The Yaar! traverse

Earlier this month, Andy Traslin got some play for climbing both Yak and Nak mountains in the Coquihalla ski area in a day.  We see your Yak - Nak and raise you a Thar.

A few days ago, we considered doing the Nar (Nak - Thar) traverse, but once up there, we wanted to see it from the other side before we skied it.  So yesterday, Ricky and I set out to do laps on Thar to check it out.  This is what we ended up doing

No GPS.  Just great drawing with a mouse.

the Yaaar traverse, or Thar - Nak - Yar.  

There was already a skintrack in between Thar and Nak, but it eventually broke left and contoured around Nak.  We used it to start up Thar and then traversed around the bowl.  

From the back of the bowl.  Nak front right, Yak behind.

After skiing Thar, we returned to the track and took it all the way up Nak.  

Ricky scopes it out.  Nak and Yak from the top of Thar.

The weather wasn't great on top of Nak and there's awesome glades to ski below, so we did a run all the way down off it.  

As we climbed back out, vis improved and we decided to give Yak a shot as well.

The last pitch of Yak.

The climb up Yak is somewhat exposed, but less so if you go all the way to the saddle between Nak and Yak in the trees and then traverse across the face.  That's what we did.  The last 150 m. are steep, but yesterday, snow conditions were good.  That made for fairly straightforward climbing to the summit and great skiing right from the top.

Ricky, from the summit of Yak.

If you're just in it to bag the peaks, you could do it much more efficiently.  But there's great skiing on all three, so it's worth taking a few runs down along the way.

Hey Snowshoes! Step off my track, bro.

Last weekend,  we climbed up Nak at the Coquihalla to ski it.  A few times.  There were also some snowshoers there.  They apparently didn't want to break a trail.  So they used ours, and wrecked it.  So we made another one on the second lap.  Then they came down, used our new one, and wrecked it too.

Besides for safety, there aren't a lot of 'rules' in the backcountry and that's for the better.  I don't like people telling me what to do either.  But that doesn't mean there shouldn't be any etiquette.

The quintessential nature of the backcountry is of self-reliance.  When you go into the backcountry, you should be prepared to take care of yourself, fend for yourself.  That means, be prepared to rescue yourself, get stuck out there by yourself, and to blaze trail for yourself.  Not prepared to do that?  Go somewhere else.  There are resorts, lodges, guides, and trails that cater to exactly those folks.

These were those folks - for all intents and purposes, lost without the skintrack and not going very far if they had to do it for themselves anyway.

Now, I realize that someone else's trail is often the path of least resistance and, if it's there, I use it too.  But skintracks and snowshoeing trails are two different animals - one is for skiing; one is for walking.  I'm not going to ski all over your trail, and you shouldn't walk all over my track.  I also won't cut any overhead slopes on you or spray you in the face with blower pow.  Deal?

There's plenty of room in the backcountry to go around.

Dudeman, where's my car?

Vancouver won a prestigious award this week:

#2 in traffic!

The obvious solution is the triplet the Port Mann.

Or, people should just live closer to where they work.  If you work in Vancouver, live there.  If you live in Abbotsford and you're going to get in your car at 6 AM, it better be to the Coquihalla.  There is never a traffic jam heading east.  Ever.

The dudeman doesn't commute.  Rule number 8, or whatever rule we're on.

But the dudeman does need a car.  He's going places, just not to work.

I present three fully capable options.

The Classic Tercel wagon

Conquering the Mt. Cheam fire road.

It's four-wheel drive, it's got loads of space, and it's cheap.  This car will tackle anything, at speeds up to 80 km per hour.

The hail-damaged insurance write-off

It's ruined.

This can be any car, per se.  The important thing is that, although there's nothing actually wrong with it, it has no value.  Hence, there can be no further objections to racking up tons of miles and taking it places you probably shouldn't.

This Pathfinder

Dudeman makes a compelling case, which requires no further elaboration.  Unless you're this guy, he's not going to sell it to you.

When will flipflops be 'in-season' again?

My flipflops are slowly biting the dust.

This is their third duct-taping.  Initially, I didn't have time to go out and get new ones - I was on my way to Rossland for the Dudeman Games - and now it's apparently too late.  I don't think it should be too late.  

I wear flipflops year-round.  I don't think you have a very good life if you don't.

What's in the bag?

I fielded two questions recently which prompt this post.

1.  What luxury items do you take hiking?

2.  What's the #1 accessory I should get for my bike?

The answers...

1. and 2. None.

That's not to say you shouldn't take anything with you - you should take what you need.  If you take more than that, you're just weighing yourself down and you'll have less fun.  

This morning, I went for a run along the river pathway in town.  Being a Sunday morning, there are tons of 'serious' runners out on their long runs, and they are typically loaded down.  They have hats.  They have sunglasses.  They have ipods.  They have belts holstering half a dozen tiny waterbottles.  They almost always start overdressed, so they are also carrying jackets and gloves, etc... they have taken off.  Sometimes, they have gels taped to themselves.  They are on a path in the middle of the day and they are covered in reflective taping.  They mostly look miserable, as if they are engaged in some chore.  (Guess what?  No one, and I mean no one, needs to run.  And, for that matter, almost no one is going to accomplish anything running either...  that's a topic for another day.)

I've run around the reservoir from my house, which is about 38 km, a few times with half a (regular) waterbottle.  So I think that's what you need.

When I go into the mountains, and there is any potential to spend a night out (lost, injured, or with complete equipment failure), I think I should be prepared for that and so I take this:

(You should also bring a buddy.)

Granted, a night out with a space blanket, a lighter, and little food would be uncomfortable, but I would certainly survive (and I'm willing to prove it).  I would rather be uncomfortable in the unlikely circumstance of spending a night out than the rest of the time, saddled with a bunch of extra stuff.

I also take tools and materials to fix a flat and a chain, and make minor adjustments, if I ride my bike.  Those are likely circumstances (I got 8 flats in one day last month) and you should be prepared for those too.  I'd rather spend 5 minutes fixing something and carry a few extra ounces than spend a few hours hike-a-biking a few times a year.

Obviously, your individual preferences may vary, but for the most part, I just don't think most people are even thinking about what they actually need.

Would the real DudeMan please stand up?

I'll never forget the moments after team "the full dudemen" won the RedBull Divide and Conquer. All the racers were hanging out at the RedBull tent and over the megaphone we heard 'would the full dude man please come up to the stage'.  This was a call for our team to come to the stage; however, there was like 5 or 6 other guys who also walked up to the stage.  They of course were thinking, 'Hey, I'm a full dude man'. So this brings up the question who and what makes a dude man a dude man? I'll try and fill you in with 8 simple rules and attitudes that can make you a dude man.

1-Dude Man is the master of all, and jack of none.  This comes from the phrase 'jack of all trades, master of none'. So basically dude man is just good at everything he touches.  He is oozing with talent in everything he does. He can try wind surfing on a whim and just slay it.  Dude man is kinda like Chuck Norris.

2- Dude Man don't care.  Dude Man is like the honey badger:

He just don't care.  It's pissing rain? Dude Man don't care.  We have to sleep in car?  Dude Man don't care.  

Dude Man sleeps with sunglasses on.

You wanna drive 8 hours both ways to do a 4 hour bike ride?  Dude Man don't care.  You wanna have cereal for dinner? Dude Man don't care. You shovel chicken shit for a living?  Dude Man don't care.  You haven't had a shower in 2 weeks? Dude Man don't care.

3-Dude Man is on a full-dairy, full-meat, full-gluten diet.  

Clean your plate, son.

He does't show up at a dinner party and say 'Oh, I'm vegan and I won't eat that rare bloody steak.  Oh, does that beer have gluten in it?  I can't drink that.  Ice cream gives me gas.'  Dude man!  If ice cream gives you gas, that's sweet.  Your own brand is not so bad.  Dude Man just eats everything and doesn't complain about it.

4-Dude Man gets shit done.  It might not always be pretty, but it always gets done.   Dude Man is persistent.  

When there is a tree across the road, you just build a new road around it.    

New road.

You break your chain?  You have a chain tool and you know how to use it.   Skins not sticking?  You duct-tape them on.  Dude Man can suck it up.

You need to go from Liptovsky to Prague in a compact when a few dudes, a few boats, and a bike?  No problem.

5-Dude Man does not play games. That means no sucking up to the fire chief to get that napping and bbq job. No whoring yourself out to the industry to get a free set of tires.  Dude Man tells it like it is and bends over at the cash register if need be.  However, Dude Man does everything in his power to avoid paying retail.

6-Dude Man is not a punter.  When it's 4th down, Dude Man sends out Peyton Manning and goes long. He doesn't send out the kicker and just give the ball away.  When there is a river-wide hole the size of China,  Dude Man boofs it like a champ and maybe gets pitted, so pitted.  

Or if there is a sick booter into a blower pillow line, Dude Man just goes for the back flip and maybe ends up doing a lawn dart.   Or he sticks it.  It's all cool dawg.

Full lawn dart.

7-Dude Man doesn't always race, but when he does, he races to win.  Half-ass is not in Dude Man's vocabulary.  It's full win-or-hospital.  Either you don't care to compare yourself to other people, or you're going to crush their balls.  

Dylan Wolsky, of The Nomads, leaving it all on the trail.

8-Dude man is not a dick swinger.  A dick swinger is someone who has something that's not really needed but you want to show others how big your dick really is.  Like they guy driving his lifted Dodge Cummins diesel truck down Robson Street with 2 sleds in the back.  He revs his engine saying check out my dick, its huge! Or the guy who lives in a 6000 sq ft house with a 4-car garage.  Maybe he needs the 4th garage to make his house into a massive dick?  Dude Man doesn't need to swing his dick.  When it comes down to it, we are all really just mid-pack in the rat race, and there is no need to swing your dick around, except as a joke.

Are you a full dude man?

'You have to be a certain kind of dude...'

A dudeman emerges at the Olympics

I can't say enough about Vavra Hradilek's performance in the Olympic qualifer on Sunday morning.  Here's the play-by-play:

For his first run, he arrived at the start just a few seconds before he was scheduled to start, coming off the conveyor and directly onto the course.  He made a small mistake right away, in the first offset, then settled in, and was very solid all the way down on a run where everyone looked a little bit lame.  It was good enough for second.  He gave the brown claw at the finish.

So brown.

What the hell does that mean?  Here's some required reading.

Gold, Silver, Bronze, and Brown

The story of the brown claw

On his second run, he arrived at the start pool early and looked bored as he bided his time.   Then he absolutely smashed the course - he did a crossbow in a move that caused most of the women to spin yesterday - beating all of the first run times even after floating for ~5 seconds to the finish.  Hannes Aigner was more serious, went similarly well, and won the day.  

Bold.

Watch the runs here:


http://www.ctvolympics.ca/videos/channel/obs1/watch/slalom-heats.html

The kayaks have stepped up their game this year, in particular the young Germans, French, and Czechs.  Kauzer and Molmenti look flat by comparison and could easily end up outside the medals, despite having dominated in the last quad.


In other Olympic news, an expected showdown between Martikan and Estanguet lived up to its promise this morning.  Martikan went gold, silver, silver, gold at the last four; Estanguet won the other two.  No one makes it look better.  They are the best of a generation, if not all time, at any discipline.  


Estanguet took it.  Here's his last run (probably his last ever):  


Estanguet in the final, en francais.

The kayaks are only going to find 2-3 seconds on that tomorrow.


The German, Sideris, was just as good and was second, in maybe one of the best races of all time.

Gates at the weir, climbing, and riding bikes all the while

What's happening?  I've been in the mountains a lot.  

Last, last Saturday I went to Lake Louise with Vinnie and Jas and they made me climb up some rocks.  Lake Louise is beautiful and nowhere else can you climb in front of as many Japanese tourists.  I have to agree with Ricky here, though - climbing makes you feel like this.  It's worst if you don't really know what to do with your feet and invariably end up doing an endless series of pull-ups with your fingertips.  This is what I do.  Vinnie is getting good.  Jas walks up climbs that make lesser dudes sound like this - 

Here's Vin, on the hardest route he tried -  

On Sunday, Jas, Vin, Liza, and I put in a big day in k-country.  We started at Barrier, rode the Prairie View / Jewel Pass loop, had a snack at the car, then rode Baldy Pass.  

Baldy is one of my all-time favorites.  No one ever goes there.  It starts with a long climb, then a bomb back to the road.  The first part of the descent is loose, then it's bouldery and technical, then, about halfway down, you can just let go of the brakes and send it.  I got the hole shot and led it out.

Prairie View. 

Mike got permission to put temporary gates up at the weir on Tuesday and everyone went out to paddle for at least a few hours.  A bunch of media people showed up (and not in the usual way, which is to do a story about drowning). 

So good!  Gates at the weir.

If there were permanent gates at the weir, I don't think I'd do much else in the summer.  It's fast, it has good features, and it's right by my house.  The current plan (pending approval) is to put up at least some in the fall.  

Last weekend, I volunteered to do a few laps at 24 Hours of Adrenalin for a team Shane from Ascent Physiotherapy in Canmore put together.  

Dude, those tents are done.

Apparently, a storm blew through CNC on Friday night.  There were huge piles of mangled pop-up tent frames everywhere on Saturday morning and they had to delay the start as they set everything up again.

Mountain bike sprawl, redux.

Once it was going, it was good.  I rode five laps, a little faster than an hour during the day and a little slower at night.  I went for it on the second lap, burned out with a climb to go and lost back any time I gained.  Full coma at the finish line.  After that, I did a better job of pacing, went just as fast, and had way more fun on the course.  That solves that problem...

Everyone on the team - Liza, Shane, Grant, Erdem - was solid and we ended up on the podium.  It was Erdem's first race podium and he was elated.  Super fun!

Running the downtown brown

Let me start by acknowledging that Calgary is a cultural backwater that equates urban planning with more suburbs! and that is cold 8-9 months of the year.


But, BUT!


I live in Inglewood, which was originally downtown Calgary and is on the Bow and Elbow Rivers.  I can ride my bike to work in 10 minutes without crossing a road.  I can paddle to work in 30 minutes (and home in 10).  It's being rapidly gentrified, which means there are lots of home renos happening and new shops and restaurants popping up all the time.  Further, the city has decided that its new wealthy residents require things like stoplights, re-paved bike paths, regular lawn-mowing of the parks, etc... which former residents lived without for decades.

Paddle to work.

It's also home to the weir, now known as Harvie Passage.  The weir used to be a drowning machine, but, over the last few years, they've backfilled behind it and made a whitewater park.  

Harvie Passage, the new weir and my backyard

The last month has brought high water to the Bow in Calgary, so I've been paddling there a lot.  The usual routine is to drive down and run home, then paddle down and go surfing.  Maya swims down to the site, then I ferry her out to the island, which has no other access and serves as a self-declared one-dog off-leash park.


From the picture above, you can see there are two channels.  The river-right (and photo-left) channel has small, flushy drops and big pools between them.  It's great for slalom and for learning to paddle and, at current flows, it has a few really good play features where you can do tricks like this.

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=943447338015

There is a pretty big crew out on most weeknights now.

The river-left channel has great surfing waves in the first two drops.  The third drop is not very friendly, especially at high water.  I've run it occasionally in the last month, cleanly until the last time...  

Jon Allen and Jazmyne Denhollander came out a few weeks ago, on their way to Junior Worlds in Wausau, and I offered up a tour of the new site and floorspace to crash on.  Jon and I took a good look at the last drop and I decided to run it.  I ran over a boil on my approach and lost some, speed and when I hit the hole, I stopped like I hit a brick wall.  I cartwheeled fruitlessly for a minute and eventually got out the wet way.  Scheisse.  

The obligatory bootie shoot.

We are all between swims.

Unbeknownst to us, a rafter drowned in the same hole a few hours prior.  As a result, we got some not-so-positive press.

Jon makes the news.

I don't want to rant about this, but use your head.  Water is dangerous.  By dangerous, I mean it can kill you.  In a bathtub or a swimming pool even.  So, before you go swimming, you should learn how to swim.  Don't try to swim across the lake on the same day as the first time you get your toes wet.

The same goes for paddling whitewater and for everything else.  


If your first experience is this

you're liable to break your back.

Dude Man Lube.

Now I've spent a ton of my life riding bikes and one thing that always boggled my mind was the price of chain oil.  A shop will charge like 8-10 dollars for a tiny bottle of this bike-specific lube.  Now I drive a beaut of a car that I have to put oil in from time to time.  So, when I ran out of the real bike lube, I decided to put some motor oil on my bike chain, and it worked just as good, if not better.  Plus it costs like $5 for a liter.  And cheaper just means you have to work less and play more, and that's really what we all want.  Thank you Pennzoil for making such a great product.  A liter of this stuff will last you forever.  Boss!  Dude man don't care.

Summer Time

Well its been a busy last month with a lot going on but not really. so here is some photos from the good times.

After the Red Bull Divide and Conquer Toby stayed for a bit. We wanted to get in some spring skiing it was good but not ideal. on the monday we went for Mt Cheam in Chilliwack and we ended up doing more road building then skiing but what can you do, "if the road ahead is not paved you need to build a new one" and we did thanks to our G3 shovels. My car is the bomb by the way, we drove her right to the snow line.

I'm a pro at shoveling chicken poo and I was very surprised at how well my chicken poo shoveling fitness transferred over.

This is the chute down to spoon lake, great vis, happy June.

Wednesday the sky opened up and we got a great weather window to ski Mt Baker.  Early start and lots of Crowsnest Coffee Company brew were very much needed.

We had to hike for about 45min up the Heliotrope trail but then we hit the goods.

We made it to 9200ft then the wind gusts turned for the worst and we chose to turn around and slay some corn. Awesome day.

Then Melanie and I went to Hood River Oregon to hit up outlet mall and get our shop on......... We shopped for epic singletrack, and we got the goods for sure. Post Canyon is an unreal place to ride, really nice buff trails and tons of flow, there was also a ton of gap huck your meat or what ever you want, oh the good times.

Melanie sporting her Nimby 50 race winners jersey. with the epic view of mt Hood in the background. I think hood river is a very cool place, you could set up shop and do some awesome spring skiing, hood, Adams, and St Helens are all within sight. Crazy.

I Like.

Then last weekend Melanie, Etsell, and I went for the baker again. It way the first sunny weekend in a while and we counted over 50people to reached the summit. We did not. The wind was once again kinda crazy at 9200 and its just not fun, I hate the wind. Im out! so we just skied down and loved life.

Etsell with one of the massive groups going down.

Melanie getting her sun burn on. It was so bright up there, I wore sun glasses and still my eyes were burning.

this is about where we turned around. so cool.

the dream.

One by ten

I haven't used my big chainring yet this year.  And, now that I think about it, I haven't used my little one either.  So, today, I took them off.

One degree of freedom

It's better because it's simpler and cleaner, it's lighter, and it gives you more clearance.  It takes half an hour and it's free.
  
Both of the fastest bike riders I know (and all-around full dudemen) Ricky Federau and Neal Kindree, have been set up this way for quite a while now.  Neal crushed everyone at the Test a few weeks ago and Ricky can tango with the professionals and he's a professional chicken farmer.  That's not to say it's faster - Ricky and Neal (and not their bikes) are faster - but it is sufficient to say it isn't slower.


And there's no downside.  If you're going fast enough to use your big ring, you're probably coasting.  If you're going slow enough to use your little ring, you might as well walk.  


If you use your little ring all the time, I suggest taking up nordic walking or STOP READING RIGHT NOW and just go ride your bike.  Riding your bike will solve all of your bike-related problems and likely some other ones too.


On the other hand, if you don't use it, you don't need it and you'll be better off without.

http://vimeo.com/44021291

Spring skiing: Mt. Cheam and Mt. Baker

After our big victory, we gave a few interviews, waited for the stragglers to come in, collected our winnings, then binge-drank RedBull until we had happy feet.  This last part took all of 10 minutes and then we passed out.  Ricky's stupor lasted for a full day.  Not to worry - this is how races often end for him. 

Back in Abbotsford on Monday, we stared out at the rain and pondered what to do next with our lives...  

Rain makes the river brown

Brown

and so we loaded up some boats and headed for the Chilliwack River with Jazmyne and Ian.  Our film crew posted at Tamihi and I expect a 'sick edit' of our run any day now.  We went to Peggi's for donairs, drove back to the farm, traded boats for bikes, and shredded Mt. Sumas until the wee hours.  


Then I crushed Jon and Ricky at Settler's.

Getting crushed.

On Tuesday, Abbotsford was socked in.  We thought we might be able to get above it and decided to ski Mt. Cheam.  Low down, we encountered a tree across the road and had to build a new road around it.

When you get to the end of the road, get out a shovel.

Above that, the fully-capable Tercel tackled water bars like a champ and we drove right to the snow line.  An hour and a half later, we were at the saddle between Mt. Cheam and Lady Peak, still entirely in the clouds and not going anywhere.  

Look!  Mt. Cheam

We waited for a while, but eventually turned around and skied back to the car.

On Wednesday, we woke up and saw this

'Blueing!  Blue On!'  Mt. Baker

and decided an attempt on Baker was in order.  In the car by 6, boot packing from the trailhead by 7:30.  It stayed full bluebird all morning and we made swift progress.  Late in the morning, we were on the Roman Wall, a few hundred meters from the top.  

On to the Roman Wall

Once on the ridge, the snow turned to ice and it was blowing gale-force.  Sketch ball.  We turned it around, for the second day in a row, but got a fantastic ski all the way down.  

Ricky, shredding it

Three full days of fun.