TRAVEL
DRIFTING IN THE MONASHEES
Story by Glenn Roberts
FAST FACTS
THIS REALLY IS SNOW COUNTRY
The mountains that surround Revelstoke
can receive an unbelievable 15 to 21 metres
of snow in a season.
GLACIER CABIN
Glacier Cabin is an emergency cabin near the
summit of Frisby Ridge. It sits nine metres above
the ground, and in mid-January 2015, the snow
was already less than a metre from its deck.
The buried portion of the building holds tools
for summer trail maintenance.
ALL-SEASON PLAYGROUND
Revelstoke is in the heart of the Columbia
Mountain Range and is surrounded by the
Monashee and Selkirk sub-ranges. The town
makes a perfect year-round location for
adventure sports. Make it a home base for some
of the best motorcycle roads B.C. has to oﬀer.
ALL WE NEED IS BARLEY, HOPS,
YEAST AND WATER
Mt. Begbie Brewing Company found its roots
in Revelstoke in 1996 and was named a#er a local
mountain. This microbrewery produces
10 kinds of beer, with names such as Nasty Habit
IPA, Darkside of the Stoke, Attila the Honey Ale
and Bob’s Your Dunkel, just to name a few.
Madness
It’s easy enough to get into trouble on two wheels,
but add a track and a ski and trouble becomes so much fun
40 MOTORCYCLE MOJO APRIL 2015
Photos by Glenn and emily RobeRts
Monashee
W
hat are we
motorcyclists to
do when we’re
forced to put
our bikes away for the cold and
snowy winter months? We can
attend motorcycle shows during
the Canadian winter from coast
to coast, read magazines, watch
a wide variety of motorcycle
movies – many of which are
worth watching more than once
– or we can bundle up and take
to the snow for our winter’s fill
of internal combustion nirvana.
APRIL 2015 MOTORCYCLE MOJO 41
TRAVEL
DRIFTING IN THE MONASHEES
House Resort, which operates Great
Canadian Snowmobile Tours. During
the winter months, she looks after
renting out the company’s two-dozen
mountain sleds and accompanying
clothing. Luckily, Daniel, her boss,
owns a KTM-outfitted snow bike: most
of the time I was on his KTM 500EXC,
while Emily spent her time on a twostroke Sherco 300SE-R that we rented
from Infinite Powersports, just up the
road from Glacier House. Both of the
bikes’ conversion kits are manufactured
by Idaho-based company Timbersled,
which is why these snow bikes are
commonly referred to simply as Timbersleds.
Learning Curves
We were anxious to get playing in
the snow, and without even a second
of getting to know the bikes or the
intricacies of handling them, we
headed out on the massive trail system
that encompasses over 500 km of
groomed and ungroomed trails, and
several hundred square kilometres of
mountains, ridges, passes and lakes, all
of which are accessible right from the
Glacier House parking lot.
One thing became apparent the
second we began to move on the bikes
– they are very difficult to manoeuvre
on hard-packed snow. The wide 30 cm
track, along with 6.5 cm paddles and
the wide front ski, doesn’t lean well on
hard surfaces without some practice.
Getting out of the parking lot and onto
the trail system was a lesson in frustration and embarrassment, but after
the first 40 or so switchbacks going up
the groomed trail onto Frisby Ridge, I
started to get the hang of it. Once we
hit open snow in the alpine meadows,
the frustration was over. The Timbersled easily carved corners similar to
what I expect an ice racer would carve.
The track and ski dug into the snow,
and getting near-horizontal in a corner
wasn’t hard to do.
For the most part, the Timbersled’s
wide track will stand on its own, but
being motorcyclists, we have this nasty
habit of putting a foot down when we
stop. I soon realized that leaning to
one side and putting a foot down just
means that your foot sinks in the very
deep snow, and you and the bike fall
over. Not a big deal really, but at 2000
metres, the air is thinner and the bikes
are top-heavy; this exercise became a
workout after a few tip-overs. We discovered it was better to just keep riding.
The day Emily and I spent up on
Frisby Ridge, we had very warm temperatures, thanks to an “inversion.” I
had never heard the term until Emily
mentioned it, and then two days later I
heard it again on the Weather Network.
For lack of an official meteorological
explanation, an inversion occurs when a
warm front moves in above the clouds,
pushing the clouds down, leaving cold
air and clouds at ground level and hot
air at higher altitudes. It was cold climbing through the cloud cover, but once
we were above it, we had a hot sunny
day on the mountain and could see
the cloud cover more than 1300 metres
below us hovering over Revelstoke. It
three sleds
and a bike.
it’s a toss up
which is more
fun although i’d
have to say i
would choose
the timbersled,
but i would
never turn down
the opportunity
to take a sled
up the mountain
again.
thanks to an inversion, we were riding about 1300 metres above the clouds in warm sunshine.
It isn’t very often I get to ride with
my daughter, Emily, as she makes her
home 3500 km away. When she was
young, we spent quite a few hours
on trail bikes in the bush. The day
she turned 16, she went directly from
school to Ontario’s Ministry of Transportation office to write her car and
motorcycle licence. She passed both,
and in preparation for the special day, I
already had my old trail bike, a Suzuki
DR250 enduro, certified and licensed
for the road for her to ride. That day,
seven years ago, was our first official
road ride together. We were fortunate
to enjoy two weeks in Africa together,
an entertaining ride around the Cabot
Trail in Nova Scotia and I’m proud to
say I did participate in the first week
42 MOTORCYCLE MOJO APRIL 2015
of her three-month solo ride to Alaska.
With the distance now between us, our
adventures are far and few between.
Favourite Ride of the Year
This year, between the Calgary and
Edmonton motorcycle shows, my wife,
Gwen, and I went to visit Emily in
Revelstoke, B.C., and I was pumped to
learn that she had reserved a couple of
snow bikes for us to play on. In
basic terms, they are off-road
bikes with a ski that replaces
the front wheel, and the
rear wheel and swingarm
assembly are swapped
out for a frame made to
accommodate a track.
Emily works at Glacier
APRIL 2015 MOTORCYCLE MOJO 43
TRAVEL
DRIFTING IN THE MONASHEES
the spires of snow are actually the tops of trees. this was in mid-January with
about nine metres of snow. by the end of the season, those tree tops will be way
below the surface. (above)
emily stuck in a tree well. luckily we could get her bike out. some people aren’t so
lucky and have to leave their machines until the snow is gone. (below)
was the most spectacular view I had
ever seen.
Trade One Ski for Two
The following day, Gwen, Emily and
I were scheduled to take three of the
company’s snowmobiles up onto
Boulder Mountain along with Kelsey,
our guide. The day before, Emily and
I hadn’t used a guide given Emily’s
familiarity with Frisby Ridge, but it
is highly recommended in unfamiliar
territory. Guides know the area and
advise you on where you can’t venture
because of avalanche dangers. Both days,
however, each of us was equipped with
a backpack that contained a shovel and
a probe, and had an avalanche beacon
strapped to our bodies – all of which we
were given training on how to use.
Emily, being the biker that she is,
chose to forfeit the sled in favour of
Daniel’s KTM Timbersled. We departed
Glacier House Resort and headed up
the mountain trails, through the clouds
and into another inversion. I don’t have
a huge amount of experience on a sled,
but I had as much fun on the 800 cc SkiDoo mountain machine as I did on the
Timbersleds the previous day.
Trouble at the Sugar Bowl
At 1900 metres, near the top of
Boulder Mountain, we came across
a large bowl the locals call “the
Sugar Bowl.” In the bowl were seven
sleds and riders, and they were
taking turns at high marking. As we
continued up the mountain on more
established trails, Emily and I waited
at the bottom of one particularly steep
hill for Gwen to reach the top. I then
44 MOTORCYCLE MOJO APRIL 2015
the massive meadow
pointed to a hill that wasn’t “tracked
out” and told Emily I was going to go
up that hill, and would meet everyone
at the top. In doing so, I broke the first
cardinal rule: don’t leave your guide.
This is where my trouble began. I
was already committed to the hill when
I realized it looked far steeper from
below it than from a distance. I got to
about six metres from the top when my
sled started veering to the right. Even
standing on the left footboard wasn’t
enough to keep it going straight – well,
that and my complete inexperience in
deep snow on a steep hillside. I stopped
as the sled was sideways on the hill,
at the top of Frisby
Ridge called
“beginner’s bowl” by
the locals was pretty
tracked out but still
offered plenty of
wide-open fun. (top)
emily getting some
air with daniel’s Ktm
timbersled on boulder
mountain. (left)
TRAVEL
DRIFTING IN THE MONASHEES
The Second
Best Ride
Of My Life
By Emily Roberts
believe it was 2006, a warm yet wet and soggy
Christmas morning. i woke up early, as any 14-year-old
girl would, to get to the candy in the stocking before my
dog found it. my parents and i opened our presents: one of
mine was a brand new pair of perfectly fitting dirtbike boots.
since there was a lack of snow, dad and i decided, what
better way to spend Christmas than to go for a ride? We set
off for the closest trails down the road, and as I fishtailed
through the mud and remaining slush trying to keep up
to my dad, i remember thinking, this has got to be one of
the best rides of my life. this is the image that had been
instilled in my mind for a very long time.
A few years back, I first started seeing “snow bike”
conversions. the idea is genius: you can convert your
dirtbike into a sled in the winter. From what i know, it’s
difficult to fit some models of dirtbike to the sled setup; however, i believe it’s a worthwhile investment provided you have access to the
right terrain and snow conditions.
While my parents were visiting
me in B.C. this winter, I finally got
to try a snow bike for the first
time. dad and i woke early
and headed over to the rental
shop at Glacier house, brighteyed and bushy-tailed and
as eager as that Christmas
morning so many years ago.
this time, i would be putting
on an old pair of snowmobile
boots.
We warmed up the bikes and
tried to take off, but instantly had
trouble handling them. With no previous practice or direction from anyone, my dad and i took off thinking that
just turning the ski would work. it was immediately non-intuitive in terms of handling and steering.
instead of an aggressive front-end handling style that you
would use riding a dirtbike through single track, now i had
to heavily weight the pegs and shift my body weight to force
the bike to lean on the edge of the wide track. i struggled a
little bit for the first 10 minutes, and then it started coming
more naturally.
once up on the summit of Frisby Ridge, we spent the
I
Kertis broza, owner of
Infinite Powersports, said
we wouldn’t need to refuel.
emily proved him wrong after
a day of hard riding
and having too much fun.
which is never good. As I was wondering what to do next, I noticed the seven
sleds in the Sugar Bowl appeared to
be the size of ants – I’m high above the
Sugar Bowl and it’s a long, long way
down. I waited for Kelsey to come to
my rescue, but there was the simple
underlying fact that she didn’t know
where I was. I proceeded to cautiously
roll the sled over, downhill, digging in
my feet and holding onto the sled for
dear life, hoping it wouldn’t become a
yard sale as it rolled down the mountainside. I rolled it onto its top, so the
sled was now upside down, then rolled
it again onto its left side and finally
onto its track, manhandling it to sort of
face the general direction I wanted to
go back down the hill. I got on the sled
and started it up, but chickened out just
as I heard Kelsey pull up above me.
“So, what are you doing over here?”
she asked in a friendly but condescending tone. I explained, but I don’t think
she cared. She then proceeded to tell me
that beyond the 300 or so metres that
we can see downhill is a cliff that meets
46 MOTORCYCLE MOJO APRIL 2015
up with those seven sleds in the Sugar
Bowl. I swallowed hard and thanked
my lucky stars. She had no problem
taking my sled down on an angle while
I rode her sled down, which was pointing straight down the hill.
If There’s a Well, There’s a Way
We met back up with Gwen, but Emily
was nowhere to be found. Emily has
trained and worked as a guide for years
and knows not to leave the leader, but
her intentions were to not go far, and
she hadn’t. She also hadn’t planned on
making a wide corner and getting stuck
in a tree well.
A tree well is the area below a spruce
that’s void of snow, because the snow
doesn’t penetrate the thick bows. This
can leave a very dangerous hole full
of branches and loose sides. The snow
here this time of year is about nine
metres deep, so the trees we saw were
only the tops.
While Kelsey was out looking for
Emily, Gwen and I spotted her, with
arms flailing and yelling hoping to
get our attention. Luckily, other than
getting whacked in the face hard with
a sturdy branch and getting her bike
caught in the branches, the tree well
was only about three metres deep.
Emily had dug most of her bike out
before we arrived. After getting it
loosened from the entwining branches,
I was able to click the bike into first and
walk it out under its own power.
The rest of the day was uneventful
but so much fun. I had learned my lesson of not trying something stupid, and
Emily had learned not to accidentally
ride into a tree well.
I can’t think of a better way for a
motorcyclist to make the most of the
winter blues and look forward to
getting out again next year. And with
some practice, I might even try some
high marking, with a guide of course.
The Glacier House Resort’s Great
Canadian Snowmobile Tours rents
snowmobiles from November through
to May. For more info about snowmobile rentals or Glacier House Resort, go
to glacierhouse.com.
Ready to ride on a warm Christmas day in 2006.
most of the day in what we call “beginner’s bowl.” this is a
meadow with lots of rolling hills and deep valleys. i thoroughly enjoyed this area; there were small drops, short but
steep hills to climb and lots of untouched snow to practise
powder turns in. We attempted to go farther back, but were
deterred because the trail had so many whoops on it,
and i found it quite tough to get through these
on the snow bike.
since that day, i have had nothing
but snow bikes on my brain. this
is a fantastic option for the avid
motocross, single-track or street
rider looking for a riding fix in
winter. although the conversion kit isn’t cheap, it’s much
less than a sled, and you can
swap it out each season to
ride. one thing to be aware
of is, if you do plan to get a
setup and swap it each year,
you’ll need to re-valve or adjust
your compression and rebound
on your fork.
if you’ve been looking for offseason riding choices, i would nudge
you to seriously consider this option for
your trail or off-road bike. one other plus to
the snow bikes compared to snowmobiles: it’s lighter,
so it’s easier to dig out and you don’t have to worry about
rolling this thing multiple times if you bail. but don’t get me
wrong – both are incredibly fun and will provide endless
hours of entertainment.
a special thanks to my boss, daniel, for the use of his
KTM Timbersled. Sorry about the missing parts. I’ll find
them when the snow melts.
APRIL 2015 MOTORCYCLE MOJO 47