had a bit of a slow start. The sun was well up by the time we hit Penticton.

When we were getting ready, we met a couple of young punks from Nelson getting dropped in the woods by their Mom. Feeling that I owe a debt to anyone from the Kootenays just for being from there, I offered to bring them the good way through.

Kevin and Geoff showed early that the Kootenay kids get the job done.

They made up for riding good by proceeding to blow every tube we had. Well, maybe I got a couple too.

Back to more stellar Peat Bog trail.

The thing about the Okanagan rides is the sheer size. Here we are approaching the end of the third hour of the FIRST run of the day.

If the trail seems easy, remember that you keep getting distracted by all the killer scenery.

On our second lap we did a little exploring and found this cool little sand drop. You buried your wheels up to the axles on impact, but it was prett cool.

It’s the end of the day which always makes it for me.

Oh….so THAT’S why they call me “meat.”

Dinner. Ever notice the correlation of off center pictures and empty beer bottles on the table?

…and finally, this is how you look at the end of a day with the Bush Pilot. So tired even Harry Potter can’t keep your eyes open.

Next update I will have some pics of the Arawana trails plus some news about whether they have survived the fires.