A Day in the BikeSki Life

7/20/2014

Words by: Brent Hillier Photos by: Eli Relke & Brent Hillier

A long time "bucket-list" goal of mine has always been to bike and ski Mount Seymour on the same day without any outside help. I pitched the idea to Eli Relke while we were ski touring this past winter and we earmarked the trip for Spring. Thanks to the MEC Rental program, we got our hands on bike trailers, loaded them up with gear and set off.

We decided to make our official start of the day in Deep Cove for a number of reasons:

It would make the day a true Sea-to-Sky adventure
If we started at Sea Level then the math would be easier
What better way to start a long day but with Honey's Doughnuts

Fuelled and ready to go we started our climb out of the quiet community of Deep Cove. We made sure to grab an extra doughnut for the top.

We made it to the top in what was quicker then expected. We were passed by a couple of road bikers, their funny looks were certainly worth it.

I had got some info from a friend a week earlier that their was just enough snow to ski from the bottom, Eli and I were relieved when we arrived to find this was true. We parked the bikes and switched over into our ski-touring gear.

Classic North Shore weather. Welcome to the inside of the ping-pong ball!

This section was looking like the crux move of the trip. We both knew it was going to make for a fun straight-shot on the way down from the peak.

The peak of first pump meant we had biked and skied our way up 1455m of Mount Seymour. The weather started to clear out, so we took in the views while enjoy a cup of coffee and a doughnut.

Welcome to my backyard! After 3 years of professional ski patrol, 2 years of teaching avalanche skills courses and 6 years of backcountry skiing, the terrain of Mount Seymour feels very familiar to me.

Dropping into the chute.

We knew on our way up that our crux would be going through a tight chute at the bottom of the main-face of First Pump. Eli pointed the board straight down the fall-line way earlier then I had; we were both stoked.

Back inbounds, we were surprised at how good we felt. With over 1400m of elevation up and a sketchy ski down, we were beginning to think this thing was way easier then we had first expected.

Riding the road from Mount Seymour with a trailer full of ski gear pushing you down was a lot harder then we expected. We started the bike ride feeling pretty good but as we made our way down every muscle that didn't hurt started screaming.

We arrived at Deep Cove Brewery thirsty and tired. A quick high five, we dumped our gear at the door and celebrated with a pint. The trip was a fantastic way to finish off the 2013/14 Winter. Summer had arrived and it's time to bike! (Without skis)