Photo Story: 'Burgers & Fries' Climbing Route on a MTB

A couple of years ago I had an idea for a photo to ride down a rock slab steep enough that a rock climber could be going up at the same time. With some help from my friend Adam Luu and photographer Clint Trahan we captured a great photo that blew up on social media.


Ever since the original I knew I wanted to do it again but bigger. I'd been looking around for another slab and Burgers & Fries climbing route caught my eye. If you've never rock climbed in Squamish Burgers & Fries is a huge granite cliff located in the Smoke Bluffs park and perhaps one of the most popular routes around.


I returned to the route several more times during the summer and after a lot of thought, I knew I was ready to make it happen. I called up Adam to help me repeal down the face so I could take a better look at the slab and figure out where I needed to ride.


In the photo it might look like a straight forward roll but there's several dips and cracks not to mention multiple climbing anchors protruding out from the rock. After climbing it multiple times I finally found a line I thought was possible.


The next step was to call up my friend Matthew Clough who is a Red Seal Carpenter to help build the transition. After a lot of measuring and some fancy computer sketch-ups (thanks to Anton Urton) we decided on a 14' ramp with a 19' radius. This gave us the perfect height to avoid the vertical bottom and a long enough ramp that was still steep enough to avoid a massive compression. We prepped the ramp the day before so we could quickly carry it in, assemble and do the roll before any climbers showed up.

The next morning, with a lot of help from friends, we loaded up the ramp. carried it though a path and down the stairs to the slab.


Matthew, Anton and Jordan got to work assembling the ramp as I did a final repeal down the face to make sure the rock was clear and the line was good.



Just as we were finishing up the ramp a large group of climbers showed up and let us know it was UBC go climbing day and they were going to use Burgers & Fries. Luckily for us they were all stoked on the idea and decided to let us finish and watch the show.

I had told everyone previously that there was a good chance I would walk away if I didn't feel comfortable once the ramp was built. Standing at the top due to the steepness you couldn't even see the rock face or the transition. I put my gear on and got my bike. Once I was sitting at the top with my bike I knew I could do it. Everyone got into position and after a few very deep breaths I dropped in.


As soon as I had rolled over the edge and committed to the roll I knew it was going to work perfect. The line i'd had chosen was perfect and my tires stayed glued to the rock the entire time. By the bottom I was starting to pick up a huge amount of speed but our ramp was the perfect radius and my suspension didn't even bottom out through the G-Out.


A big thank you to everyone who helped make this happen! Matthew Clough for the carpentry - Anton, Jordan, Blair and Andrew for helping set up the ramp - Adam, YiPik and Ryan for climbing - Travis and Brendan for the photos/videos.

Please note - mountain biking isn't prohibited in the smoke bluffs but isn't recommended, please don't do any filming without permission from the Smoke Bluffs Committee.