Ironman and the Turret loom behind camp

You know the rest of the saying.  Sometimes it hurts to say it, but you can say it with me right now. “Try, try (try, try) AGAIN!” This is kind of a basic tenet of alpine climbing, or maybe all climbing really; actually, life itself. So what am I trying to get at here?

If you followed my last post, it was a video from the a trip I took to the Adamant Mountains in 2008, a recap of some attempts, successes and failures from a great 10 days in the mountains. A lead in to climbing there again this season. And we did climb there again this year…

July 13th we (Craig and Jeremy) decided to drive to the Golden, BC to pack and prep to fly into our glacier camp at the base of some amazing summits. Camp would be a 10 minute walk from 2 unfree-climbed 600m alpine big walls. Drool.

But for the few days leading up to our departure, way too much time was spent looking at the weather models, trying to figure out if we had any chance of some long awaited BC summer high pressure. For details I can’t really get in to (let’s just say extenuating personal circumstances of a team member) we decided to give it a try anyway, and by the morning of the 14th we were waiting to fly in from a random logging road, and watching the black clouds prevent our passage.

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Osprey Adventure Envoys, adventure British Columbia, Canada, climb, Climbing

Let me tell you more about myself.  My name is Sam Nayet and I’m one of the lucky few who were chosen to participate in the Osprey Hydraulics, Mountain bike team.

I’m 40 years old, father of a two, Caleb who is four and Sophie, two.

I‘ve always enjoyed riding but I’ve really embraced this passion over the last four years, as I was introduced to mountain bike racing. I race not only for the competitive aspect but also that it motivates me to stay in shape.  I bike to work every day.  Probably very ordinary to most of you, but biking year round through the Saskatchewan winters where temperatures plummet in -30 degrees Celsius… Not so ordinary. You might say I’m a little nuts but that’s okay — it beats buying a second vehicle!

This weekend my local mountain bike club, Off-road Syndicate (ORS), held its annual race, The Wascana Challenge, at the scenic and popular Wascana trails. This race is part of the Saskatchewan inter-provincial race series.

Saskatchewan is located pretty much in the middle of Canada, right in the middle of the Canadian Prairies. One might think what’s the challenge, when you’re riding on flat prairie landscape. Although the Prairies are flat, erosion by rivers, or maybe even glaciers melting, created a series of valleys which provide us with some interesting trails, perfect for endurance cross racing.  Wascana trails offer some steep climbs and technical descents in treed areas and also some nice flats to catch your breath in between.

Our summer here in Saskatchewan has been particular wet this year, as we usually enjoy a semi-arid climate. Heavy rain fall two days prior to the race, made the trails very slippery and made some areas even more challenging to ride. As most of the trails are hard pack, traction was minimal. Heat was also a concern for most of us who are not use to riding in hot and humid conditions. So needless to say the race was pretty demanding.

The first lap was a little frustrating as I caught up with some slower riders and had to wait until after the first climb to be able to pass. Once that was done I was pretty much on my own for the last two laps.

The last lap was, and always is the most demanding as fatigue and pain sets in. I had plenty of water for the entire race and never felt the effects of dehydration. (Hydraulic packs are nice. A hydraulic pack used to be a six pack, stuffed in my back-pack on my way home from work on a Friday!)

I manage to finish forth in my wave, with a time of 1 hour, 44 minutes — 2^nd in my category — pretty good considering the conditions. Well that’s it for me this time around, so keep riding and have fun!

Osprey Culture, adventure adventure, Canada, hydration, Hydraulics, mountain biking, outdoors, trail

Having wanting to ski the remote Glacier Peak in the North Cascades for a while now, my brother and I finally lucked out with promising weather and hit the road for three days. With a great late snow season we were confident there would be snow left to ski, even if it was almost August, and we were fueled by our inspiration was to keep the turns all year spirit alive.

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Osprey Athletes, Osprey Culture, Outdoor Activities, adventure backcountry, Canada, Climbing, inspiration, mountaineering, ski, skiing, Variant 37

Up at 3:30 a.m and out the door in an hour, I was excited for a big day out in Pemberton, B.C. to climb and ski the Aussie Couloir. Two minutes into my drive I got a speeding ticket going down the Mt Seymour Parkway in North Vancouver. As a kid in the 80’s I think we were clocked at higher speeds on our skateboards… But once through the formalities of the speeding ticket, I picked up my friend Sky and brother Andy. They quickly persuaded me into going to the Garibaldi area. And knowing these guys — we were in for an epic.

After 11,000 feet of climbing and almost 50 kilometers in 18 hours, we had climbed and skied the East Face of Mt. Carr, the West Ridge of Mt. Davidson and East Face of Castle Towers. Check out photos of our mini epic below!

Written by Mike Traslin. Photos and ski team: Andy Traslin, Sky Sjue and Mike Traslin.

Osprey Athletes, Osprey Culture, Outdoor Activities, adventure adventure, backcountry, Canada, epic, mountains, outdoors, skiing, Variant 37

The Flathead boasts the highest concentration of Grizzly bears in North America. ©Joe Riss, iLCP

We’ve mentioned the Flathead River Valley a few times here on the Osprey blog. One of North America’s wildest places, it’s one that we certainly believe in protecting and we were happy when in February an official ban was placed on mining and energy operations in the area.

Now there’s even more good news coming from this beautiful place. At the recent G8 and G20 summits, President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Stephen Harper deliberated over B.C.’s precious Flathead Valley. According to an official White House statement, “They discussed how relevant U.S. and Canadian agencies, including the U.S. Department of the Interior and Environment Canada, working with representatives of the Province of British Columbia and the State of Montana, could support this understanding and could help ensure the sustained protection of the Flathead River Basin.”

Because of the deliberations, there’s an international conservation agreement in the works for the American and Canadian Flathead River watershed. That means the potential for a National Park in the area. Which we whole heartedly support!

To learn more you can check out Flatheat Wild.

Via: Conservation Alliance

Conservation British Columbia, Canada, Conservation Alliance, flathead, Flathead Wild

It was a typical day on the North Shore mountains of British Columbia — wet and slick trail conditions. Fromme Mountain is the birthplace of free-ride mountain biking and host of Wade’s Excellent Adventure, put on by the Godfather of free-riding: Wade Simmons.

The idea is to ride four laps on Fromme Mountain in the coastal mountains above the city of Vancouver. Four tough laps of some of the most technical mountain biking in the world. But growing up in this area, I wasn’t too concerned as we started riding with rigid forks on the front and no suspension on the rear.

The first lap on Upper Oil Can was impossibly slick, then down Oil Can and traverse over Baden Powell. Back up for another lap all the way to the bottom. We got the long climbs out of the way first and continued on to the fast section of pipeline.The last lap was on the classic Ladies Only.

By the end, my nerves were shot, but my brother and I rode steady and rolled in for the victory in a time of 3:23:23 for 32 km and 4,700 feet of climbing.

Our Talon packs were ideal for the race: wicked day on the mountain bikes testing the limits in gnarly conditions.

Photos by: Stephen McCabe , Jurgen Watts

Story by Andy Traslin

Events, Osprey Athletes, Osprey Culture, Outdoor Activities, Product adventure, Canada, mountain biking, mountains, racing

Osprey’s Canadian distributor has selected the 10 Canadian mountain bike riders that are going to form the 2010 Osprey Hydraulics Team.

And the lucky winners are:

- Glenda Martin (Cobourg, ON)
- Glenn Peck (Garibaldi Highlands, BC)
- Guillaume Lazure (Mirabel, QC)
- Harper Forbes (Campbellville, ON)
- Jordan Timmer (Maple Ridge, BC)
- Julie-Anne Perreault (Saint-Casimir, QC)
- Maxime Clerk-Lamalice (Montréal, QC)
- Melinda Davie (Toronto, ON)
- Sam Nayet (Regina, SK)
- Sean Ritchie (Moncton, NB)

Each team member is going to receive a pack from the Raptor Series. Come back soon on this blog to see them in action!

Events Canada, Osprey, Osprey Hydraulics, Raptor series

Are you Canadian or do you live in Canada? Are you a mountain bike rider? Are you thirsty for action?

Osprey Packs’ Canadian distributor is looking for 10 Canadian mountain bike riders to form the first Canadian Osprey Hydraulics Team. The lucky team members will receive one of our new Raptor hydration packs, which bring Osprey’s Hydraulics™ solutions to mountain bike riding. All we ask in return is that you use your pack during the 2010 season and blog and document your fun along the way. That’s as easy! Send us your application and show us your thirst for action between March 1st and April 30th 2010 to get a chance to put your hands on a free Osprey Raptor pack.

Information and details at www.ospreypacks.ca

Events Canada, Hydraulics, Mountain Bike, Osprey, Raptor

Osprey launches its 2009 Brand  Team with this post, from Nick Spring, a Brand Team member from Nelson, BC. Osprey Brand Team members are being dispatched to outdoor events all over North America this year, reporting from the ground back to our friends through this blog! Nick will be spreading the Osprey word and wreaking havoc on the many events planned for this year’s fantastic Kootenay Coldsmoke Powder festival. This is Coldsmoke in a nutshell (for more check out the event’s official site here):

The Kootenay Cold Smoke Powder Fest is a grass-roots gathering where both experienced and debutant backcountry skiers and snowboarders can celebrate the culture of backcountry pursuits amongst breathtaking scenery and world renowned snow. Nelson, British Columbia, the powder mecca of the Kootenays is a natural choice, and so the 3rd annual Kootenay Cold Smoke Powder Fest is slated to be held from February 20-23, 2009. In addition to seasoned veterans, this event will also draw “keen to be” backcountry skiers and snowboarders who want to give off-piste adventures a try. Whitewater resort’s terrain combined with the Selkirk’s legendary snow, provides fantastic opportunities for all levels to ski, learn, compete, and celebrate off-piste and backcountry riding. The festival revolves around 4 full days of clinics, films, beer drinking, and competitions for all ski/snowboard pursuits as well as a ski/snowboard photojournalism competition.

Nick will be demoing the brand new for ‘09 Kode 38 pack (check the sneak peak Outdoor Retailer review here) and will be able to show all you eager souls what we think will be a huge hit for next season’s snow crowd. Enough of the babble – here’s Nick.

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I can’t believe we are in the middle of another deep winter. The Cold Smoke Festival for people in the Kootenay Region is a platform to showcase the beauty of our mountains, people, community and of course legendary deep snowpack.  The 2008-09-ski season has been riddled by many unusual circumstances.  We had an unusually long fall that held the early season snowfall at bay, we dealt with a wrath of unfortunate avalanche fatalities and hazards, and one of the longest sustained high-pressure systems recorded to date.  Words like catastrophic, epic and “never seen before” were used to describe the storm and avalanche cycle that we dealt with in early January.

So where does that put me? Aside from the edge of my seat it puts me into a state of Zen like patience.  One thing is known about the interior of British Columbia, the snow comes for those who are patient.  Snowfall amounts that trump most ski area’s monthly snowfalls are a weekly occurrence up at Whitewater Ski hill, host and creator of the Kootenay Cold Smoke Festival.  With a week of sunshine behind us I find it hard to believe that I spent that last two days lapping deep untracked blower snow just minutes outside of the ski area boundary.  Currently Whitewater holds one of the deepest snowpacks in the province and is set up well for future storms to come.  If you have not been to the area the festival is a great venue or “sampler pack” if you will of what goes on here daily.

My name is Nick Spring, and I moved to Nelson to pursue a lifestyle in the mountains. I chose Nelson because it is different then other mountain towns; we don’t have any large and over powering hotel chains, restaurants or tourist attractions. People come here for the exact opposite, to get away from the rat race, to walk down a main street littered with independent unique shops and eateries owned and operated by local residents.  I have an active role in the community and find my time spread thin across my many adventures.  I spend my day outfitting the coolest clients in the best gear shop possible, Valhalla Pure Outfitters, whether it is an Osprey pack for extended trips or short day journeys. When I am not at the shop I spend a good deal of my time training and practicing with Nelson Search and Rescue and am ready at a seconds notice for a variety of emergency situations.  I have a Talon 44 packed and ready to go regardless of the situation. On my weekends I patrol up at the ski hill and tour the phenomenal backcountry we have in the area on my split board.  Come on up to the festival and just maybe if you catch me at the right moment I will divulge some of the deepest of local backcountry secrets.  Nelson gets a mixed bag of bio-diesel powder hounds, dedicated heli ski clientele and industry professionals intermingling together in the many cafés and bars around town.

Nick Spring in Nelson, BC

The festival is a great reason to make your way up here, it is action packed with all sorts of events, clinics and demonstrations.  The vendor village is a great opportunity to catch up with the latest trendsetters in the industry and talk shop with the brand representatives.  The après ski will be full of delicious food and local brewed organic beers, musicians that have set roots in the Kootenay area will entertain until the sun comes up with their eclectic world beats.  Bring your ski boots and dancing shoes with you and come spend a week in a powder hounds paradise! I hope to see you out on the hill and keep your eye out for me on the hill; I will be showcasing some of the coolest new innovations from Osprey!

Events, Osprey Culture, Uncategorized BC, British Columbia, Canada, Coldsmoke, Kode 38, Kootenay, Nelson, powderfest, Talon 44