TOBE Magazine - Bc tree riding

TOBEOUTERWEAR MAGAZINE WINTER 2014

Tree riding Understanding the soul of snowmobiling

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T O B E O U T E RW E A R . C O M

TREE RIDING

BY KERTIS BROZA

46 TOBE TECHNOLOGY MAGAZINE

RIDER ROB ALFORD PHOTO HANS WÄRDELL LOCATION REVELSTOKE CANADA

TOBETECHNOLOGY.COM 47

Snowmobiling is a very dynamic sport with many different styles of riding.

Some like to ride single file down a groomed trail to the nearest cabin to trade stories and warm their digits. Others can only be found in the openness that riding above the tree-line brings, with flowing fields and wide open climbs to test man and machine.

There is, however, a special place that brings out the best and worst in a rider.

A place that separates the men from the boys and can leave you either melting into your couch, completely exhausted with a dazed schoolboy grin, or stranded for days in chest deep powder. It’s a place some people will never ride in, but will always ride past. Where is this winter utopia? The answer lies somewhere out in the trees.

With the increasing technology constantly making snowmobiles perform better and better, people are starting to search out new areas to ride that were previously inaccessible. While poking through dense bush in a quest for deeper, untracked riding areas, riders were finding that the adventure itself was getting more technical and rewarding than the open terrain they were seeking. Fortunately, the giant cedars and hemlocks of interior British Columbia make for some well spaced snow access that the heli skiers have known about for years. Only lately has the trend started to be more popular with snowmobilers, drawing them into this unique sled heaven.

Riding in the trees can have many advantages over the common open terrain and trail systems. For instance, the record snowfalls in the Revelstoke area don’t come because it is known for it’s sunshine. All that snow means many days of pea soup fog where you can’t see your glove in front of your face. While most everyone on the mountain will be huddled in the cabin waiting for the sun to break, the locals are out of gas by early afternoon, exploiting the deeper snow and better defined light of the trees. As well, big snow brings big avalanches. While most are out constantly thinking of the slope above them and snow stability, tree riders are privy to more stable snowpack with these monster vegetables helping pin the snow to the mountainside, and the natural wind blocking properties helps the snow fall straight down, rather than being wind loaded and ready to take out any unsuspecting riders.

Being that you are actually riding in and around the trees, the skill level needed to cope with the already challenging snow conditions combined with these immovable obstructions really saves this creme de la creme of snowmobiling for only the best riders. Once you get the hang of looking ahead, maintaining momentum and banking your sled around where you want in the blink of an eye, the satisfaction of a full day of deep snow tree-riding can only be compared to a certain intimate event that happens to most of us in our mid-teens.

RIDER MIKAEL BERNTSSON PHOTO HANS WÄRDELL LOCATION WHISTLER CANADA

48 TOBE TECHNOLOGY MAGAZINE

For many people, the trees will only be viewed as a fabled area never to be seen, only heard about. It’s one place where most riders are strongly advised to stay away from. But for a small percentage of the snowmobiling population, the trees offer the ultimate in mountain riding satisfaction. ıı

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w “exploiting the deeper sno “ s tree the of ht defined lig

RIDER ROB ALFORD PHOTO HANS WÄRDELL LOCATION WHISTLER CANADA

TOBETECHNOLOGY.COM 49