Chris Christie Blogtography

2010-11-16T07:54:00.001-08:00

A quick update to the SA Travels !
I finally got myself free of airport hell in Beunos Aries after hours of delay's because of maintance delay's and overcrowding on a long weekend.
If it wasn't for the humour of tourists losing thier shit with demands that were completly out of anyones control, it would have been a long day.
Anyway,
I've been in El Chalten for 11 day's. I really hope I have not used up all my weather luck for the winter. We have had bluebird for 10 day's straight with moderate winds.
I think I've scrambled and trekked just about everything there is to do here. A big downer is I could not find a partner to do an Alpine route with. It's a little early in the season so there were not too many people climbing the amazing walls here. Last ditch effort I decided to hire a guide to climb with..Felt odd to hire a friend so to speak but I'm jones-in to get at something techy !!
Well i waited too long..No Guides !!
I hooked up with an Irishman, Noel O'Leary who runs adventure camps in Ireland, we did an amazing alpine scramble with incredible views..

I'm travelling with a super light sleeping system and i gotta say the Mountian Hardware Compressor pants are dialed..
Bivied up high 1 night and caught some climbers heading to Fitzroy..

Hanging out in camp after a long day is actually comfortable now..stoked..

@ the hostel last night a french girl asked if i could load some images from her CF card onto her micro drive using my computer. Seems like caught a virus from her :( of the software type..
I can't load my images onto the pc and it corrupts my CF cards. I'm spending my last full day in El Chalten recovering images and trying to sort out what the hell is going on with my pc.
I will miss the people I connected with down here, it was an amazing experienec and I hope i can come back sooner than later.
A great hostel is
http://www.condordelosandes.com/
Back to Santiago for part 2 of the trip.. shredding mtb's for a few day's before heading to Ecuador for some climbing and moto adventure off the beaten path.
CC out !

Fall on the Coast

2010-10-08T22:06:00.000-07:00

Winter is more or less around the corner, every sunny day I feel the urgency to get out and soak it up before the Coast unleashes and we patiently wait to see the elusive snow line begin to drop to the valley floor in the Whistler area.

The ski/snowboard movie premiers are a weekly occurrence fueling the anticipation. The rush was on to shoot some projects that I've had in mind for sometime..

September started out unusually wet, the typical indian summer did not arrive until the last week or so of the month and extended into Oct.
After pinning it on the bike for the past 2 yrs some down day's were welcome to let the body recharge and switch gears into more photography, climbing and finding my flow on the mountain bike again. Squamish went off the charts this summer with trail maintenance and new creative lines snaking through some amazing 2nd growth forests. The link ups and variations are almost endless and only limited my how much climbing you want to do.

I feel like I've struck a balance this past 2 months with training and the photography. It feels good riding with the 50 lb pack or running up some crazy hillside to find a new perspective on capturing an inspiring image. I also found myself in situations that tested me physically and mentally.

I've put in numerous days in the high alpine shooting amazing athletes who are as fired up as I am to see what the coastal alpine has to offer this time of year.

The scenery is jaw dropping and with the summer fires behind us the air quality is top notch, allowing images to show case the endless peaks that disappear off in the horizon.

The athletes are tireless and I thank them for their endless energy and commitment to their sport.
Anyone I've worked with will call me out on my famous "Just 1 more time" especially as I get frantic with the fading light at the end of a day =)

It's so damn amazing to come home after a hard day's shoot and wait for the memory cards to dump the goods of the day onto the hard drive..No matter how shattered I am, I have to process a few to see whats going on.. If it was a good day, my energy levels ramp up and I process until I can't stare at the monitor anymore.

( In memory of Denis Fontaine and Richard Juryn ! )

Quick Catch Up !

2010-09-08T07:25:00.000-07:00

Lots has happened since my last entry !
I was fired up going into last winter and really looking forward to strong imagery and skiing as much as possible. It started out as being an all-time year for me but then I developed some knee issues. Clearly it was getting worse so my only option was surgery. I was fortunate to get fast tracked in for Meniscus clean-up..
The rehab was riding the bike so not all was lost !

I decided to go pinner on the bike and build on last seasons fitness. I set some goals for the coming spring and summer.
I was a little surprised that my form was not stronger after having a good year prior. I did a lot of suffering in the spring series although I was pretty happy with a top 15 in my favorite race- Matsqui Roubaix, not bad for a washed up retired bike racer.
After that it was mostly strong moments rather than results that would have to keep me motivated.
Personally I had a great ride at Tour of Delta, with a couple of Pro Tour riders present and continental pros forcing the pace I did pretty good. I was strong enough for a top 10 in the blistering criterium but got slowed up by a pileup with 4 laps left. Finished the road race which was my goal being a difficult finishing circuit.
I did my 1st masters race which was the Canadian Nationals and finished up 3rd overall in a bunch sprint..I thought I had shot my bullet after riding solo for 20km and then got caught by group of 20 mid-point through the race..
Not many races left in mid August and I was in full burn out mode and looking forward to switching gears. I started climbing again and completely stoked on that. My imagery has picked up and I'm getting at it as much as possible. Alway's looking for something creative to document from behind the lens. It feels good to balance my passion for photography and doing the things I love to do. The cycling background seems to have given me a great base to keep up with the athletes while packing the loads..

Check this link-
http://vimeo.com/14074949
I've watched it about 5 times and it puts a chill down my spine. I find it incredibly inspiring and really motivates me to be out there more, experiencing as many new things as I can from behind the lens. Sharing my vision of how I see new things in relative difficult to reach places stokes me.
I'm looking forward to the fall, one of my favorite times of the year. I can't believe how fast time is moving. before we know it, we will be smiling ear to ear while picking west coast pow out of our teeth.
"Quote- Dark Side of the Lens"
If I only scrape a living, at least it's a life worth scraping for !!

Getting amongst it =)
Cheers,
Chris

Sept or is it Aug ??

2009-09-23T19:19:00.000-07:00

Fall is here or is it ??
Record temps and the trails are tight with some moisture..
Last race of the year was Cheakamus Challenge and I pulled the pin out of the Canyon..Done racing for the year.. Looking forward to adventures this fall and winter. Going to ramp up the photography again, hopefully get into some rad zones with it.
Got a new bike, a killer 5x5 that kind of does it all, climbs well and rails the decents.
I did a climbing shoot yesterday and I have not been on the end a rope for well over a year. In the morning we walked down a sloping slab on the 3rd peak of the Chief in Squamish to the rappel.. That was pucker as fuck.. 1 mistake big pancake.
Then we rappelled to the climb.. I leaned out over the edge on rappell and my huge packs waist buckle exploded because it became loaded ( everything was safe, just the buckle was tensioned with with my bodyweight when I leaned back on my rigging ) just about shat my pants !!
Light was shit so images are not great..Chilco shotz 2. We did a mish up to Lorna lake and had an amazing ride out.
Cheers,
Chris

2009 World Police Fire Games ! Double Deuce !! XC and Road Race

2009-08-08T15:53:00.000-07:00

Ahhh,
A little shamesless self promotion... After years of taking photos of other people it's weird throwing images out there of myself.. Thanks Brian Green !!
Anyway,
The 2009 WPFG attracted over 10 thousand athletes from around the world. Every sporting event under the sun was held over the 10 days and all levels competed from weekend warriors to retired pros in their sport.
When the games were announced to be held in Vancouver I decided to compete in Mountain bike and Road racing after more than 18 yrs out of real competitive riding.
Starting last Aug I started my base building logging 20 hrs a week with training camps in Hawaii (most amazing place to put in winter miles..East Maul loop is a must do) mid winter and California in the spring.
Cycling B.C grandfathered me a Category 2 road liscence and Pro-Elite MTB liscence.
By the time the games rolled around I had about 45 plus races in my legs with mixed results. I had an early peak in March and was riding really well considering the amount of time out of the sport. Mid-April I had my 1st bad race and realized I was burned out. Went down to Peru for 2 weeks of fun MTB and thought it would be a restfull break but with the altitude and riding with 10kgs of camera gear I came home more tired than ever.
I took a week completly off the bike and felt better but still not the same tireless legs I had for the spring months. It was survival mode now, trying to figure out how to get the form back. Sometimes it felt like I needed to do more to get things done other day's walking stairs was a chore. I sided with more rest for the week heading into the Test Of Metal MTB race and then started stepping it up 2 day's prior. I was stoked to ride into a solid 9th Pro/Elite with a small mechanical that took me out of a group of 4.. I nipped their wheels at the finish but ran out of road.. Killer finish seeing those boy's looking back at me, stressing out as I closed the gap..
After Test back into the funk but had some good day's mixed in.. Just not getting results.
I went down to Bend Oregon as my last Prep for Fire Games and rode the Masters Category for the 1st time. 4 Stage race that ended up being as hard as anything else I've done this year. 2 time USA pro champ along with a number of National champs from USA and Canada present so it was full gas in every stage. No results there but rode ok and came home feeling stronger and motivated.
From there I had 9 day's to rest until the games and I mixed easy road rides with soft laps of the Whistler Cross Country course to get used to it, generally riding @ the hotest point of the day to get used to Whistler heat. I helped the organizer with some suggestions to dial in the course, mostly just to add some more zones for passing to keep flow going to those events.
My 1st race of the games was due on Aug 4th and on Aug 2nd I got the wicked 24 hr Flu.. That thing knocked me on my ass. I lost 3kgs in fluids ( mostly out the back side) and doubted racing all week. The day before the crit I was able to walk around without passing out so I went up to one of our local lakes and went for a swim.. the cool water seemed to revive me so I went for a quick ride and decided to go to the crit and maybe start it..I woke up feeling pretty good so I gave it a shot. There were not many Open men in the crit but it was still pretty fast and with everyone watching each other, trying to figure out who were threats it was looking like a bunch sprint. I could tell I did not have the deep snap because of my sickness but made some solid efforts to form a small group but everything got reeled in. Last lap last corner I got boxed in and took a dicey line tagging a pedal.. Kept the rubber side down but lost my momentum and ended up 5th behind Spain/Belguim and
3rd place Guy Biggar from Delta Fire Dept.. he has been on a tear this year, amped for the games and would have enough medals by the end of the week to sink a boat.

next focus was the MTB Cross country so the following day I went to Whistler to pre-ride the new course. The new additions were great and I was feeling about 90% now so super motivated to race..
RAce day 90 riders were on the line and holeshot was going to be important..Looking around it looked like there were a dozen guy's or so that were true rippers but I've also learned to never pre-judge or presume so I was going full throttle.
Gun went off and I fell in second wheel for the 1km lap to allow the field to sort itself out before the tight singletrack of Lost Lake.
It was pretty clear this was going to be a race between 2 of us and we rallied super hard for the 1.5hrs well clear of 3rd place.. Maybe it came down to who made fewer mistakes but Raymond Hall a Pro out of Oklahoma Fire rode a great race and hit the finish line 26 seconds in front of me for the W on a 29er !!
SOLID RIDE RAY !!
I had dug pretty deep and was definetly concerned about my recovery for the Friday Road race.. I missed my scedualled massage and made some panic calls through Whistler and Squamish and finally got hold of local ripper himself "Mike Charuk" for a killer massage..Next up.. fuel the engine..
Pasta and a big old Baseball sirloin for din din..
Next morning I arrived at the road race super early and went for a 1.5 hrs spin to loosen the legs and warm up. The day was cool compared to what Vancouver has been through and more or less welcome but I do enjoy the heat !!
Gun went off and a small group charged full gas but the peleton would have none of it. Except 1 Italian dude dangled off the front and crept away up the road. I considered going but did not think he was a solo threat judging by the size of his legs..looked more like a sprinter than anything else...Never Judge !!
3 laps in his move was looking serious as he had a 1 minute gap with the main group fluctuating speed and reluctance to go pinner for any length of time. With 35 km to go I popped away and quickly put time on the peloton and was soon joined by the winner of the crit who was from Spain. We worked together getting within 30 seconds of the leader but as we looked back we could see the main group single file ending our effort.
The effort ended when they reeled us in and the Italian started to put time on us again, ( He was an absolute monster out there) , . A solo counter attack was put in from a guy from Barcelona and he quickly rolled away with everyone unwilling to close it up.
With 7km to go we rolled over the top of the 1st climb and the pack was more or less strolling along, seemingly resigned to a bunch for 3rd.. nobody wanted to be the fool to do an effort before the sprint.... Cept for me !!
I knew I would be crushed in a sprint so I pulled the famous non-attack !!
I sat on the tops of my bars, looking non-threatining and just spun away from the group. As I got further away I quietly dropped into bigger and bigger gears until I was 53-11, in the drops chewing on the bars looking to put distance on myself and the Peloton. Damn 5km feels long especially in a head wind. I was stoked looking down at my speedo and saw 44 km an hr in the head wind.. Meant I had legz even though it felt like I was crawling. I quickly caught the guy from Catalonia and we worked together for a short bit.. He kept saying in Spanish 2nd place, 2nd place.. I was not sure what he meant for sure, whether he wanted 2nd or what so with 1.5 km to go I jumped away as a bit of a test an could see he was just hanging on for what he could get. I soloed in for 2nd behind Italy and he hung on for 3rd just in front of the Peloton..
Stoked !!
It's a wicked feeling having a plan actually come together for a good result !!
Thanks so much to :
My Partner Julie who puts up with either my resting or riding..it was her idea to go to Hawaii and that set me up with a great base for the season.
Ryderseyewear.com
Trek/Redtruck
Corsa Cycles in Squamish
Tantalus Bike Shop in Squamish
Simons Bike Shop on Robson
Zoltan (Best damn massage period !!
LOCAL 1525 WEST VANCOUVER !!

Big Mountain "Ride Big Peru 2009"

2009-05-22T21:55:00.000-07:00

The title is a complete understatement.. Ride Big.. Everything else is really just an appetizer compared to the massive descents we hit on this trip.
Dean Payne of BC bike Race http://www.bcbikerace.com collaborated with Chris Winter of http://www.ridebig.com/ to bring 10 friends together to head to Peru for mountain biking in one of the most amazing zones on the planet.
I'm usually not one for organized trips and tend to do the "guy" thing and travel with no itinerary or guides.. Well this trip was completly streamlined with the help of Chris's great partners in Peru and they showed us the goods in a super organized fashion so time was maximized eating/drinking, taking in the culture and of course gobs of riding over our 12 day's adventure.
Soon after arrival in Lima and greeted by Wayo, (our bike guide in Peru) we were quickly testing the local Ceviche and Cervezas while building our bikes that thankfully all arrived intact and no panic searches for bike parts was neccessary.
Wayo was the XC and DH champion of Peru and has been exporing the deep corners of Peru and was going to show us the plum lines that took over 10 years of networking in the high mountains of the Andes. Good luck going it alone !!
Day 1-
The jet lag was minimal as the time difference was only 3 hrs so we were all chomping at the bit to see what this landscape could throw our way.
Day 2-
Soon we were on the deluxe 12 seater and heading out into the smog filled streets of Lima in search for the streamlined route to the mountians. Today was to be a stretch the legs day and a chance for Wayo to see how the gringos managed their bikes before we got down to the bidness over the next few day's.
The landscape was decievingly large.. We wound down a dry river bed in a wide valley and took in the views of the arid side hills.
The 2nd night we discovered a taste of the incredible food, again Wayo made some fine suggestions and we fueled up for the 1st real big day in the mountains.
Day 3-
The alarm fired off at 5 am and we were all up scrambling to find coffee, chow some breakfast and get the bikes loaded for the 6 am departure of our bus trying to beat the rush hour traffic out of town. The shuttle was about 4 hrs and had some great scenery along the way. It wasn't long before we started ascending and the views gave us an idea of just how big of a downhill we were anticipating.
The highpoint of the day was going to be 60 km descent from 12 000 feet to 8 foot swells in the out skirts of Lima. Rumoured to be the biggest bike descent in the world.
The landscape here is very arid and can be dusty but we hit it just right with enough moisture on the surface to rail the descent. We had to bear in mind that any form of rescue was unlikely so everyone kept the showboating to a minimum..

Day 4..
Another huge day ahead with a long pantshitting shuttle to San Pedro De Casta @ just over 10 thousand feet. Ok.. I'm a climber and exposure does not bother me but I'm also a bit of a control freak when it comes to someone I don't know driving a bus 6 inches from 3000 foot cliffs.. High anxiety and some quiet dry heaving were the order for the shuttle.. In the end it added to the experience but not sure If I would drive that road again..
From here we were greeted to our next form of shuttle...Horses... Holy shit.. My body armour was on..It was roughly 2 hrs on horse back on at times narrow trails with some good exposure to the MARCAHUASI Stone Forest.. This area had a very sacred feel to it as the ruins dated before the incas..
All told we descended 10 thousand feet and experienced top notch cutlture and rode a ridiculas amount of amazing single track.
Day 5-
We were supposed to fly to Cusco but low cloud prevented any flights from departing. We spent the day with Brents fake dog poo freaking out the tourists..
Day 6- Huchuy- Cusco
One big ass climb to nearly 14 grand before gravity took over, I had nearly 14 kg of camera gear on my back so good X's were had.
this trail was a sacred valley inca trail and had diverse culture and changing landscapes, from open big mountain to narrow lush slot canyons. STUNNING !

Day 7- Brent Martin, David Norona and myself rented motorcycles and did a 450 km circuit to some remote hotsprings. A highlight of the whole trip as we caught a lifetime of amazing culture and festivals on this 10 hour enduro.. sketchy roads and crazy bus drivers kept us a alert all day.. One mistake big pancake on some of those roads..
Day 8-Patacanch to Pumamarca

35 km downhill with huge views and some lush narrow single track dropping into some inca ruins and some small villages. We had and amazing customary lunch in a small dwelling. The locals arrived to show us some of their incredible hand made crafts.

Day 9-Lares Inca Trail. Another Sacred Inca path.
One of the best in the Andes. Starts at over 14 thousand and passes through different ecological zones and narrow slot canyons.
The trip was fast paced and not many moments to realize just how amazing this area is until we got home and sorted through hundreds of images and video. I put this trip at the top of any list of "MUST DO IT'S" Go down there fit so you can really enjoy your time and soak it all in.. Hey Gringo...do yourself a favour and learn some spanish ....

2009-04-18T20:46:00.000-07:00

Cherry Blossom Classic.

Recently I dropped down to Mt Hood area to compete in the Cherry Blossom Classic Pro/ Cat 1-2 road cycling race.

It's been 18 yrs since I Last raced at or near this level.. I've been working my ass off since Sept preparing for this season, now 25 lbs lighter and starting to feel like a fighter again..The British Columbia circuit has been a good intro back into the scene and this stage race will be the real deal.

3 day’s/ 4-Stages in The Dalles Oregon. Some of the circuits used in the Mt Hood Classic used.

Stage 1, 140 Road stage, 4 laps of a circuit.

The circuit was super windy 4500 feet total climbing (Garmin). I started the race keeping in mind Pro Team Bissel has 4 riders here and LandRover Orbea has 6 along with some other teams/riders I know are solid.
There was a break right of the gun and I decided to just sit near the front and wait it out as Bissell had no one in it. Sure enough they came to the front and started attacking and countering.. Fun stuff, super fast in the gutter styles. The Break got up to 2 minutes before Bissell started throwing down. We hit the longish climb 6-7% and the break was down to 20 seconds. A few jumped across and I was right there but I hesitated cause I thought there would be no way the peleton would let it go.
It Did!!..
We hit the winding decent in big cross winds (45 km+ head/cross winds) and no one was willing to do anything. Over the next few laps I tried a few times to instigate but got shut down, which made no sense as the race was way up the road @ this point.
Oh Well,
My legs were still good..Just need to dial in decision making/timing???

Day 2, Morning- 12 km Time Trial.

Out and back 4% grade out, very fast on the way home with some techy sections, narrow bridges.
Had a mediocre TT, No loss in GC for me so it is what it is. I hit the wrong function on my Garmin @ the start and let myself get occupied with dialing it in. Soon after the start I turned around and my 30 sec man was closing in. That idea quickly made me find my head space and pull away. Oops.

Evening Criterium- 60 minutes
Bad crash in the women's final delayed our start so they cut our total time down. Made for a fast night, I don't think the speedo went under 47 km hr. I was not interested in a bunch sprint so I jumped away with 1.5 laps to go. Group hesitated, I got a gap and the final Prime with 1 to go and got caught with 400 ft. It was hopeful but coming into the last corner I could sense the train of doom.

Day 3- 145 km Road stage,
Garmin 7400 feet of climbing,

The highlight of the stage was the 3x up the Cat 2- 11 km climb with sustained 6% and some sections tilting briefly to 10%. Bissell had 2 guy’s in the top 3 GC so they rode tempo which worked in my favor cause it meant no attacking on the climb and I could focus on 1 thing, “Surviving”..
1st lap up people were popping off the back and I was able to just hang on over the top. Jerseys zippered up we hit one of the most memorable descents I’ve ever done, we were hitting 90 km hr and I watched a guy get high speed wobbles, front Wheely his bike for about 100 feet, I almost lost the group hammering my brakes to avoid him, just glad he did not eat it, would have been really ugly. .One dude did crash and broke 6 vertabrae/broken ribs, bruised liver. Thankfully No spinal issues so he will be ok in the long run.

The last 5 kms of the decent had about 10 hairpins, I tried not to think about my gluing job on the tubs.
Unfortunately I lost the plot 2nd time up the hill with about 2km to the summit and could not link onto whatever was left of the group for 3rd time up, I settled into a small group and we picked up shrapnel on the run home.
80 starters Pro-1-2, with 52 finishers.
I was 32nd,
fun 3 day’s of just being a bike racer.
Chris

Inversion

2009-01-29T08:36:00.000-08:00

Finally Vancouver is out of the inversion. Lots of cool photos floating around of the city under cloud.

Unfortunately one of my cameras is now a pricey paperweight as I damaged it beyond repair doing a long exposure in damp conditions.

Anyway,

I got the chance to climb Lions Gate Bridge (legally) during the inversion. In the morning the towers were sticking out of the cloud but by the time we made the long climb up the inside they had dropped so we did not have visibility. Would have made for some awesome shots for sure. Here are a few images from my Point and shoot.

Cheers.

Fall/Winter

2008-12-18T22:26:00.000-08:00

I have not updated for ages.. I caught the biking bug back in August and have pretty much been on a mission since. Photography has slowed a little as I started focusing on riding as much as I can before winter drops the hammer. I went into last season feeling like a slug and I vowed not to let that happen again.

Years ago I road raced throughout Canada/Parts of USA and lived in Belgium following the tough amateur circuit hoping to turn pro one day..I had a few results there but not enough to continue with that as a career option so I retired the road bike in 1992 . Over the years I maintained a decent fitness base through expedition racing and mountain biking but really focused on skiing/climbing as a passion.

In 2000 I was hired in the West Vancouver Fire Department and am stoked to have a wicked job in a great area.

Summer 2009 Vancouver is hosting the World Police Fire Games which involves just about every sport under the sun at a very competitive level. This inspired me to start training again and see what level I can get back to in a season. Since August I've been putting on 10-15 hrs a week and with the fitness rising it's like a snowball effect.. Just want more.. It's difficult holding back when the weather has been great for riding and marginal for skiing. So I'll take the bike for now and when the pow fly's it might be the dreaded Nightly indoor trainer missions.

Anyway,

this is just a quick update, hopefully the next one it will be about some epic in the mountains shredding pow.. That bug needs a fix asap !!

Camp DirtBag !!

2008-10-06T08:30:00.000-07:00

This past weekend I joined a crew of 12 misfits and went on a mission up the Hope Princeton Hwy in search of some alpine mountain biking before the snow made it's 1st appearance for the season.

This was my 1st road trip in "The Executive". This unit is a sight to behold.. It's a 1971 RV in fresh off the lot condition.. bought for a song with all the old school amenities you could ask for including the shag carpet. Just wish the 70's fuel costs were included.

Anyway, with RV stocked we picked up a few stragglers along Hwy 1 heading for Hope.. There Might have been a refreshment or 2 stop along the way as we had to ensure hydration for the huge rides planned for the next couple of day's, Not sure how the hydrating was going cause I must have made about 10 trips to the can on the way.

The Executive handled the long grades on the hwy like the veteran it is and before we knew it, arrived at "Camp Dirtbag" close to Manning Park.

The Debauchery had already started as we were the last to arrive but in good form we did our best to contribute to the Dirtbag roots that we all have in us.

Someone came up with the idea for an early start that likely became a bad idea at some point.. because it was quickly forgotten. We let mother nature wake us up with a brilliant day of fall sunshine pounding in the RV. A quick pot of Cowboy coffee to warm the internal engines and remarkably everyone managed to be ready in short order for long day in the saddle. This is the 1st trip I've done in ages where I decided to leave the camera behind. Dave Silver Vancouver Island was with us and he was carrying the goods so I jumped at the chance to travel light.. http://davesilverphoto.com/

So we enjoyed 10 minutes of a flat approach and then the trail tilted up.. For 3hrs... The 1st 2 was middle ring mashing, generally non-tech climbing and as we passed through an incredible burned out Aspen grove ( gotta come back and shoot this both summer and winter) the trail steepened and we quickly got to see who ate their wheaties that morning.

Soon enough everyone was pushing and we were in the alpine among 1500 hundred year old Larch trees that were just changing color.. Once on the summit ridge we were forced to carry on blocky scree and was entirely unrideable. We ditched the bikes and scrambled an amazing peak with 360 view and spread some ashed from Fucker pants Fontaine who passed away 1 year ago on an adventure that went sideways. YaaaFFFer !! love ya brother..

Back down to the bikes, a quick down climb and then one of the most pinner 4000 ft decent I've ever done.. Non tech and super fast with some 90 deg corners that came out of nowhere.. Everyone made the decent with little to no issues somehow..

Back to camp for more hydrating and Dirt BAg bro brahing for the next day's ride which ended up being an out and back up a long climb of similar style to the 1st day..

There is something about a dirt bag crew rat racing for 3000ft of fast decending that puts a perma grin on your face..

This one just might wrap it up for the alpine rides this year..Bring it on Ullr !!

Now everyone back to the office until next weekend..

Out.

Ridge "0" Rama !!

2008-09-17T15:19:00.000-07:00

Went back up to the Chilcoltans of SouthWest B.C this past weekend for some huge miles and outstanding fall weather. This past August it snowed on us up there but not a chance this time.. Light packs (except for mine with camera gear) Sunscreen and Chamois butter were the only thing we needed this go around.. Even the bugs were done for the year.

The day before we left I did a 6hr mish on the bike which definitely haunted me on the 2nd day of this ride. Generally it's 3hr push to the alpine in the Spruce area so there is no hiding if you don't have the legs..I pretended as long as I could, leap frogging from group to group getting shots.. Not easy when you got 3 pros in the group and one freshly retired hockey star "Trevor Linden" showing what they got. Had our share of mechanicals but everyone made it home for cold beers and a giant B-BQ at the cabin.

Anyway, Ridge "O" Rama is a must ride for the scenery.. 3hrs up, 2 hr hike a bike and 5000 ft buff decent is the added reward after straining your neck with the views for so long.

I complety ate shit on the downhill. Tagged a pedal on a stump at high speed.. Not often I hit the deck but this was a gooder., Kinda like getting suplexed by Hulk Hogan to the ground followed by a 30 ft slide into home in baby powder dust on my stomach. What a freaking mess.. Camera gear was all good though.. and a fresh 20hrs on the legs...Yaaaaaaaa/

Lake Lovely Water

2008-09-01T17:10:00.000-07:00

A group of friends went up into the Tantalus Range close to Squamish on this Labour Day long weekend. The range can be seen on your way to Whistler west side of the highway with the dramatic glaciers/gnarly ridge lines and some bad ass ski decents.

We took the jet boat up the Squamish river (Jay is the man !!) to the trail head and after wiping up the brown stains on our shorts from the Jet boat ride we hiked 3 hrs to the alpine meadows for a relaxing lunch and then we spread some ashes from a friend that past away last year in a kayaking accident..(yow, it's almost been a year).

The hike down went by faster than I thought and Jay picked up in the Jet and dropped us off at the Watershed Grill in Brackendale for Pints..

Chow.

Death In the Arctic

2008-08-26T22:03:00.000-07:00

(A little bit dramatized by news but it was the real deal up there..)
This is an expedition I was involved with in Summer 2007. There has been renewed interest in this story with the Canadian Government funding a large expediton to Simpson Strait off of King William Island in the Arctic.

I spent close to 3 weeks up there retracing the steps of the Ill Fated Franlin Expedtion from 1845.

Sir John Franklin set sail from London with 2 boats. 129 men and 5 years of supplies aboard set sail in the dream of finding the North West Passage.. They were never seen again !!!

Years later a story would unfold. Both ships gone, all men lost, was cannibalism the final resort. What happened out there??

The key to the mystery lay inthe shores of King William Island. With their ships, the Erubus and the Terror, locked in the sea ice off the coast of KWI, all crewmen had to abandon ship and cross the ice to the island..

None survived and later rescue parties sent by Franklins wife found signs of cannibalism on remains found on the shores.

We went on an expedition with CBC and Outpost Magazine to try a North to South trek on the route that survivors would likely have taken base on Inuit tales. We went to merely observe and document findings for future organizations. http://www.cbc.ca/sunday/2007/11/111807_1.html

Spruce Lake

2008-08-26T21:36:00.000-07:00

Did an amazing mountain bike trip last week to Spruce lake in South West B.C. Incredible alpine riding, long climbs, upwards of 3hrs, huge ridge lines (we climbed to the summit of the snow dusted peak behind the rider and pushed/pulled and descended an epic 2000m .. Lots of reports of Grizzly encounters, and a little anxiety but we saw no signs of the bruins..

We had all kinds of weather thrown at us.. intense sun, heavy rain and some snow just as we arrived at a trappers shack.. Lit a fire and soon the shack was filled with wet mountain bikers.. arriving 1 at at time..

Soon the sky's cleared and off we went..

A few hrs later we were back at home base cracking beers & Partied down until the bottle of Scotch emerged in the wee hrs finishing my night off and left me in my misery holding the couch down...

BC Bike Race

2008-07-06T21:06:00.000-07:00

This past week I shot the British Columbia Bike Race. http://www.bcbikerace.com/

An epic 7 day mountain bike race from Victoria B.C to Whistler B.C. Some of the best singletrack on the planet was the highlight of the event.

More Later...Here are a few images from the last 4 day's.

If you stumbled onto my blog and raced the event and would like to purchase an image, e-mail your race number to me and I will send you a preview to view.

Cheers,

Chris

chris@christie-images.com

Queen Bess Waddington Range B.C

2008-07-06T20:49:00.001-07:00

Copy and paste the links on your web browser to view http://www.blacksmithadventure.com/

http://www.vimeo.com/1392667?pg=embed&sec=1392667

Early May I had minor surgery that was supposed to put me out for a month.. 4 day's after I was sitting on the couch with an ice pack and I got a call to go up to the Waddington Range of British Columbia and photograph a ski mountaineering project that Jack Hannan and Jon Johnston from Pemberton had been eyeballing.

(Aerial image from this site-- http://www.pbase.com/nolock/qbesschilko )

I called my surgeon to get the worst case scenario if my stitches blew out in this remote region. I likely under stated what I was doing but never-the-less his word was promising that nothing catastrophic was likely to happen so I decided to go. My partner Julie on the other hand just looked at me and shook her head.. Not much sympathy here!!!

I knew I would not be-able to ski but was confident I could climb with my camera bag and get some images of the attempt.

Before I knew it I was standing at the base of Queen Bess after a 8 hr drive from Squamish and a 40 minute Heli flight from Whitesaddle air west of Williams Lake.

The route looked in perfect shape so Jack and Jon did a quick recon on arrival and then prepared for a 3am wakeup to have an attempt on this unskied giant.

I felt like I just fell asleep and my alarm went off.. time to go to work.. I prepped all my camera gear/crampons/ice tools and took some shots before climbing above our camp to get some images of the the boy's climbing the face.

They quickly skinned to the base of the 4000 ft face and started climbing up the sustained apron to the upper headwall. It took about 4hrs of pushing hard in good winter snow conditions considering it was early May. To their disapointment they found rotten snow on unskieable 60 deg blue ice on the upper wall that held amazing spines that was the lure of the route.

Disappointed they safely turned around and shredded the lower face. A perfect case in point to climb objectives to have good understanding of snow conditions. A heli drop on this summit may have had different results.

Safely back at camp Jon and Jack looked for an alternative route and skied off of the ridge south of the main peak. A small consolation prize but a very aesthetic line none the less.

Everyone vowed to return to try again when condition are favorable..

Cheers,

Chris.

(Oh Ya, 3 weeks after the trip I returned to work and " My stitches popped.. I had to go back to emerg....)

Rhapsody and Floyd 1st Ascent WI4+ @ 8 pitches

2008-07-06T13:59:00.000-07:00

Got a call from Bruce Kay the other day to join him on a project he had in the North Joffre area. I'm alway's a little apprehensive when BK calls, an epic is usually on the menu.. He must have been pretty far down his phone list cause I had hardly swung an ice tool on anything steeper than 50 deg in the past 2 years. Anyway, Before I knew it we were heading up the drainage towards the wall and I started to wonder what I had signed up for. The route was waaaaay bigger than he had suggested.

(outlined in Red in image, green route was next weeks epic) The snow ramp to the 1st pitch of ice was steeper than anything I had skied this year. Bruce took off like it was nobody's biddness and 40 feet out with no gear, started to get hammered with spindrift from 1000 feet up.

It lasted about a minute at a time and breathing was super difficult not to mention the ice cream headache from having half the mountain stuffed into your helmet. After some time BK climbed the 1st pitch and I started off.

Stupid hand, buldging calves and screaming barfy's quickly became reality . The route consisted of blue ice, Snice, ( mix of ice and frozen snow) sticks were pretty good with sparse protection.

The cruxes were usually overhanging sugar snow with no gear in sight. A BK speciallty and he is so damn casual about the whole problem. Anyway the route ended up going a 1st ascent at 8 Pitchs, WI4+ with a few mixed rock moves thrown in.. We simu climbed the last 3 pitches with constant heavy spindrift.. I was getting clobbered by his leftovers.. Pretty dry mouthed the whole time. He forgot his headlamp and we topped out at 8pm in the dark not knowing the way down.. Crossed a 400 foot 45 degree hanging hanging slab for more pucker action above our route (Bruce Named it "Fools Traverse, anything but bomber avy condish-- Fergit it !!) and found a fairly easy snow ramp down to the bowl and another 30 minutes to our skis. Images of the climb were shot from the hip as the walls of snow coming down were pretty pant ****ting.and I was already multitasking untangling frozen ropes and dodging bullets... Left the truck at 8 am returned at 10pm. Not bad for 2 chocolate bars and chewing on ice to stay hydrated..

This route is a real gem.. Peeps travel half way round the world to find something like this, and here it is in our back yard.. A steep, committing alpine route with little avalanche hazard other than the approach and the Fools Traverse..

Till next time...