Mount Jutland (rounded peak on the right) has some super fun lines. An early start (sunrise for us) to cover lots of ground (roughly 28kms round trip) worked out well for us. It's a beautiful rolling tour to get to the base of the mountain as long as the trail breaking goes smoothly.
Fresh hard fast groomers gave us a great jumpstart on the day.
This is one of the few areas on the Island that does not include a bushwack, you do get to traverse a small lake.
5 cm's of fresh snow and cold overnight temps made the walking quite nice.
Castlecraig and Frink another option from this point.
It's always nice to skin right to the summit. It's a thin snowpack for march on the island.
Albert Edward and Mount Regan tower over Gem Lake.
Looking back at Mount Washington.
Summit party!
Surprisingly nice turns on the dust on crust.
Hero Snow.
The sun warmed up the snow for the ski out and made travel a bit slower for tired legs, still a worthy day objective in the right conditions.
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Almost considered pulling the plug at this point (about 15minutes in) but perseverance paid off.
Suns out...
Looking east, Sproat Lake covered in Fog.
See a previous trip in this area here.
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No shortage on roadside scenery in oregon
"Trailhead's about a mile from here"
Big day, 8 days later tiredness is showing.
Downtown Oakridge
Bye bye for now USA, we'll be back!
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Dirty Fingers Bike Shop in Hood River has beer on tap they offered some solid advice on a ride plan in Mount Hood National Forest.
The sun came out at the end of the ride to warm up our frozen hands and feet and enjoy a post ride bevy.
Sections of the McKenzie River trail are carved into volcanic rock, made for some of the more "techy" riding of the trip and a couple flat tires.
Tiddlywinks had a bike park feel to it: super buff, lots of air time and big fast berms
The lunch burrito never tasted so good!
everything here is just a mile or two away
Beauty sky to end our biggest day of riding on the trip
Part 1 here, Stay tuned for Part three: Facebook or Twitter
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After a 2 hour traffic delay at the border crossing we finally made it into Washington
Bellingham to the west
Mount Baker to the east
Great trails in between
No shortage of fast fun flowy riding, this turned out to be the theme of the trip.
Off to Leavenworth we go
spot the riders
Xanadu
No shortage of beautifully sculpted berms in Washington
Weather was not looking promising for a day in the alpine
The road was closed about 5km's from the trailhead due to a recent washout (or maybe the government shutdown)... we went for it anyway.
Follow that rainbow
The old growth forest of the PNW is _________
Riding the line between thousand year old trees and total destruction
This was our turnaround point, high winds, rain, a bit of hail, and we hadn't yet gotten to the "Windy Ridge"
Happy to see a bit of sun on the retreat
Back down to the trailhead took no time at all
Perfect finish to the day in Hood River
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Great turnout for the event, roughly 200 people showed up for the ride.
I joined up with Seamus Mcgrath for the ride, we managed to stop a few times, not an easy task on such a fun trail.
Some stunning bridge work went into this.
Maple trees on Maple Syrup on Maple Mountain in Maple bay...
Berms.
More berms.
Rock rolls to berms.
Nice little rest stop about 2/3rds of the way down, water and energy balls were helpful, this trail is not all downhill.
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Photos are up from this past weekends event (click here)!
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More photos at: www.davesilverphotography.com/events/2013-thc
A solid turnout of over 130 riders
My team mate Ryan showing off his well bandaged wound from a previous race
The rest of my team, Jen and Miranda all fresh and ready to go at 8am
Ryan, charging on course
The next generation of rippers were well represented
UROC held a trail maintenance day the previous week to the event and the trails were in fine shape
Fast flowy fun on Space Nugget
A clean bike is a happy bike
Big solo field
Justin looking way to fresh after taking the win with his wife in the team of 2 mixed
Sam feeling the effects of 12 hours on his bike
More images can be seen here
]]>More photos from the event can be viewed at: davesilverphotography.com/events/2013-mbta-symposium
The Delegates of the Mountain Bike Tourism Symposium
Meeting up for the Harbourview ride on Sunday
Mount Quimper Harbourview trails
Summit of Mt. Quimper FM Radio trail
Some of the freshly updated trail at the base of Harbourview.
Ted Tempany using the bike wash at Harbourview
Reception at the Sooke Museum
Martin Littlejohn welcoming the delegates
Trailbuilders panel, Phil McIntyre-Paul, Ted Tempany, Daniel Scott, Thomas Schoen and Mark Wood
Chief Gordon Planes and Lorien Arnold, panel on First Nations and Mountain Biking Tourism
Panel Discussion - woman in mountain biking: Lorraine Blancher, Kelli Sherbinin, Danielle Baker and Deanne Lazaruk
Nina Cairns on the Broom Hill trails
Brett Tippie on the Broom Hill trails
2013 Mountain Bike Tourism Association board members
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Stunning views from the village to wake up to in the morning, Mount Cain (left) and Mount Abel right.
Guided tours were in high demand, people were lined up within minutes of the tent going up.
Cliff (dark green jacket), a guide from IAG discusses our plan with the group
Our proposed route
Hiking up the bed surface and over the old fracture line proved to be an efficient route.
Cliff leading the pack with Cain's summit behind.
Looking back at the ski area and our traverse line across the "East Bowl".
The wind was blowing hard for some of the approach.
Tele drop into the Dream Chute.
In total 16 people skied the line and all were stoked!
Traversing back to the village through the old growth.
Back just in time for the raffle
People walked away with some really sweet prizes
and a beauty sunset.
Volunteers worked hard all day to dial in the party site with a multi level dance floor, firepit and a DJ Booth (with lasers).
A very successful event indeed, over $4000 raised for the bulletin, Mount Cain broke their previous record in lift ticket sales and a truly amazing vibe from everyone all weekend long. Can't wait for next years festival! Check out the Van Isle Backcountry Festival website
The rest of the photos from the weekend can be viewed here
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Pogo Mountain
Steamboat Mountain in the distance
Unnamed? peak to the west of Pogo
Skinning along the Kennedy River
Snag lake and more of the Maitland range
Bootpacking up the north ridge of Pogo
Some rock hard pillows on the way down
Logging road skate ski
Adder Mountain
Grand total of 7 machines and 8 people.
All bundled up ready to go
On the Hurley
Stoked!
Snow quality was pretty good
Lunch break, we worked this zone pretty good.
Clouds rolled in later in the day
Dave Norona is always stoked
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We were able to get fairly high on the logging roads before the snow was too deep to continue in the vehicles. It made for an easy approach...
Heading up you are treated to some great views of Denman and Hornby Island if the visibility allows
Some spectacular old growth patches remain untouched in limited places on the Island
A couple mini couloirs will make for some great lines off the summit once filled in a bit more.
Sweet playground
No shortage of steep lines to ski around here
Looking forward to return here a bit later in the season with a deeper snowpack!
Albert Edward Jutland Ridge line.
Crossing Lake Helen Mackenzine on approach
Paradise meadows and Castlecraig Mountain
Castlecraig
Albert Edward and Regan
Climbing from Circlet lake
Albert Edward looking into the Strathcona park
Dropping in
Home for the night
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Martin Ready of Island Mountain Rides on the Slickrock bike trail.
Ross looking for any sign of shade.
Shade break.
Ryan and Frank climbing the steeps.
Jeremy working the Singlespeed.
Early morning shuttle to "The Whole Enchilada" trail
Shuttled to 10,300ft, pedal/hike to 11,200ft followed by 7000ft of 'down country'
Frank working his lungs in the La Sal's
Enjoying the top of the pass
Jeremy and Jeff Dropping in on 7000ft of trail.
Ross pretty much sums it up
]]>Some images from a course designers meeting in Cumberland last month, Its a great opportunity to sample some of the local riding for the crew and also get in a little trail maintenance session.
Enjoying the views on the way up to Bear Buns trail in Cumberland's back yard.
Martin Ready dropping into Bear Buns
Connor Macleod experiencing Cumberland's riding for the fist time.
Connor put together an excellent short film of the weekend on pinkbike.
New trail: Potluck, yes, you get to ride through a stump!
Jeremy riding some freshly cut cedar.
Greg taking a break from the Waverly kitchen for a little Thirsty Beaver
Post ride at Tarbells
Getting down to business
Martin Ready bringing the tools into Space Nugget for a trail maintenance session
Andreas and Jeremy building up the base
Testing out the new line
Martin Ready giving his approval
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For this first post I thought I would share some of my favorite images from a recent trip to Chamonix France. This was the first stop on a month long tour around Europe with my wife Taryn and our 3 month old daughter Anika. We arrived in Chamonix with warm weather and clear skies which allowed for three days of spring skiing and touring. I was overwhelmed with the ease of access to the alpine, beauty of the landscape, and the potential skiing and climbing opportunities of the area. Thanks to Jamie from Doglotion for showing us around for a couple of days and Jeff who joined me from Nanaimo for this part of the trip.
