Zipper Apocalypse – 1

Some return business for the next couple of days, with Devin and Nick who were here last year. Oh, and also a couple more Albertan riders.  They seem stoked…

They should be with the weather like this.  We got our huck on early with some top to bottom action on the Kessel Run.

After lunch is was time to sort out some more State of Mine/Guitar Solo laps.

Yeah, that’s a helluva hike, but it’s worth it.

Some postcard alpine shots for ya…

It’s hard to keep the pace up when the view is so distracting.  We’re looking at a solid 4k’ descent from this point.

Guitar Solo was running great, so we had to do a little photo sesh on Arnold Burminator (or is this Robert Bermiro?).

Yeah, this is a photo heavy entry, but this is a pretty nice day to be in the mountains.  Gotta take advantage of it while you can, eh?

Another solid day out there with over 14k’ of descending.  Tomorrow I think we’ll have to make the assault on Reco Peak and get the full pull.  Can’t wait…

Retallack Solo – 2

Finally….alpine!   Four years in the making and we’re now above treeline at Retallack.  Well…Kia is, but the rest of us aren’t far behind.

Got a backup band for James today so he’s not so alone.  Glory and Kurtis from Rossland came out today, and since we were heading for the new trails up top, Kia, Amber, and Matt joined in.

Whoa…fullface makeout sesh.  Safe sex, Kootenay style.

Was it good for you?

The upper trail is called State of Mine, and should be complete from Hollywood Ridge within a few weeks.  Where we drop in through the sub-alpine is Guitar Solo (see what I did with the post title now?), and it’s already a classic.  Here’s a few berm riffs from the crew.

We banged out a bunch more laps after the morning, as it was James’ last day.  We weren’t stopping much though, as we broke through about 14k’ of vertical.  Just took a little break to session this hit on the Kessel Run.

Retallack Solo

After an epic overnight drive (8 hours and 15 minutes from Vancouver to Retallack), it was time for more shredding.  This time with just one guy, a solo adventurer by the name of James from the UK.  I guess his buddies choked on the cost, which is a bit ridiculous considering that the price is about the same as what you pay in Whister.  Ah well, the guys who get it are coming.

James had been riding for a while already with Kinrade, and since he had some fun laps over on Choices I thought I’d show him the upper part on Sundowner.

He liked it a lot.  We also peeled off the Finisher.  Anyone who likes their steeps is going to like that one.

Speaking of steeps, it doesn’t get much steeper than the Monster.

Too bad I cut his head off…

Best day of his trip so far, and we’ve got a couple more days to go.  I miss the Brits, we need more of ’em.