Tuesday, November 12, 2013

early season skiing at home.

Last weekend up at mt baker on the Heliotrope ridge was great, the snow was awesome and the excitement was very high for the first ski tour of the year. However we all kind of missed out on the "backcountry" experience with so many people out. I hate mass amounts of people, its why I like to get into the back country, Its why I don't live in the big city, and its why I turn down Jay Z tickets at rogers arena. I love playing outside and seeing no one but my closest friends, I love being very far removed from the masses . The outdoor sports community is growing in leaps and bounds and you just need to work harder to get away. This past long weekend we just stayed close to home in the back yard, slept in past 5am, and had some great adventures finding great skiing. My new 1994 Suzuki Sidekick is so awesome and will crush any redneck logging road. Over the 3 days we skied some awesome 600m runs in great conditions and Only saw one other skier out there.
you gotta work harder out in red neck land, the roads are dirt and the trees are thick.

the logging roads are long and steep.

but the views are nice and the dogs are boss.

the hills are high and the snow is mint!

only the brave can survive this vast baron land.

I think I see Scott Simpson in his boat, He's on a boat yo

The masses.

Mt Waddingtons management

creeks are still going so rock skis were key.

So good, the wife breaking trail.

I think I can see the masses on the Heliotrope ridge.

token split boarder.  

Sunday, November 03, 2013

A tale of two cities.

Its been a really interesting the last two weekends. Last weekend Nate, Mel, Chris and I had two awesome rides in Squamish with hero dirt conditions. The first day we rode around the University and finished off with one of my favorite trails, somewhere over there. The next day we rode in the Cat lake area and finished off with another of my favs, credit line. This last weekend was awesome cause winter finally hit and dropped over a foot in the mountains. We got out to the baker area along with 60 of our close friends. Even though I hate people it was still a good time.
Chris on Freds.

Nate on Somewhere over there

First Ski day of the year. My legs are so sore right now. But so worth it.

Mel's nipple froze and Connor is all thumbs up.

Thursday, October 24, 2013

Summer is still here.

This fall has been unreal! I don't think I've ever seen the trails this good. Mel and I were riding on Vedder the other day and she asked me to stop skidding so much cause I was tossing up to much dust! And its Oct 23. Crazy! Also got out for the first night ride in a long time last night. Oh its good! Bunch of guys from Abby came out to ride the wack. The one guy was from south Surrey and the trails out here blew his mind. It looks like there is no stop in this weather either, I kinda want to start skiing but the riding is so good right now.
Mel has a nice couch, Max is not allowed on it. So we made him this sweet doggy bed. good night max.

Top of Vedder at night.

Monday, October 21, 2013

Home Sweet Home.

After a hectic weekend of moving last weekend it was very nice to spend a weekend at home. We are still living a in hoarders paradise with all the boxes and crap all over the place but we are making a serious dent. Melanie and I got out this weekend for some of the best rides I've been on all year, and its Oct 20! While Van city was blinded by a fog advisory we had beautiful sunshine in Chilliwack. We rode Sumas both days and it was giddy.  
Hello Vancouver I cant see you.

Not to shabby.

Nate Dawg, and Max.

Friday, September 27, 2013

Summer time is over now

Its been a wild and busy summer. The best summer ever! But now fall is here and its time to sit in front of the fire and relax a bit. I figured I should update this thing so that the 4 people that read it have some entertainment. 

I guess the biggest news ever is that I got married last weekend. I didn't think I would ever find someone to put up with me but I found the best woman ever and Im so excited for a life time of fun times together. Mel is even moving to Chilliwack and getting out of the big city. Bye bye traffic, over priced housing, and keeping up with the Jones. Hello hero dirt, epic mountains and living the dream! Its gonna be awesome! 
Me and Mel. We look good eh.

rode my bike up like withe the little black guy

Took Kevin Calhoun on the vedder mountain epic, here he is at the top of hang gliders. 

Mels Family is from North Bay Ontario. We had an awesome week up there hanging out by the lake. I ate a ton of cheese and drank lots of beer. Mel made this awesome pie. 

Getting ready for the wedding was a ton of work. I used my chainsaw to make a lot of the wedding decorations and some little side projects along the way, this is my little bench. 

Morning walks with Max

every 2 years the pink salmon run up the Chilliwack river. I like to catch as many as possible and smoke them. Then freeze them in a sealed pack and eat them all winter long. 

Max eating the good stuff. Mel got an HR job working for Petcurean. They make good dog food. Max really likes her new job. Nothing but the best for the little guy.

Making signs for the wedding I was smashing 2 hammers together taking apart this pallet and one shard went right into my arm, right into the vain, serious. good thing I was wearing ski goggles. 

for my stag the boys took me up to rossland. We made a serious fruit stop in Keremeos. 

we rode bike, drank beer and slept, was a great trip. It pissed rain on 7 summits but the dirt was awesome!

salmon. I can leave my house and be back with 2 fish in under an hour. 

we got married in my dads shop. it was kinda cool. 

Friday, July 26, 2013

A Day in Rossland

Last weekend Nate Dawg and I traveled to Rossland for a single day with the goal to ride seven summits. We left Chilliwack on Saturday at 4pm. We rolled up to the Nancy Green Summit at 10pm. Toby also drove in from Calgary and beat us there and set up camp. We went to sleep after each eating 3lbs of blueberries.  
The Dream. 

this is kinda a cool photo I think
In the morning we cooked up some food and wheels rolling by 730. Seven summits is one of my favorite trails on the planet. Its kinda got it all, pure single track and almost all in the alpine. I just love it out in Rossland.  
The crew. Let the good times roll. 

Nate at the start. 
The start of Seven Summits has a big climb that brings you from 1600m all the way up to over 2200m. Somehow we managed to loose Toby I thought he was in front of us. Toby thought we were behind him. I ended up riding the 2/4 of the route twice. Toby ended up riding the 1/4 twice. We wasted about 3hrs and tons of matches in the process. Good times. We found each other and turned out to be one of the best rides ever.   
Nate at the summit of mt Elgood. 

Toby as good as it gets

coffee doesn't sell its self. 
 Cause we are dumb and didn't shuttle a car we had to ride back up to town. It was 38c and you could have cooked eggs on the pavement. The last climb up to the pub was the hardest thing I've ever done. That beer was unreal!
Toby after loosing whatever brain cells he has. When a human being is in this state he only knows two words, cold and beer. 

the last supper......in Rossland













Tuesday, July 02, 2013

Long Hot Weekend

Happy Canada Day! Over the long weekend we rode bikes in the hot hot heat. Squamish Saturday, Whistler Sunday, and Abbotsford Monday. Its the first weekend I've been able to do what I wanted with my hand. It was a total of 3 weeks with no mt biking and its so good to be back. You really take for granted riding in full idiot mode before you take a digger. I just rode part idiot mode on the weekend cause a bad crash on my hand would just delay full idiot mode longer.

driving up to whistler we saw "that guy". this is one of the best I've ever seen. 

Lunch stop on Comfortably Numb in Whistler. 

Mel coming down CN

Nice views up top. 

Canada Day Ride with the Valley crew.

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Re-hab/tard

On June 8th I crashed really hard and dislocated a bone in my hand. The doc who put my hand back into my wrist was kinda 50/50 about putting some pins in depending on how it was healing. On June 13 I had some more x-rays and they turned out great! No surgery needed. The doc basically told me to just take it easy and not to be an idiot. Harder said then done but I think Im doing a good job, so far.

This past Saturday I went up to the test of metal and took to the feed zone party. I got to feed Neal Kindree (race winner!), Kevin Calhoun, David Vunic, and Mike Hunter. Not a bad group of legends eh? It was really fun being on the other side of things and watching the race. I could get used to this........once or twice.    
up up up. The splint on my hand looks good.
 
On Sunday Mike Levy, Melanie, Max, Myself, and Mikes dog Sherpa hiked up to the Slesse Memorial. Its the first time I have done this hike with clear weather. Its an unbelievable hike cause the rock out there is just wild. I wish the Nesakwatch creek valley had a village in it. I would live there. If it was Europe it would have a great little village, but its Chilliwack and there is just an old abandon logging road. That valley feels like your in the swiss Alps but you're just in Chilliwack. Crazy stuff.

we drove mikes van up, that thing can do some serious off roading.


trail head

memorial plaque

Mike and Mel at the snow line and our turn around point.
Never one to sit still I headed out for a road ride with gravel roads yesterday. The hand was a bit sore on the bumps so I just took it easy. It was fun to do some exploring and I think I might have some new gems to ride or possible areas for secret trails. I think Ill be stuck to easy gravel roads for a bit. The hand feels better everyday but I don't want to be a dummy and Im going to let it heal up before any hucking of meat happens.