Video: An Unorthodox MTB Route in Squamish in 'Chasing Trail - Mount Habrich'

“Squamish BC is an epicenter of Mountain Biking in North America… no doubt you’ve heard of it, but the question is are there any trails or loops that haven’t been ridden by the committed locals or the hordes of summer visitors yet?” - Kevin Landry

I’ve been lucky enough to live in Squamish for close to 20 years. Originally from Toronto in Eastern Canada, I transplanted to British Columbia’s coastal mountains for the incredible mountain biking and [sometimes] pretty good skiing. Over the last 20 years, I’ve seen Squamish evolve from ‘the rough logging town you didn’t want to stop in on your way to Whistler’ to ‘the town where the riding is so good, why bother driving the extra 45 minutes to Whistler’.



Now old Squamish, with its rougher edges, Sthil suspenders and cork-boots-in-the-pub certainly had its charm, while newer Squamish is a vibrant community full of committed and passionate mountain sports athletes. The loggers are still here and shred super hard too. No matter your sport, be it mountain biking, skiing, rock climbing, trail running, hunting, moto, snowmobiling, or kite surfing, there is someone here who is better than you, left earlier, went further, went faster, and rode it/skied it/climbed it before you did.

I’m not complaining here. Being surrounded by people and a culture built around ‘getting after it’ is inspiring, forcing one to look a bit further to find ‘unique rides’.




THE PREMISE
Summer 2022 was abnormally hot and dry and, with a large community of shredders and visitors, to say the trails were a bit ‘blown out’ would qualify as the understatement of the decade. Berms turned to piles of talcum powder and you’d need to leave a 20-30 second gap between riders just for the dust to settle.

To find decent conditions, and avoid ripping the valley’s trails to shreds, required a different approach to ride planning. Bonus points if we could do an epic ride that didn't require any driving or truck shuttling… enter Mount Habrich.



THE RIDE
Habrich is a granite tower that sits at 1800m/5900ft above my house and is crisscrossed with hiking trails, climber access trails, and trials moto trails. From 800m down to 200m(ish) is a mountain bike trail network built primarily on granite rock. Linking something up from my house through this area and back through the mountain bike trails directly to the Backyard Pub had the potential to be an incredible day in the hills. Granted the route was a bit unorthodox…

The plan was to link up a mish-mash of portions of different routes; fire road climb, ski touring ascents, ridgetop hiking trails, climber access trails, and trials moto trails, which would lead us right to the top of the mountain bike trail network.

On the map it looked great, and in reality, it was great… but just a bit harder than we expected, in fact, we ran out of light by the time we got to the actual bike trails and ripped the fire road in darkness directly to the pub.




Story: Kevin Landry
Rider: Kevin Landry, Joel Ducrot
Photos: Margus Riga