Alaska, The Last Frontier: The largest state in the USA guarantees you an adventure with its rugged landscape and unforgiving climate. We heard an endless number of tales from the locals of people dying out in the wild. Kelly McGarry, Eric Porter and Chris VanDine put the rubber to the ground in a state which is still largely untouched by freeride mountain bikers.
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 A huge thanks to Gravity Components, CLIF bar, Jason Motyka (who owns most of the businesses in Healy) and our fearless guide from Downhill Addictions, Carlos Crowl. Drop him a line at info(at)akdownhill.com to experience the best of AK on mountain bikes. You can check out some videos of the trip on the Gravity website (link at bottom) |
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| SKINNY DlCK'S HALFWAY INN - This place raises quite a few eyebrows. It's a Roadhouse about an hour outside of Fairbanks. The warning sign is no joke. |
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| This massive mountain side we scoured hid a secret little stash of hoodoos and shark fins. Nothing really lined up, but we had to make something happen with such a cool feature. A long day of side cutting a run in helped Porter pull off a surf inspired cutback at the top of the fin as the edge crumbled down the vertical face on the other side. |
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| What you can't see in this hipped pocket step-down photo is that the run in is literally 2.5 bike lengths long. The guys started off with a track stand and squeezed in a pedal stroke before having to lift off. Kelly cracked a flattie on his second go. |
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| Long hair, backlit... this setting was made for McGazza, shot on the road where Christopher McCandless' journey started. |
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| This was the closest we got to seeing a Grizzly bear. Probably a good thing. |
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| One of the longer descents Kelly McGarry had on deck ended with a vertical wall, perfectly aligned for a step-down. All we had to do was buff in a run in and she was good to go. Nothing beats the usage of natural big mountain terrain. |
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| We discovered a zone with extensive opportunities for long steep ski style descents. We played the waiting game to try and bag some shots here with long backlit dust trails, but the weather shut us down forcing us to shoot in sub-par conditions. The flat light diminished the fin-like features that bordered the descents we had picked out. In an effort to bring the terrain back to life, I strapped a camera body onto Kelly McGarry's chest and fired it remotely as he rode down behind Eric Porter. This is a prime example of a time when you roll into an area with pre-scouted shot angles but end up having to adapt on the fly due to uncontrollable circumstances. The first run didn't go so well as I had the camera angled too low. I hiked Kelly's bike back up the steep mountain because Porter's bike was lighter, and we nailed it on the second attempt. |
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| Right off the main highway in Cantwell, Alaska was this abandoned four story igloo hotel. It was built in the 1970's, but the hotel never opened due to building code violations. The interior was unfinished with signs of heavy vandalism and pitstop use, but provided us with sheets of plywood to create a lip and LZ. VanDine was towed in so he'd have enough speed to highmark the igloo. When he had the speed figured out, it started to rain turning the surface into an ice rink, guess it was an igloo after all. He managed to bust out some tables and even tried to ride up and over the 2nd story window. That attempt didn't end too pretty as his bike tagged the apex of the roof and fell straight down as he somehow hung onto the igloo, saving himself from a nasty fall. |
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| Sleeping in a ten person army tent, camping and roughing it to keep the budget under control... it sounded like a text book experience for all of us outdoors men. We raced inside the tent and unrolled our thermarests and sleeping bags to claim our ground. Some pimped their quarters with an extra layer of foam while others splurged for the Ritz Carlton way, upgrading to a fold out camping cot. Upon re-entering the super-canvas on our first night, we had a cold and dank welcoming due to a torrential downpour that flooded the ground and soaked every piece of sleeping gear we had. Everyone had overlooked the holes in the tent, sending VanDine and Porter into the trailer where the bikes were stored. I decided to switch over to the Ford-Seasons (F-350) while Kelly McGarry who knows a thing or two about really roughing it took it like a man, making the soggy quarters his bitch for the entire trip. |
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| VanDine's choice of weapon for taming the beasts of Alaska was created using "Japanese military BallisTec carbon fibre". At the time, Cannondale only had 2 prototypes of the space-age Jekyll, so CVD was handcuffed to his bike as if it was his first born child. After a 10 hour scout day fueled only by Clif bars, his mind was overridden with thoughts of bison meatloaf. He impatiently rushed off to the pub before the rest of the crew even had a chance to remove their helmets. We took full advantage of his vulnerable state and hid his unlocked bike high up in a tree... and locked it. VanDine isn't known as someone who panics or worries much about any situation, so we witnessed quite an unfamiliar show. |
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| This was one of two golden light action sessions we were provided with. It's funny how the light always fires early on in a trip when we're out scouting and building the goods. The dirt in this zone is what we all dream of. Endless scoops of chocolate fudge with an absence of roots and rocks. It didn't take us long to build an A-line inspired line with chicanes connecting lofty jumps which overlooked the valley. Here's McGazza padding his air miles. |
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| 'No Room for Error' - The trail name sums this one up! The fall foliage and exposure on the left put this trail high up on the hit list for a bagful of whoppers. |
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| Aurora Borealis - Northern Lights - The most mind blowing natural light display I've ever seen. With all the talks of AK's magnificent light show, we had our camera gear ready with anticipation every clear night. It wasn't until the final evening on our drive to the airport that we were able to witness the sky spew a heavy dose of the green stuff in true AK form. The trip couldn't have ended on a better note! Even saw an Arctic fox on the side of the highway prior to the show. |
Check out
Harookz website here Check out the videos from this trip on the
Gravity website.
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