Photo Epic: Mayhem at the Farwell Canyon 420
The infamous William’s Lake/Red Shreds 420 weekend has been going on since anyone can remember to welcome the start of bike season. This year, amongst a gathering of over a hundred people from all parts of the world, a band of misfits including Kenny Smith, Alex Pro, Fraser Newton, and Margus Riga journeyed up for 24 hours of mayhem. This is what went down.
Band of misfits. Left to right: Fraser Newton, Quinn Hanley, Alex Pro, John Rempel, Kenny Smith, Jonas Lomax, and not in the photo: Kevin Bartowski.
Redneck 101. Get a Dodge. The older, the better.
Kenny Smith and Alex Pro discuss the finer details of BC's backroad maps.
Lillooet pit stop to pray we all live through the weekend.
Calm before the storm.
Kenny and Alex knew of a shortcut backroad all the way to 420. Only problem with it was the snow we encountered about thirty-minutes in. Three inches of lift, will only get you so far. This is where we turned around.
All backroads start at Coyote Dr.
Morning coffee game... weak, but strong.
Fraser Newton's coffee game... stronger than mine.
Basecamp.
Kenny surveys the possibilities.
Morning meeting of the minds.
Lunch-making station.
Helmets: Check. Everybody wearing only black: Check.
Send it budday!
No hike, no ride.
Skid break.
Alex dropping in blind. Way steeper than it looks.
Alex dropping down into the creek bed line.
Jonas Lomax.
Linehunter.
Quinn Hanley finds another new line inside the hoodoos.
Fraser Newton following suit.
Jonas Lomax didn't crack a smile all weekend. Maybe it's because all the lines were so serious.
With the main line in the canyon shut down because a Hoodoo had fallen down the chute, we decided to explore other options. Kenny exploring his options.
Ride or die or just die.
Kenny.
Alex.
Quinn.
The riding here is only good in the spring and fall when the ground still has moisture. After the spring the desert climate dries everything into concrete.
"How far did you say Doerfling hiked up here to ride this line?" "Oh, up there eh?". "Ok, we're going in from ten feet higher." Kenny and Alex.
This chute was so steep the only other way down besides riding it was on a shovel.
"Doerfling who?"
Big mountain lines for big mountain thrills.
Across the valley there were mellower options. I think they were called trails.
Shuttle pick up point.
Alex dropping into arguably the most famous line out here... Godsmack.
Fraser.
Godsmack.
Scope and...
...drop.
Alex following Kenny down the last section of Godsmack.
Jonas.
"Just one more chute."
It ain't a redneck party without someone jumping through the fire.
Wergk'd.
Recycling game was strong at 420.
Master of ceremonies: Mark "Shreddie" Savard.
Hauser...aka James Doerfling.
Until next year.
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that stuff is undrinkable....
Excellent photos btw!
Agreed! Amazing photos but I don’t think it really captured what the Farwell 420 weekend really is; a huge group of insanely good riders from all over the PNW coming together to shred some gnarly terrain, drink beers and just have an all around great time.