MOUNTAIN LIFE - Coast Mountains | Summer 2018

SUMMER 2018 MLCM 57 I was 12 years old the first time I popped a Kranked VHS tape into the VCR at the bike shop and saw those guys ripping huge lines, I knew big mountain riding was the thing for me. As a young shop rat, clogging up floor space and bartering to fix flat tires in exchange for new parts, I had no idea that a year later I would be sitting atop the same Kamloops gravel pit I saw in the movie, taking in advice from the mechanic on how to safely navigate my way to the bottom. As a 13-year-old kid/mountain biker, riding those lines was pure exhilaration. That pit and those rides would have an indelible influence on the mountain biker I would later become and the places I’d journey to ride… I’m still chasing that feeling. Fast-forward almost 16 years, and into the front seat of Rory Bushfield’s Cessna airplane. Flying towards the interior of BC, I convinced him to detour us through the canyons of the Fraser River. As we swooped around mountains and between walls of the canyon, my eyes traced the plateaus and embankments searching for anything that resembled a rideable line. I was looking for the lacustrine deposits that produce the steepest erosional patterns, knowing this was where the best potential would be. Scanning hundreds of kilometres of river, we were about to peel away from the Fraser when I saw the zone. I snapped a few images and upon returning home, tried to figure out if there was any feasible way to get there. Turns out there was, but after that initial drop dumped me straight in the river, plans were made to return the following summer. KC Deane off the top. MASON MASHON