Coast Range- Remote Lines and exploration !

Some names modifed to protect our sensitive areas :) Well shortly after the world survived the Rapture we found ourselves with the arrival of Christmas and getting through the frenzy of those that get in their vehicle 2x a year. A couple of day's after Christmas Jon Johnston, Tobin Seagel, Kye Peterson and myself hatched a plan to leave the craziness behind and head up the Hurley Pass to explore a wild zone known as Dope Creek Spines and Billy Jean Spines. HIgh pressure and growing confidence in the snowpack meant it was time to start stepping onto some of the bigger remote lines . I had been into the Dope Spines in the past but only to shoot stills. I was fired up at the thought of stepping out onto this face and shredding this natural playground. We arrived to perfect bluebird and we all scouted our line of choice from a safe distance. The area reminds me of mini Alaska, multiple spine lines, huge spires, cornices and a fine exposed ridge walk to access the entrances. Once again Jon took charge and smashed in a boot pack that left the rest of us in the dust. I'm constantly thrown off by Jons mellow demeanor! When it comes down to getting things done, he's half finished before you can get your boots done up.

Soon we were all on top in time for the arrival of some low cloud that created some flat light. Jon and Tobin chose a steep face While Kye and I chose a splitter spine that caught my eye on arrival. Jon dropped in 1st while Tobin observed, Soon we saw Jon safely pop out 1500 below so Tobin was next up.. Once Kye and I saw Tobin in a safe zone I watched Kye work the walls of his line choice. It was pretty rad standing above him watching him work his way down because I had just watched his Sherpa's teaser segment "Into The MInd" Soon my turn came up and I chose to share Kyes start and then cross over onto my spine zone. That option alloowed me to bypass a convex roll in the start zone. The snow quality was variable, an upslope wind had pushed the snow down into some variable pockets of low density blower to stiff, supportive slabs. Overall the skiing was good, the position were top notch but certainly not conditions to point the skis fall line. 2nd lap Kye and I eyballed a chute that looked like it might be more protected from the wind. The travel was much faster in our established boot pack but the low ceiling had dropped even more. Kye and I waited on top hoping a window would open up so we could safely drop into the line.,We waited for awhile and observed Jon and Tobin close to our 1st descent. Soon after Kye decided to make a move and drop in, he quickly disappeared over the roll and I anxiously waited to see him skirt out to the rest of the crew. Shortly after I slid into the ping pong ball, white room and simply pointed it fall line and busted out some Wigley turns knowing the chute terminated in the big open bowl below. Snow qualiity was blower, visibility was nil but it really didn't matter. The steep fall line chute had me grinning ear to ear ! We grabbed a quick bite and just as I was thinking the day was over Jon was already looking off to the Billy Jean Spines.. I doubted the weather but he sensed it was going to crack. Before I knew it we were headed in that direction and sure enough, it went blue. It's hard to explain the excitement and mixed anxiety riding big lines in these remote corners. Jon is one of the most experienced big mountain riders on the West Coast so I feel pretty fortunate that I've done numerous trips and gained alot of knowledge in a short time with him. It's also comforting to know that we all have each others back out here and everyone brings some strength to the table. After about an hour skin we find ourselves on the summit of the unnamed peak and Jon is sizing up the entrance. We find a safe entry and I get my 1st look into the objective. The line is complicated with numerous spines, flutes and terrain traps. The 1st 800 feet we can see the obvious line but then it rolls into the steeper unknown. Again Jon gets at it and controls the line to a safe spot. Tobin pops in next and I soon follow.. The pow is blower and I dabble deep off the spine, staring straight down into mega terrain traps. The zone is playful but serious. Soon the 3 of us are together looking back up at Kye who is standing on the higher entrance.. He drops in and fires the main face off like it's his backyard.. super impressive on-sight big mountain skiing. The steeper finish to the Billy Jean spines go off without any drama and soon we are skinning in the dark and making our way back to the Hurley Pass.On the drive back to Pemby we discuss the next day’s mission and some are on the fence due to other commitments but Tobin and I are stoked- I’m amazed as Tobin has been hitting hard coming into this day but he does not hesitate when he mentions a zone he had been researching up in the Meager area. I had been up there a few times over the last couple of years and had some attempts at some projects so I knew whatever he had up his sleeve it would be worthy. I had heard of the zone but the only folks that had any info had only been in there to climb- Beta was --- IT'S BIG !

Next day comes fast and we are sipping some brew at “Mount Currie Coffee” and more or less enjoying the warmth and talking with folks about their adventures. We get a bit of a late start but are organized so the trip in goes off without a hitch. Tobins navigating is spot on and before we know it we are staring up the gut of one of the biggest couloirs I have seen in this range. The travel is pretty fast, Tobin’s stoke is evident by my inability to catch up to him. At times I wonder if I’m just slow or if the added weight of carrying a full camera rig does make that much difference.

As we are ascending my eyes rarely leave the west-facing wall. The sun is pounding off the rock face that holds 2 additional couloirs and shelves of snow. As far as I can tell there is no cornice so that is a relief. After about 2.5 hrs of skinning we come to the choke where we have to decide to continue or bail. We discuss some of the observations and taps on the shoulders the line was giving us and decide to bail on this route and cross over into a zone that had more of a NW aspect. The terrain is super deceiving and huge- WeWe cross some huge paths 1 at time until we arrive on a spine feature that was low angle enough to skin to a large Bench.

We have a quick drink just as the sun drops behind Plynth and we fire our skis on our back and start climbing. I would have given it 45 minutes but once again we are fooled by the scope of the wall and it takes 1.5 hours of hard charging- Tobin was on fire for the last 30 minutes and thankfully we just beat last light as we stepped into our skis. We give a good high 5 and next stop is 4000 grand below. We stop a few times in safe zones on the descent and the snow quality is blower boot top. It takes discipline not to open up into huge GS turns but on this occasion milking the run seemed like the right thing to do.

That night we cooked and brewed some awesome food and shut it down by 10 pm with the idea of getting up early to go back to the original line. We both felt really good about the idea to beat the heat and we had the added bonus of a fresh skin track so it was a no brainer. Alarms were set for 6am so it was a civil hour to get down to business. Good coffee and a few bites saw us off on our skin track and wasn’t long before we got in the groove. 1.5 hrs got us to our previous high point and transition to climbing. I had brought Jons snow ghosts so I knew Tobins payback for trail breaking was about to be redeemed..

Even with the modified crampon snowshoe it took 4.5 hrs to climb the couloir. Tobin wallowed in my path and really suffered in the last 100 feet of rotten snow. Nothing is a given in the big mountains, you have to really want it but not be blind to ambition and risk assessment. The Couloir doglegged so we were a little unsure if we would be faced with cornice- as we gained height we finally got a view of the ridge top and cornice issues were minor in nature.

We had many discussions on the climb. This day sun was not the issue but the wind was redistributing snow. The amounts were not alarming but had to be observed. A few pockets of slab had me anxious but they were short lived, and isolated. When Tobin summated we were ecstatic- we were about to ski a 5 star Coulior.

Tobin dropped in 1st and tested the snow.. I was able to keep an eye on him and the fact he went past the 1st safe zone gave me the feeling his confidence was high in what the conditions were. We leap frogged each other and the line went at almost an even 4000 ft. Definitely a huge feather in the cap and a highlight of the season. Be tough to beat this one !

Main Coulior- 4000ft- 35-45 deg

Happy and Safe adventures in the New Year ! Since I signed up for Facebook I've neglected the Blog ! Well, time to get back on it for some creative updates :) Winter has started off with a bang ! Thankfully the closest we got to the forecasted Mayan Prophecy was choking on neck deep powder through Dec. I’m super excited to announce my new involvement as “Ski Mountaineer/Photographer” with “Mountain Equipment Co-Ops” new Ambassador initiative program known as the MEC Envoy Crew. I’ll join a solid cast of characters who represent in their respective adventure sport to share experiences, inspire, innovate and promote healthy living in the places that we visit. profile coming soon ! Dec has been a busy month, as the snow line dropped, plans were being hatched for ski adventures. We have some great plans for the season, more on that later. The legs are strong from a great season of mountain biking and the transition has been smooth to finding the ski legs. The snow pack has been setting up nicely, early season snow seems to create long-term stability issues but the advisories are indicating there is some strong bridging in the snow pack.

Hopefully this trend continues and we continue to ease onto onto some of the bigger lines that were missed last year. The photography end of things has been going strong. I was guest editor at “Ski Canada Magazine” in the Dec issue. I have numerous images in circulation on the editorial side and have some high profile images on the commercial end of things. Last week I was notified I will be competing in the annual “Deep Winter Photo Challenge” in Whistler. http://deepwinterphoto.com/pro-contest/ 3 day’s of shooting followed by a presentation at the convention centre will surely be one of the highlights of the winter. Stoke and anxiety are a strange mix.. Can’t wait to get at it! I’ve been busy brainstorming a storyline and it’s looking like I have a solid crew to collaborate with on this project. The ability to think out of the box and roll with whatever the environment throws our way is key. It sells out fast so check it ! Stories and adventures to follow shortly Cheers, Chris

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

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 !

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 ??

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

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 !!