Snow Biking! (Nov. 28, 2006)

One of my alltime favorite riding times: Snow Riding! It is usually onlya small window in time that there is enough snow for the riding to really be considered snow biking! In this case we got a dump of about 2 feet of it in a few days. So my dad and I decided to head out to the Woodlot in search of untouched snow covered downhill single track.

Here's Bicyclese, my old man and his truck at the parking lot pre-ride.

There was about 6" of snow down in the p-lot, there were a couple cars there, no doubt others had the same idea as us. I guess with all the rain and wind storms preceding the snow storm the forest had been undergoin some stress. We could see and here the occasional tree cracking apart and crashing through the forest as we made our way up the mountain.

Here we stopped for a rest just below the exit of Goldmine.

As soon as we passed the exit of the Goldmine trail we could see that all the small trees and large bushes were drooped across the trail under the heavy snow, this would take us forever to navigate our way up the mountain pushing through all the branches so we decided head up Goldmine from the bottom then ride back down and continue with Snakes and Ladders.The power lines. Snows gettin deep.

We pushed our way up the trail just past the entrance to "Snakes and Ladders" to find ...untouched snow! Goldmine apparently been to far of a hike for most and was therefore unridden since the snow fall. The snow was particularly deep under the power lines, roughly 2 feet of the stuff. The the droopy snow covered branches made it hard to find where upper Goldmine came out onto the p-lines. After some bushwacking and stumbling through the snow we managed to find the trail again only to have to stop after a few hundred meters due to fallen trees all over the trail. There were too many fallen trees to make the hike worth it, so we decided to stop and suit up for the descent. The loud cracking of trees falling all around us was enough to suited up and get our helmets on as fast as we could when there was a huge cracking and crashing noise. We dropped everything and sprinted for our lives to a small clear area, having no idea where the falling tree was around us. The tree ended up falling right where we were standing. We decided right then and there to get the hell outta there.

Escaped by inches.

We pedalled our way down goldmine in the 8-10 inches of snow (not easy), till we got to Snakes and ladders.

Snakes and Ladders.

Closeup of the sign. Can you read that?

The ladder bridges were fun in the snow, I managed to hit a couple jumps in the snow: the launch off the stump, and the little step down. The bridges on the lower section were sweet, all covered with snow, still had decent traction. And lucky for me no one had attempted the elevated log rides and ladders yet so I had first dibs on them covered with fresh snow. Woohoo!

Dad on the first ladder bridge.

Dad on the lower bridge sections. Doesnt it look fun?

Unfortunately, the photographer's hand was too close to the cold camera and it fogged up, but you can kinda make out me riding down one of the elevated log sections covered in snow.

We ended up finishing the ride with Shotgun, it was a blast sprinting down that trail in the snow! I went a little too fast on the bridge in the clearcut and drifted right off and into the snow. A minute later I was down at the parking lot and loadin up the truck. What an adventure!