Pacific Northwest Living

Black Diamond Freeride Park POV July 24th, 2011

2011-07-27T22:17:00.000-07:00

Weekday ride spot right behind my house. Finally cleared the 30 ft double after dialing iun the landing, but forgot to turn the Headcam on. Pretty much completly built with shovels and lots of good bros.

Two to Seven My Edit on an early GoPro POV 720 standard def

2011-07-24T21:01:00.000-07:00

Pretty straight forward stuff, first time on Oregon for me. Didn't hit the rock drop today without an evacuation team on standyby but, will be back.

The lighting was early morning....... so not the best with the lighting

All the speed is realtime, except for the few slowmotion shots of small features in the trail. I slowed them down to enhance the video, but the quality didn't do much for the editing

Longboarding Action

2011-07-23T01:10:00.001-07:00

This video kills it. Not much longboarding anymore for me, but watching this is candy to the eyez.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkviQ41u0eQ&feature=player_detailpage

Early Stobel edit from Washington

2011-07-23T00:39:00.000-07:00

Prior to Evil signing

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORM_besIFSw&feature=player_detailpage

PA till ya die

2011-07-23T00:32:00.000-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lEAUZ5rE74&feature=player_detailpage

Stomping Grounds 38 SPECIAL

2011-07-23T00:22:00.000-07:00

A day in the life Luke Strobel. Local Washington Pro edit shredding my favorite trails

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhVqqlKhR6E&feature=player_detailpage

Proper DH Northfork Style

2011-07-23T00:08:00.000-07:00

Storble and some pros killin it

Crystal Mountain HeadCam

2011-01-04T21:09:00.000-08:00

Pow day captured on Go Pro by Kevin Kay. Good times at Crystal Mountain.

Danny MacAskil Ladies and Gentlemen

2010-11-16T21:10:00.000-08:00

Spare Rib

2010-10-23T00:52:00.000-07:00

The only proper way to justify even watching this video is to go ride it. Find someone to take you, and the the journey will be etched into the hull of your memory, never to be forgotten. These images can't come close to providing a glimpse into the feeling of straddling knife edge ridges, scouring rock walls, and simply burning your rotors to a pulp. Find satisfaction that the builders would like nothing more than to see you ride and help maintain what they created.

Spare Ribs from Nate Spencer on Vimeo.

Christoff Session with A Soul Brother

2010-10-22T21:48:00.000-07:00

This hidden gem is about an our from my house and brings some of the fastest DH racers in the State for several laps in a day. Some major vertical, serious exposure, and a one double, highlight the singletrack. Enjoy as much as we do, someday the road may be closed, permanently.

X-Off from Nate Spencer on Vimeo.

Taste the "Cheese"

2010-09-06T21:05:00.000-07:00

Some mountain biking is just down right ridicilous. The "cheese" happens to be one of those places. Fast, neverending single track with moto whoops that constantly throws your elbows above your head. When Western Washington dries up and takes on marble-like riding conditions, heading East is a good bet. Though several routes are available for shuttle West Quartz Creek Trail is among the best. Begging Fat tire fanatics to go faster, the constant grade and super huge moto whoops are all you need to keep grinning from ear to ear. The Eastern Washington riding tolerates mid summer heat waves and sustains rideable conditions when Western Washington is simply deralict. Enjoy this short segment for your viewing pleasure.

"If you don't ride it this year, you'll be one year older when you do"

2010-07-17T00:01:00.000-07:00

Rode the CAT II course and wished for a lighter setup on the Sunday. I still managed a bike-whip to my head at speed in a 90 degree, 45 degree, root turn. Finished 5th in the 30-39 class with a crash above the tree line after the cross-country section with the rock bridge incline, WOW! What a sweet track, but I was spent from riding The Glade, and then coming home in the dark on the Bridal Vail Trail to Camp Kiwanas Rd., on Friday. Saturday practiced the CAT II track and it was all I could take.

The Pro course will need some scouting and practice, no doubt. Seems to be one of the more technical DH courses due to speed on the upper portion, steeps, rocks, drops, ledges, and a nice log step-down to round things out. Here in the Pacific NW things don't get much better as you'll see in the vid

"Ride The Track" | Fluidride Cup #1, #2, #4| PRO Course |Mt. Hood, OR from Fluidride on Vimeo.

Making it look easy

2010-07-16T23:56:00.000-07:00

Paul Stevens from Taylor Loughran on Vimeo.

Chili Dog Trail

2010-06-01T22:04:00.000-07:00

Riding the Sunday on this day made me faster, forever.

The ability video has to capture small nuances of style and uncover hints of deprivation in technique, are what make the exercise of strapping a helmet-cam to your head worthwhile.

Mount Tahoma BC Trip

2009-03-03T22:22:00.000-08:00

So we're back, living the good life after a hard couple months in the Seattle rat race. Since November's grand climax in OIL prices the economic climate is a complete disaster and the future looks bleak to say the least. Now on to the fun stuff.......
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Leaving Maple Valley headed to a little known town called Ashford, WA, it took about 2 hours from Maple Valley, WA. The crew consisted of Sam Tee ELL leading the pack, Luke hukster Spencer carrying the load, Mad Mike on tele' rippin it up, and Lisa Sunshine going big with the snowboard and snow shoes@! They all had it going on and I knew when I arrived in Morton I was in for a wrecking mission. We left Morton and headed North finally crossing the Nisqually River into the small town of La Grande for a drive by for a couple pic's, and were off to the mountain to start our climb to High Hut. The drive was secluded with thick, lush forest as we passed through at least 5 open gates. Found out last night at the local watering hole DNR is progressing this trail sytem to summer mountain biking by getting locals to build with help from the ski patrollers! I am completey stoked to hear, and I hope more people join the work crews. Be careful the NW Forest Pass does not work for Sno-Park's in the winter in OR/WA and the ticket is $81 bucks! We all got our gear on ready to rock and quickly realized we might be in for more than we bargained. The entire trail as far as we could see was almost all dirt and we were there to skin up from 2,360 ft. to 4,760 ft. strarting from the 1 Rd. Snow Park.

With 3.87 miles to go our pessimism quickly turned into delight as we passed the snowcats sitting on top of fresh groomed trail just after the last closed gate. These trails are maintained by MTTA, the largest NO FEE hut to hut system in North America. The climb was dampened by a slow NW drizzle as we passed cross country skiers with huge grins flying past us as we made our way up to the top. As we approached the hut we realized the terrain was superb and finding fresh lines would be left exclusively to our touring group. The hut was sick and provided all the amenities of city living. Powered by 3 solar panels and a propane stove we found hanging out easy to do.
The first day of ski touring prooved to be incredible, and we were able to ski some amazing slopes with good stability. Luke is on the right grabbing some standard issue NW concrete and Mad Mike is nailing the tele turns fall line in the pic to the right. After several short 700 ft. vertical shots far left down the arm off the backside towards Anderson Lake we headed to the hut for some much deserved refueling. Thats when anticipation of the snow storm that was brewing became lucid dreams of POW shots that were fully realized over the next several days. Since, we were there to rip turns and get face shots we headed to the Outhouse Gully skiers left right off the backside and were greated with unsure snow pack and steep terrain. Mike went first down the right, tighter gully and came out at the bottom. Both Sam and I were hanging out skiers left in a steeper, wider shot fronted by a rollover that was cause for concern. Sam ski cut directly under the rollover and produced a massive slide 12" deep. Luckily for Mike he had moved out of the way as the avalanche rolled through tight trees, over into the next canyon, and blewup at the bottom of the face like a Tsunami on a beach. The pic below is Mike standing midway in the slide zone just before it rolled through the two trees and rolled right into the next canyon before blasting to the bottom clearing everything in its path.With little hesitation we made our way directly back to the hut reliving the slide that with one downhill turn, could have ended in a very different way. The fracture was as wide as the zone we were about to ski and carried tons of snow through terrain traps and down almost 1,000 vetical ft. The low angle slopes were now our future and we were glad to be there. The next day was epic dropping off to skiers right of the front porch and utilizing the groomed back trail to gain quicker access back to the top. This, in conjunction with the Ben Jones Trail made for great descents and lapping the system got us into killer tree skiing that rivaled anywhere. Another storm approached and we called it to break trail back to the hut. Below are some pics that deliver on capturing the elements taking their toll. The snow pack had most likely become more unstable, but I would not find cause I was headed to Mt. Hood and then Mt. Bachelor to continue my powder fest March 09'! Some parting shots as we loaded up our gear and drowned in another freshly fallen 12" or more of stone cold blower. A trip I sonn will not forget and great times, with even better people to share it with.

Thanks to my bro for taking the time to keep keep me informed of opportunities like this that hopefully wont be once in a lifetime! The trek home was a true realization that our time was up and we had to head back to civilization, which now would be much easier to deal with than the pounding storms that punish the mountains in this region every winter.

Couldn't have planned a better trip myself, can't wait until next time. Keep the tips up and pitches steep, 'cause we gonna party until the next turn and you'll have to ski over my tracks if you want to find freshies.

Snow at Devils Gulch

2008-11-11T22:12:00.000-08:00

November 9Th provided yet another fantastic adventure here in the Northwest. Shuttling down the Mission Ridge Trail outside the town of Cashmere, WA was epic with the Black Diamond Crew(less one Andy Knott out with a broken scapula for 6 months). Last weekend at 4,400 ft. there was 4-6" on the ground even after 2 miles of trail riding. The dirt bike riders had already cut the trail so staying in the ruts was a must. 1/4 mile down the trail I floated through some POW straight into a tree causing a major lower Fibula hematoma I won't soon forget, and Benjamin Jelinek slammed into me from behind. So the day started with carnage as usual and after several miles of trail riding the snow gave way to superb single track only found in the Devils Gulch area. The fact that we were in full armor, on downhill bikes, riding a shuttled cross country trail didn't deter the two young bloods and their Dad, Pete, in the group from kicking me off the cliff. 3hrs after leaving the car at the trail head, several miles of riding in the snow, a couple near misses down the canyon, and some blazing single track, we called it a day and made the 2.5 hr trip back to Black Diamond. No one will ever let me lead a trail ride again, except until we ride the Cooker.....