Ernie BUEhler’s

A story of fatherhood and dirt jumps

Postmodern interpretation of a Zen garden, Nelson style. words and photography by John Gibson Our premier protagonist, 19-year-old Garett Buehler, meditates over his mindscape.

098 I bikemag.com bikemag.com I 099

FRONT

yard Garett Buehler asked his dad if he could build a few jumps in the front yard of their home. The answer was “yes.” But a few weeks later, when his father, Ernie, returned from work and saw what his son had done to the property, he was more than a bit surprised. “I remember saying, ‘holy shit,’” Ernie Buehler recalls, still somewhat amused. “I thought they’d made the jumps too big and too far apart.” The view from Ernie’s front window had changed dramatically. Garett and Kootenay pro riders Kurt Sorge and Mike Kinrade, along with local shredders Nick Cima, Russ Fountain and Rick Schneider, had built a dirt-jump park. They made three lines that even included an old school bus they brought onto the property. The build was a four-month project that changed Ernie’s front yard forever. His home sits on 10 acres near Grohman Narrows, across Kootenay Lake from the mountain-bike hotbed of Nelson, British Columbia. It’s primarily boat access, unless you want to take the roundabout road that is a one-hour drive from town. In the win- ter, the road shuts down completely. Ernie’s small motorboat lives down at the dock and makes the 10-minute trip to town several times a week. It usually returns overloaded with bicycles, groceries and whoever is riding that day. Ernie’s place is hard to get to and hidden. It’s quiet here, but occasionally a neighbor will drive by on a sunny day and wave. One thing’s for sure, though: If you can ride these jumps, you’re going to go big.

No time for school crossings: The young Buehler opts for the aerial approach. At right, meticulous atten- tion is paid to the enduring elements of th100e g ardI bikemag.comen’s framework. bikemag.com I 101 transcendental levitation: Kurt sorge rises above his worldly environment.

“Dad didn’t really know what we were up to and thought we were just has a left-hand hip into a roller, followed by two more doubles. All going to build one jump,” Garett recalls. “He was surprised, but stoked. three lines are tough to ride. He’s pretty mellow and doesn’t really care.” “It makes me happy that he built those jumps,” says Ernie. “It makes me proud. It’s pretty awesome—and it didn’t cost me anything. It makes for a more interesting front yard, and I’m never going to change it—even A view of happiness and pride after they stop jumping.” Looking across the yard, a huge transformation has taken place. The dirt is good, and there’s a natural downhill grade that is well suited to building jumps. And with the slope facing south, it catches the sun for Heli- and hucking most of the day. Ernie immigrated to Canada from Switzerland in the ‘70s to learn English The start gate is on the gravel road that runs along the property and and find work in the mountains. He eventually met Hans Gmoser, now leads down to the first set-up jump, which branches in three direc- known as the godfather of heli-skiing, and joined his elite team of moun- tions. The left line leads to a large hip, then to a jump onto the school tain guides. Gmoser had come up with the idea of using helicopters for bus before a step-down off the bus. The middle line has the largest recreational skiing, and experienced guides were in short supply at the jump in the yard, at 38 feet lip-to-lip. The tricky, BMX-style right line time. Ernie has since logged 40 years working as a heli- guide for

102 I bikemag.com For the record: this is Not garett buehler’s Canadian Mountain Holidays in the Cariboo day off. Mountains near Valemont, B.C. He still gets hundreds of hours each year on snow and is regarded as one of the most experienced and trusted guides working today. For him, it’s not a job anymore. Ernie and his wife had two boys, both of whom were born with on their feet. Now divorced, he splits his time between guid- ing skiers and his home. While many hockey dads might be driving their kids to the rink, he would be shuttling Garett and his friends so they could hurtle down any one of Nelson’s 80-plus mountain bike trails. Back then, he didn’t really get to see them ride. Now he can watch all day long. “The B.C. boys are the best in the world,” Ernie says. “It takes a lot of dedication, and you have to love it and not be afraid. It’s pretty wild, but it looks like those kids know what they’re doing. They’re a radical group of guys, and they like to party, too. It’s a good thing for a while, but he can’t do it for the rest of his life.”

Narrowing the gap With a quiet wisdom gathered slowly over time, Ernie sees similarities between men like himself, who spend their lives on skis, and those like his son, who live to ride bikes. He likes the fact that Garett has chosen a bike over a pair of skis. “The skiers are more at risk because of ava- lanche,” he says. “It would bother me more if he was extreme skiing—the avalanche fac- tor is huge. The crashes are harder in biking, though. There’s a lot of camaraderie between these bikers. And they respect each other, and I like that aspect.” Even though the age difference between Ernie and his younger son is 47 years, Garett can relate to his dad. “The lifestyle is similar for a mountain-bike rider and a ski guide.” Garett says. “I don’t work a job. My dad wants to be outside all day long. We both like to hang around the fire then watch TV.”

It’s all about jumping Ernie’s elder son, Jackson, has talent on a bi- cycle as well, and enjoyed a career as a pro-

104 I bikemag.com nelson’s spin on shuttling: From left to right, Garett, Nick Cima and kurt. Below: cima becomes one with the autumn landscape.

fessional road racer. But from the age of six, all Garett wanted to do was ride jumps. And when he saw Kranked 2 at the age of nine, the stage was set. “I thought that movie was the coolest thing ever, and it’s what got me into ,” he says. “They were going to crazy places and hav- ing fun. Now my life is about riding my bike.”

The preferred nomenclature is... Now 19 years old, Garett is a respected part of the freeride scene. He’s garnered a handful of sponsors, but he doesn’t like to be called a “freerider”—that term is so 2005. If you must categorize him, the term he prefers is “big mountain.” And if you had seen him take the slam of his life at the 2010 Red Bull Rampage, you would probably under- stand why. With his group, complicated BMX-style tricks on smaller bikes are out, and hitting massive jumps on downhill-style bikes is in. “I’m not a dirt jumper,” Garett says. “I like to ride my bike Kamloops- style. I like big jumps and big airs in general. These [front yard] jumps are going to help. We would go sometimes a week or two before hit- ting a , and now it can be every day.” He points out, though, that there is a big difference between his front-yard jumps and the 40- to 50-foot step-down jumps he will face during competitions and film shoots. “With a gap jump, you have the same speed the whole time,” he explains. “But with a step-down jump, it’s like riding off a board. You gain more speed and go weightless. Then you start to get a bunch of speed and it gets loud. Then you hit. Ditching is not an option. The consequences are more serious when you are drop- ping, as opposed to a gap jump.”

106 I bikemag.com sorge probes where form and function meet at his rampage proving grounds.

Big mountain or bust we could build at his place, we pulled the trigger and got it done. Now Garett and his fellow big-mountain pros don’t race, instead competing in con- we can get our tricks dialed on these jumps, then head out and do tests and riding for video and photo shoots to keep their sponsors happy. They them on bigger jumps in contests.” are gunning for top results in big-mountain contests such as the Red Bull Ram- It’s now the middle of winter, and the jumps and bus are blanketed page in Utah and the Chatel Mountain Style contest in France—contests that in a thick layer of snow. Ernie pulls a sled full of supplies up the hill from suit their hard-charging riding styles. The Kootenay crew has the desire. And the boat dock. Walking across the yard, he pauses to look at the jumps, Ernie’s front yard is now the place to make it happen. shakes his head and smiles. In just a few months, the boys will return. “We’d been building jumps all around Nelson for years, but they al- Even though they have taken over his yard, it’s still his place. The view ways got torn down,” explains Garett’s friend Sorge. “When Ernie said out his window will remain the same. And that’s just fine with him.

108 I bikemag.com