short edit from this past saturday with my new gopro. Rode heavenly with Gabe (gunmtl), Steve (sr20steve), Ben (mt.sti) and Sam.

 

Nice Rob! I love that pole cam action. Good times!

 

New bindings Ben?


The mountains around Bear Valley, does anyone know how access to those work? Is something anyone can hike/snowmobile up and ride?

 

Yeah man definitely good times. Steve is trying to plan out another trip around the first of april (that weekend I guess). You gonna be around?

 

It really is a rush, the track at Sun Peaks is one of the shorter ones on the World Cup tour, its only 225m vertical (about 740 ft) with a length of 650m (2132 ft).

and it has 3 distinct pitch sections, the first is pretty gentle, the second is a bit steeper and the last portion through the timing trap is on par with most steeper "black diamond" rated runs at the bigger Tahoe resorts.

The helmet camera shot was Friday's first run, 9 out of 18 competitors in the production class were quicker than my 124.38km/h from that start location with the fastest being Italian Stefano Bar who did 127.92.

We got two runs from the top on Friday, but only one of them was scored for the World Cup and I hit 152.5km/h on that which was good for 8th place.

The last run Friday was considered Practice and it was my fast run of the weekend at 153.4 I think...

On Saturday fresh snow slowed everyone down, the toe cam picture was from my first run off the top Saturday which was timed at 149.67 km/h, and my final run was 152.26 which was good for 6th place out of a smaller field of 16 competitors- the two that withdrew were slower than I was, so I actually ran faster Saturday than 2 of the Europeans who had been faster than I on Friday

 

They are all national forest lands. It's kind of an at your own risk kind of deal. If you get stuck up there and need rescue it's on you and you will face HEAVY fines.

But you can hike and ride anywhere out there at your own risk. I can't remember what it's called... I think it's actually Reba... but if you come down to the bottom of the high speed chair on the back (I still call it hibernation) and you look across the valley. There is a SICK ridge over there full of killer riding. I've seen it hiked and I've seen sleds over there. I would recommend hooking up with a local if you plan on sledding down in to the valley. It's a tough climb out. And I would check snow conditions as there are a few places that crack over there.

If you are talking about riding up the back from the village on a sled and riding up there, I believe that is all open game as long as you stay off the groomed runs and are aware of people's property. And careful. I nearly took my head off last year because some ******* put up a chain between to fences because people were cutting through behind his house.

If you're going up with a sled, I'd love to go with you. I am a complete and utter noob on a sled but I can be a sort of "guide".

I've done some snow shoeing up there. I'd like to do some more adventuring up there. There are places where you can get a lot of riding in with very little hiking.

 

Awesome! Thanks for all the info! I don't remember all the lift names but I remember seeing a ton of mountains all around Bear Valley. There were some SICK spots I seen from the Polar Express lift that I'd love to hit some day. One looked crazy steep but was just about wide open with a couple rocks and trees along the way.

Wish I had a sled, and a truck lol. Hopefully one day Ill either own both or get access to both. Wouldn't mind hiking either for the hikable spots.

 

HOLY CRAP!!!!

I think I won the GoPro give away... IN NOVEMBER.

I was scrolling through the winners and it says Raymond from Watsonville in November.
Crossing my fingers.... just tossed them an email.

 

Dude that'd be freakin great to have 2 cameras.

 

Before heading out of bounds I would very highly recommend getting some education in Avalanche prediction and rescue. There's no ski patrol out there, which means no avalanche control and very little chance of getting rescued if you are injured. Every year we get to read about people who lose their lives in the back country, often they are well prepared and equipped- people who are not prepared and equipped pretty much don't stand a chance.

Unless you have the proper gear (shovels, probes and transceiver- at the very least) and know how to use it all- my advice would be don't even think about venturing out of bounds until things have settled down and stabilized in the summer.

Even if you have the gear and preparation- never venture out alone- always let someone know where you are going and when you plan to get back.

Life is already too short and delicate- don't cut yours short for the sake of what looks like a nice run from a mile away

 

SERIOUSLY>>>> WTF.

I'm cursed. I'm NOT that Ray from watsonville. I mean... seriously. How many Ray's from watsonville pay attention to GoPro. Bah.

 

That's jacked.

 

Seriously... I call shinnanigans!

 

NEVER MIND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I just got an email from them. I did win. I must have used my old last name.

So.... they just got my mailing address and one of everything is heading out my direction!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! HELLS THE F! YEah!

I actually won something!

 

F YEAH!!! Good **** Man!!!!!!!!! Can't wait to compare the video of the contour to the gopro.