Coiler

Dream Weaver

A nice sun and cloud day, refreshing after Saturday's monsoons.
Tom, Furio, Dane, and I met at Braemar/Dempsey @ 11:45.
Two hours later we met up with Lee by the sixth switch back.
Temperatures ranged from 6 to plus 2.

Lee navigating snow at the sixth switch back

Creek Boy was up to his usual, diverting water across the hill.
Odd fellow Creek Boy is.  Rumour has it, that by day he teaches ESL here in North Van and by night uses his super powers to move water out of Kilmer Creek.
Once again we foiled his plans by redirecting the water back into Kilmer.  Take that Creek Boy!

Took Tom's way up to the Baden Powell.  From the top we came down Sixth Lick, White Album, Enduro, Marsh, Dream Weaver, Piaster, St Mary's and down Stick Woman (the extended version) to the cars.  Pepper and I rode on home to take Hamish to a Cup Game.

Coiler

There are signs of spring-the huckleberries are showing their buds.

Dane, Lee, me and the dogs.
Another beautiful winter day, +8 by the cars and +2 up top.
Much to our surprise what little snow that was left last week was still there.

We started riding around 1/4 to 12.
It took about 45 min. to build the section below the picnic table.
An excellent improvement over the previous line
(the wrist breaker).
There's still some work to do above the road, maybe next week.

Coiler

Tom, Dane, Lee, me and the dogs.
Beautiful sunny day +6 by the cars and -1 up top (775m)
Almost all of the snow from three weeks ago has melted/rained away.

A noon start -up BLT to North Shore and across Coiler.  We scouted out a new line below the picnic table and did some clearing where Furio crashed a few weeks earlier.

Pisaster

Tom, Dane, me and the dogs.

A snowy ride up. We went the long way to Baden Powel and as far as Pink Starfish (560m).
There was only 5cm of snow, but too slippery to ride up, so we made the most of the last of Pisaster.
The snow was lot easier to ride down!

Oilcan

Lee, Manny, Dane, me and the dogs, met at noon at the top of Dempsey.  But because of the recent rains we decided to drive over to Upper Lynn and ride up the road to the start of Oilcan.  

The snow started at the bottom of Sixth Lick and began in earnest at Oilcan.  The way down was only slippery on the icy bits (which were relatively easy to miss).  We did some ditching on Crossover, down Seventh, and along Leopard to Griffin.  Boy was it dark!  Given the easterly aspect, time of year, low cloud cover and late afternoon-the headlights almost came out.  

It was great fun to ride some bigger stuff.

Distance: 14km
Max Elevation: Start of Oilcan- 740m
Trail Maintenance: The usual, removed dead fall and some water management.

Coiler

Furio, Dane, Manny, Lee, me and the dogs.

We started riding  around 12.  Ran into snow at 475m, but only had to push a short distance to the gate by the highway. This weeks 'ride' up North Shore was more of a grovel (the rained-on snow proved to be overly challenging).  The pushing continued over the top until we stated descending.

I packed the shovel, which we used to divert water off the trail below the picnic table.
Later, on the last section, we made some needed improvements to a short bluffy stretch of trail. More trail maintenance would help, on the very next descent Furio went ass-over-tea-kettle, breaking his brake lever. Bummer.

The day was dry and sunny at a pleasant -1.  Excellent winter riding!

Manny taking a well deserved rest