MOUNTAIN LIFE - Coast Mountains | Fall / Winter 2017

FALL/WINTER 2017 MLCM 119 words :: Cassidy Randall photography :: Bruno Long They call it the Lunchbox. It’s a one-of-a-kind trailer designed to be towed behind a snowcat. It holds four sit-skiers and is about to embark on its inaugural test run in British Columbia’s Monashee range. Made of aluminum siding with open-air windows, a tailgate, and a windshield to protect from snow kicked-up by the cat, the Lunchbox looks like a teardrop trailer on steroids—with sled skis instead of wheels. It was constructed in Revelstoke, and the builder has sworn all involved to secrecy for fear of being commissioned to build another one. Logos from local and international sponsors grace the bright green wrap, but today the most important thing is how it performs. “The only weight we’ve ever put in it is one empty sit-ski. What could possibly go wrong?” quips Jeff Scott, his bright blue eyes crinkling with his easy smile. Scott is the visionary behind the Lunchbox. He possesses that unique combination of vision and a taste for extreme adventure that marks outdoor pioneers. On the last day of the 2010 ski season, he came across a roller gap he’d been eyeing and thought, if I don’t hit it now, I’ll have to wait until next year. The crash rendered him a C5-6 quadriplegic—Scott has no feeling below his collarbones and while he has strong biceps, he has no triceps feeling and limited hand movement. Scott first tried sit-skiing nineteen months after his accident. In 2014, he took the helm of the Live It Love It Foundation, an organization promoting the progression of adaptive adventure and providing recreation opportunities for the disabled. Now, seven years after his accident, he’s about to spark a revolution for backcountry sit-skiing—if the Lunchbox works. Any backcountry skier or rider will attest that turns outside the ropes are different, and they’re addicting. Resort snow is subject to skier compaction and can’t compare with the bottomless powder of the backcountry, and combined with the feelings of adventure and solitude, it’s a magic formula that ever-increasing numbers of skiers are seeking out. Without touring/skinning access options, sit-skiers like Scott rely on snowcats and helicopters, but the transfer from machine to sit-ski and back again is exhausting and trades-in valuable time that could be spent taking turns. But the biggest problem with the typical scenario? There’s usually only one sit-skier. “When you’re one person out in a wheelchair, a lot of attention and energy gets focused on you. Having a crew of sit-skiers adds some normalcy to the adventure,” Scott says. Enter the Lunchbox and a dream team of athletes Scott assembled to help him test the trailer on its maiden run: Josh Dueck, famed Paralympian and Jeff Scott’s Breakthrough in Adaptive Backcountry Access The Party Pow Bus BACK YARD Josh Dueck at the bus stop.