Kirt Voreis' Heli Drop on Rainbow Mountain in Whistler

Words by Kirt Voreis
Photos by Anthony Smith

Whistler is the best place to challenge yourself on a mountain bike. There are so many trails within minutes of the village, and while I've ridden a handful of them I've never had a chance to ride Rainbow Mountain. At Crankworx this year Anthony Smith hit me up and asked if my filmer, Doug Jambor, and I would like to join him for a heli drop and of course we said yes! I figured it would be fun, but I didn't consider how challenging it might be.



The view from the heli flying up to the trailhead was clogged with a bit of smoke from local fires, but still was spectacular and would make for moody photo backdrops. Once out and at the trail head, the first glimpse of what we were diving into was a bit frightening, especially for Doug with his 40lb camera bag on! I was a little concerned too, knowing I would soon be flying down the trail blind while Anthony waited ahead to snap shots of me.



The trail was tough to ride. Not because it was too steep or too rough, because it was a basically a 2 foot deep powder filled bobsled run filled with roots and boulders! It was so hard to keep balanced and not steer off into the bushes! I had a couple of can't stops that lead to full on bush cartwheels!! I couldn't stop laughing from being terrified riding down the trail, haha!! So many rad features and views, it would've taken a week to shoot everything.






I'm really stoked I got a chance to ride Rainbow. Doug even had a smile on his face at the bottom, although it was a struggle in some sections with his bag! Thanks to Anthony and Bike for the invite!! I would suggest this to anyone looking for a good trail battle and some great views!