WINTER/SPRING 2012 THE REAL DEAL ISSUE CN083011_WHISTLER_MT_LIFE_FALL_F11_SAGE_.indd 1 10/12/11 5:53 PM LFH_FULL_PG_AD_ENG_2012.indd 1 11-10-06 8:32 PM WHISTLER VILLAGE SPORTS 604-932-3327 www.whistlervillagesports.com EXCESS BACKCOUNTRY 604-932-6409 POWDER PERFORMANCE PERFECTED… THE S7. Photo © Blake Jorgenson SUPER 7 The multi-award winning Super7 has changed the powder skiing game. Hard charging experts and struggling intermediates agree the Super7 is revolutionary in its ability to make powder skiing easier, more fun and less fatiguing. The Super7 delivers both more maneuverability and forgiveness than any other powder ski on the market. A damp big mountain, badass powder ski! rossignol.com/freeski ROSSIGNOL_2011_S7_WhistlerVillageSports.indd 1 10/17/11 10:12 AM m O n.c O ss K mattiasfredri O: t Kye Petersen Kye PHO Bottomless turns just north of Whistler. Your trip is Waiting, Book todaY. 1 604.894.7669 | snoWcats.ca folloW us on: BackcountrYsnoWcats @BcsnoWcats BCSC-ML-FEB12-8.375x10.875 ExpEriEncE Mountain LifE froM our pErspEctivE Backcountry Heli Drops Winter Heli Picnics Sled Recoveries Sightseeing Tours Private Jet Charters Photo Shoots Glacier Landings Custom Group Events Weddings City Transfers Helicopter Charters and more TM info@ CONTENTS 14 Editor’s Message Feet First 18 UpFront Biking, Riding, Snow 34 Environment OceanGybe Expedition 40 Profile Kye Petersen 54 Backyard Bella Coola Heli Touring 64 Epic Trip The NeverEnding Ride 74 Gallery 98 Back Page Hero Remembered Cover: Kye Petersen in the Tantalus Range. Photo by Eric Crosland from the film All.I.Can. by Sherpas Cinema On this page: Duncan MacKenzie was the real deal. A skier, patroller, trailbuilder and bike rider who was always enthusiastic about getting out there and sharing his passion for life and the mountains. Keep rippin’ for Chip. Duncan MacKenzie 1981-2011. BRIAN FINESTONE PHOTO 12 mountain life WINTER/SPRING 2012 FEETFIRST THE REAL DEAL ISSUE “Realness” is pretty subjective so it’s not easy to free websites that GPS-map every single hike pin down or explain the “Real Deal” – most stuff and adventure (with multiple “user reviews”) either is or isn’t. What’s real to me may not be are cool, but they’re missing the point. all that “real” to Snoop Dogg, and vice versa. And helmet cams… helmet cams, helmet cams strapped to everything just means that it’s no longer enough to simply do something There is a huge difference real, we now must prove it, instantly, on our between doing something awesome smart phones. Adventure is becoming more “show and tell” rather than “do and enjoy.” “Because it’s there” and “Because Welcome to the geekification of fun. And yet all is not lost, thanks to the moun- it will look sick, Bro!” tains. The Coast Mountains are unquestionably, absolutely the Real Deal. And so are many of the Realness is, however, much easier to capture people who live amongst them – these snowy and share these days, thanks to technology. peaks and tree-lined valleys create realness The cover of this magazine features a shot of inside us because they humble as they inspire. Kye Petersen getting fairly real out in the Tantalus They reward us while also forcing us to grow. Range. It’s not a photo. It’s a high-resolution And yes, sometimes they also take us frame-grab from a video camera – anything back into their fold, but every year spent trudging real that’s caught on tape these days can be through the wilderness of the Coast Mountains a poster, a mag cover, or exist forever on the makes a person richer and that much more real Internet. That’s a good thing when putting than they were the year before. together a magazine – there’s more realness to To some extent, we aim for the Real Deal choose from and it’s never been easier to get a with every issue of Mountain Life because real- permanent record of the Real Deal, or easier to ness can be anything. It can be searching, or spread it around. giving back. It can be on the side of mountain But therein lies the rub, because when or in the eyes of a person doing what they people are out in the mountains doing something love. Real food, real time, real funny, reality vs. awesome, challenging and potentially danger- perception, whatever. ous, motivation now comes into play. There is Realness is pretty subjective, but we know a huge difference between “Because it’s there” it when we see it. And around here, thankfully, and “Because it will look sick, Bro!” we see it a lot. Specialized apps that keep statistics of your land speed and vertical accumulation or – Feet Banks Matt Elliott, Keeping it real. ANDREW BRADLEY PHOTO 14 mountain life WINTER/SPRING 2012 eco-exhilaration™ Lonely Planet’s Top 10 CANADIAN Adventures! located inside the Carleton Lodge across from the Whistler Village Gondolas 604.935.0001 1.866.935.0001 ziptrek.com WW1232 PUBLISHERS jon buRAK [email protected] Todd lAwSon [email protected] GlEn HARRIS [email protected] EDITOR fEET bAnks [email protected] CREATIVE & PRODUCTION DIRECTOR AmélIE léGARé [email protected] MANAGING EDITOR nEd moRGAn [email protected] WEBMASTER joHn magill [email protected] FINANCIAL CONTROLLER jEn Hicks [email protected] CONTRIBUTORS Chad Chomlack, Derek Dix, Jess Robertson, Alain Denis, Ashley Barker, Blake Jorgenson, Nicole Trigg, Dawn Green, Nic Teichrob, Jason Smith, Dave Mossop, Malcolm Sangster, Bryson Robertson, Dr. Carla Cupido, Andrew Campbell, Hans Christian Gulsvik, Russell Dalby, Alex Gabriel, Mason Mashon, Drew Glaser, Jordan Manley, Lisa Richardson, Jess Smith, Paddy Kaye, Will Edmundson, Matt Domanski, Chris Winter, Michel Beaudry, Justa Jeskova, Dagan Beach, Steve Fisher, Jussi Grznar, Dave Barnes, Andrew Bradley, Chris Ankeny, Dan Carr, Dave Steers, Matt Mallory, Chris Christie, Damian Cromwell, Colin Field, Cooper Saver, Les Anthony, Brian Finestone, Rich Glass, Mark Gribbon, Sterling Lorence, Ace Mackay-Smith, G.D. Maxwell, Jim Martinello, Bryn Hughes, Paul Morrison, Bruce Rowles, Matt Domanski, Mike Crane, Lorne Warburton. SALES & MARKETING jon buRAK [email protected] 604 815 1900 Todd lAwSon [email protected] 604 932 1974 PublISHEd by mountain lIfE mEdIA InC. Copyright ©2012. All rights reserved. Reproduction without permission is prohibited. Publications Mail Agreement Number 40026703. Return undeliverable Canadian addresses to: Mountain Life Magazine, PO Box 2433 Garibaldi Highlands BC, V0N 1T0. Tel: 604 815 1900. To send feedback or for contributors guidelines email feet@ mountainlifemag.ca. Mountain Life Coast Mountains is published every February, June and November by Mountain Life Media Inc. and circulated throughout Whistler and the Sea to Sky corridor from Pemberton to Vancouver. Reproduction in whole or in part is strictly prohibited. Views expressed herein are those of the author exclusively. To learn more about Mountain Life, visit Mountainlifemag.ca. To distribute Mountain Life in your store please call 604 815 1900. OUR COMMITMENT TO THE ENVIRONMENT Mountain Life is printed on paper that is Forest Stewardship Council ® (FSC) certified. FSC ® is an international, membership-based, non-profit organization that supports environmentally appropriate, socially beneficial, and economically viable management of the world’s forests. By printing on post-consumer waste paper instead of virgin fiber, this issue of Vancouver: Australian Boot Company 1968 W. 4th Ave. 604-738-2668 Mountain Life preserves 15 trees for the future, saves 6,291 gal of wastewater flow, West Van: A Step Ahead in Park Royal North 604-925-9756 and conserves 10,490,445 BTUs energy. West Van: SoftMoc in Park Royal South 604-913-9193 Squamish: Valhalla Pure (beside Nester’s) 604-892-9092 Whistler: The Escape Route (Market Place) 604-938-3228 Pemberton Bike Company (beside Pony Expresso) 604-894-6625 16 mountain life WINTER/SPRING 2012 THE SKY IS THE LIMIT. OPEN EVERY DAY. www.whistlerbungee.com 604.938.9333 [email protected] WINTER/SPRING 2012 mountain life 17 MWHS_mtnlife_ad_2011.indd 1 11-08-17 11:54 AM UPFRONT “ThE CALL” Photographer Dano Pendygrasse discusses luck, helicopters, and why we all need call display Text & Photos by dano Pendygrasse I’ve been pretty lucky in my life and hit the right place at the right time more often than I can count. As a result I’ve enjoyed a pretty interesting “career” and stacked up more amazing experiences than my 15-year-old self could ever have imagined. I’m grateful, but also aware that the meter on my luck card must be running pretty low. A little while ago, I may have drained it completely. I got “The Call.” It was night, I was in bed, and I had to work the next day. I was nodding off when the phone started buzzing. I ignored it at first, but my girlfriend, always prudent, convinced me that I should pick it up. The display read: “Ken Achenbach.” “Hey Ken, what’s up,” I mumbled. Ken, who is one of my oldest friends and well known for his elaborate missions and corny jokes, also owns Powder Mountain Cat and Heliboarding. He spoke portentously: “This is ‘The Call.’ What are you doing tomorrow?” There are rules to this life and the first is that one never says no to free catboarding or heliboarding. To do so immediately takes you off the list of names that could potentially get “The Call.” On the other hand, it was night, I hadn’t ridden yet this season, didn’t know where half my gear was and my out-of-commission truck would never get me out of the suburbs. “I’m in. When and where?” That’s how I found myself sitting in a helicopter with Ken’s wife Michelle, my old friends Kris Jamieson and Don Schwartz, and a well-known Norwegian snowboarder named Terje.