MOUNTAIN LIFE - Coast Mountains | Summer 2018

SUMMER 2018 MLCM 65 Not even a week later the smoke had cleared out and we were back. Sitting at the top of my newest new line, counting in my drop, I could feel my heart pounding like a bass drum. But by the time I counted “one,” the pressure had disappeared and I tipped into the line knowing my instincts would take control. There are significant uncertainties running through the brain those first moments of letting gravity take hold, but in that moment, there’s nothing else but pure focus with a shot of adrenaline. The knife ridge drop-in was the scariest part of the line, with huge consequences for even the slightest miscalculation. As I made my way to the toilet bowl entrance to the chute, my braking kicked up moon dust that began swirling in the wind, coming up the line and blinding me. Fully immersed in the white (brown) room, I knew I had to go full commitment and just let go of the brakes in the steepest part of the whole line and truly ride it free. Bouncing down the rut, the acceleration was implausible – as if I’d been shot from a missile tube aimed directly at the river. And the ride was nowhere near finished. The chute opened up and I drifted/flashed across another hardpan section before the deacceleration began. This process takes about 300 metres and requires multiple two-wheel drifts and slashes into the banked-up walls of the main rut as it descends to the river below. At this speed, it was quite possibly the most fun I’ve ever had on a bike. These steep and jagged chutes along the Fraser River change my perspective every time I return to them. The landscape is constantly shape-shifting and considerably unstable. One afternoon I was working at the bottom of one of my lines and a rock careened past my head before I could even sense it coming. It absolutely shook me, because I knew that if it had connected… game over. This style of riding is dangerous, but also exhilarating. Exhausting, but rewarding. And if there’s one thing I try to do every summer on my mountain bike, it’s scare myself. Mission accomplished. It’s taken four years to unlock the potential of this one little area, and I’d like to think there’s a lifetime of lines to find out there. Around the next bend of the river, another mind-numbing brake-burner awaits. "It's like having your hand taped to the throttle.There's no slowing down until it's over." Mason holding death grip through the bottom of a big line. JUSSI GRZNAR