Valemount long weekend

After the cold snap, the high pressure was pushed out and it started dumping. With the family day long weekend upon us, I thought it would be a good opportunity to check out Valemount instead of scouring my brain looking for places to find good, safe skiing around Canmore. Clear skies and moonlight through Jasper was great for staring at mountains I haven't seen for almost 10 years. It started dumping as soon as we crossed the BC border but we arrived in Valemount late with the full moon showing. Reiner and Karen played wonderful hosts, showings us the goods, and good food.

Heavy trailbreaking slowed Reiner down...for the first lap!

A 3000m day, deep snow, and steep trees. My best day of ski touring ever?

Out of the parks and into heli ski territory!

Monday in the Rockies. Skiing 3 different mountain ranges in 3 days. Monashees, Cariboos, Rockies!

Stoking the fire

Delicious homemade sushi, not as hard to make as you think!

Into the icebox

Of the 4 ski mountaineering races that I have wanted to do so far this year, 2 have been cancelled while the other two have gone on with some course modifications. This time the Ken Jones Classic was postponed due to cold temperatures.

Doing some urban skimo training!

 With a relatively stable but thin snowpack, we had some options. With the cold temperatures and crust on the solar aspects, a traverse involving climbing the south slopes and descending the north seemed like the best way to make use of the conditions.

The top of climb 1.

crossing tracks where the descent funneled.

Staying in the sun on climb 2.

Getting a little zesty in the scree!

Downclimbing on belay into descent number 2. Prime conditions!

Craig slaying the excellent conditions on his new skis!

Descent 3. Craig had to sit this one out with skin failure that can be traced back to the EU limiting imports on toluene.

Great day, although we were not able to complete the full traverse as intended and missed out on the last climb. I was struggling to come up with more options, so day 2 was a bit of a bust, though nice to get out and be comfortable in the cold.

I've been quiet for the past little while

3rd time in this zone this season. The snow makes the slog worth it!

Skiing off the top on Super Bowl Sunday!

Getting some deep turns in the same spot earlier in January.

And how could I forget, some real Edmonton skiing!

e-SkiMo 2-1 from Peter K on Vimeo.

Whitefish Whiteout 2014

Once again, I made the long solo pilgrimage to another race. The Whitefish Whiteout is always a good time, the resort and the community really stand behind the event, the fields are always deep and full of "wild cards", and I like the layout of the course with decreasing climb lengths, which makes it easy to mentally break the race down.

Thick fog...er "low cloud"...er "adverse visibility" blanketed the mountain, and lack of precipitation and warm temperatures in the weeks preceding the race meant more bootpacks and dodging glide cracks.

My last report was full of plenty of excuses, most of them not holding much water. In the days before this race, I would wake up with a sore throat, and I'm not sure my legs appreciated a day of inactivity + a long drive the day before the race. But, hey, why not try to throw down!

I started hard, making sure I was at the front of what was a long line of skiers on light gear. A couple of steep sections later, the pack was whittled down to just 3 with newbie Travis Brown (not to be confused with mountain biking legend Travis Brown) lurking behind. Everything was going well for me according to plan until we hit a flatter section near the top. My legs (noteably my right hip flexor) was screaming, and I watched Ben and Eric creep away from me.

I started the first descent cautiously to make sure I dropped into the crunchy chunder at the right spot. The hip flexor cramped up in the transition. Fortunately, maybe halfway up the climb, I was back in race mode engaged in a solid battle for 3rd place. In the end, I slid into 5th place pushing through the screaming legs.

After another night in the 2nd biggest house up at the mountian, which was packed full of young adults consuming adult beverages, I woke up early to go for a short tour just past the ski area boundary. Carl showed us the goods, which delivered some surfy snow, even on the race skis.

Pete Siudara's Pictures

Myke Hermsmeyer's pictures

The nights are getting colder

As the nights get colder and snow starts sticking at higher elevations, I feel less inclined to make the long road trip to the mountains to ride my bike, and my thoughts turn to skiing. Here is a look back to last spring, capping off a great season that saw me shredding Highwood in October and November, and having the races of my life at Worlds and Nationals. Things will be tougher this year with 400km of crowded winter driving between me and the mountains, but I am determined to make the most out of my weekends and continue throwing down on the SMCC circuit!

Spring skiing on Pinkbike

More adventure + Devon River Raid XC

Slackcountry biking. As absurd as it sounds, I was thinking about all of the chairlift access mountain bike mountains around here and many of them have a trail that leaves the patrolled boundary. Call it a great way to finish off your day! I don't think many are as long and hard (that's what she said!) as Kicking Horse's (Maybe Khyber Pass in Whistler?).

At first, I was a little angry that the mountain is not too keen on allowing uphill traffic, even after they close for the season. But then I remembered that "The Separatists" had won some gift certificates. What a great way to spend the day: casing some jumps, hitting some stumps, and then cap it off with a hike-a-bike to a super long descent.

Loading up the bikes in the Gondola. The Marin took quite a beating as the trails were quite rough after a dry summer

The trails were ROUGH, and I was taking quite a beating, I could even start to feel the death grip setting in midway down the first lap! Okay, they are pretty long laps. Getting a lift to the top is fun, getting beaten up: not so much.

At the top of the grassy knoll aka T2. A different perspective in the summer for sure! Some steep hiking to get there.

My partner struggling, wearing body armour and carrying a heavier bike

 Unfortunately, I did not really possess the skill level to really make the most out of the trail, and I did a lot of walking. It's definitely more of a hiking trail, but I could see how a skilled rider could get down some sections. It seemed that every time the trail got fun, that the next section would force me to walk my bike. After quite a character builder, We were finally at the logging road, and able to rip the upper Canyon Creek descent (Lower Sir Donald, LSD). This trail is fun, and a great contrast to the blown out and rough nature of the KHMR trails. Steep sections that were not loose, okay, maybe I should tighten my lips about this trail!

As we didn't have a car waiting in Nicholson, we cut the descent short and returned to Cedar Lake, then I finished off the loop by pedalling up to Kicking Horse. My whole body and my mind were sore!

A tough day for sure. The Golden Cycling Club is planning on officially sanctioning the trail with the goal of having a descent from the top of KHMR down to Nicholson. I'm in no position to discuss what that will mean for the nature of the trail, but in its current state, it is best left for the more skilled and adventurous riders looking for a great/challenging way to finish off the day!

The body was sore for a couple of days after. All of those isometric muscle contractions while riding downhill are not something that I normally experience. Fortunately, I was all rested up and ready to race the River Raid XC in Devon on the weekend.

A fast course, mainly consisting of doubletrack, but with some steep singletrack climbs and a tight, but straight descent. I was feeling pretty good and was able to ride the steep climbs every lap with the odd dab or two. I ended up in 4th, just shy of the podium.

I took some notes from the winner of the Kicking Horse hill climb.

I really did have a job interview! Then I met up with Bill at Moose Mountain on my way back to Canmore. We were going to do SHAFT and Special K, but I broke my rear maxle on SHAFT. I had my Xprezo with me, so we salvaged the day with a lap of Shoulda.

And then a Baldy + Hector downhill ride a couple of days later.

Some great riding, and I need a little more rest. I'm itching to get to Revelstoke for some alpine hike-a-bikes to cap the year off properly.

My favourite ride

Since my last post about riding, I made a video:

Riding all over the mountain. on Pinkbike

A repeat of last year but with slightly harder access and better weather!

We rode a good chunk of the climb, but there was lots of pushing to do. Great views!

tight steeps!

My favourite shot. A great view of the Ghost River valley.

After some beautiful scree riding up top, the trail descended into some looser rocks, still very driftable!

Yeah, the t-shirt and elbow pads is questionable style, well, gotta keep that skin intact!

Finding the trailhead was a little tougher with most of the landmarks and trail markers washed away in the June floods.

June floods also washed away a diversion dam, which made for some fording!

When we did this ride last year, it really set me off on a mission to find some great descents. I'll never be able to ride the gnarly steeps, but I do enjoy a long descent that travels through many vegetation zones. I rode a lot of great trails, but this one stood out for not being too intimidating, taking me through some awesome terrain, and of course, being non stop fun for the whole descent. The 90 year old trail flows well, better than some recently built trails designed with "flow" in mind. Maybe back then, they knew something we didn't!

Trans Rockies Canmore pictures

I went for a stroll with my camera and stumbled upon a bike race.

more pictures here