Andre Charland, in the Blackcomb backcountry.

Gaper Day 2006 stairs skiing.

Skiing on Mt Rainier.  Blurry summit self portrait.  What can you do when your partner is picketed to the glacier a few thousand feet below?

Kris Sutherland, Charlotte Klein and I left the car at around 3:30pm in 30c degree heat this past Sunday to climb from the Pemberton Valley floor . Ahead of us was nothing more than a 4000ft, 20K climb up to junction from the old Hurley River road and the Tenquille lake trail. Most sensible people, Charlotte included, would've left early in the morning to beat the heat. But Kris and I decided to hydrate and carbo load the nigh before and various bars in Vancouver. Good call! We were find specimens on that climb. While sweating more than a whole class room full of Bikram's yoga fanatics we joked about how we were hallucinating and we're about to pass out. Except not really joking:) Once we got to the top of the road climb we then had the hour long hike a bike to the trail junction, it's about 3km of hiking. Luckily the trees and the fact that it was 6:30 helped with the temperature. The descent starts after a small creek crossing and starts into a couple open glades before it gets really fast and winds you down the side of the mountain. After dropping about 2000ft you end up in some of the fastest winding single track in the sea to sky corridor! A few sandy chicanes and you're back out the car, in our case 4:45 after we started. It's amazing how quickly you can go through 4000 ft of vertical and 9km of single track descent, around 40 min with a bunch of stopping to regroup. Good times and well recommended ride! If you like your granny gear that is;-)

Andre Charland stands on Blackcomb Peak after the legendary bbq-party, watching the sun set on the epic 2005-2006 Whistler-Blackcomb season.