BC Adventure Meter
Our big plan for the day was to load up the sleds with plenty of extra gas and venture way out into the backcountry. We were hoping to find good snow that was untracked and some fresh terrain no one had filmed before. With a plan in hand, sack lunches, snowboards and cameras, it was off to the first checkpoint 30 KM (18.6 miles) up the trailhead.
Once we got to the end of the ‘groomed trail’ where the cabin sits, we refueled, got our bearings in order and made a plan for stopping at checkpoint two. We started the engines, hit the throttle and made our way up the trail…except me. As soon as I hit the gas I heard a ‘not so nice’ noise under my track, which brought the sled to a halt. I climbed off, looked underneath and saw that the rear shock had broken loose and was tweaked back the opposite way preventing the track from moving freely.
Five minutes later my crew radioed in and asked ‘what my 20 was.’ I informed them the sled was toast and I’d have to ‘double up’ with one of them. Now that one sled was out of order, we had to toss out our plan of finding untracked zones because it’s impossible to have two riders on one snowmobile for any great length of time.
With a new situation at hand, we found a zone about five clicks out, spotted a good landing and got started on a booter building party. The hours rolled by, we built a great jump, landed a few tricks, bagged some shots and called it a day.
Once I was back at the sled, we removed the broken shock and started our journey down the mountain. My snowmobile was able to limp home after the parts were removed, so that saved us the giant hassle of towing out some 30 kilometers (18.6 miles). Once back in Squamish, Corey and I dropped the wounded soldier at No Limits and pointed it back to the hotel.
That finished up my two-day stint in BC, now I’m out to Haines, Alaska to hook up with Mads Jonsson and Standard Films. I’ll post some shots ASAP.
Thanks for checking in…Blotto
All photos © Dean Blotto Gray / Blotto Photto 2010
