"It takes three days a week for me to come in here and build a road like this, but just a few hours for Mother Nature to come in and take it back without even breaking a sweat," hollered our guide and the owner of Peak Adventures, Steve Matthews, over the roar of the snowcat. His arms moved quickly pulling on the levers in front of him that controlled the cat.
Sparky, a radio executive from Spokane, Washington, and I had joined Steve in the cab of the "back-up" cat for the long haul down the mountain. The ten seat snowcat we had ridden in all day was behind us with the rest of the crew. It was well after dark and the yellow and red warning lights on the top of the snowcat were spinning round and round throwing me into a hypnotic trance, as I watched the light bounce off of the 15 foot powdery banks and the snow covered trees. The deafening roar of the cat, the non-stop snow, the lights flashing in the darkness, and our exhaustion from the incredible day we had just experienced made the drive down seem almost dream-like as we headed toward Cataldo, Idaho--the beginning point for Peak Adventures. Located just 65 miles east of Spokane, Washington, Peak Adventures is a catboarding operation that opens up the St. Joe National Forest in the Bitteroot Mountain Range to backcountry enthusiasts. For a fair price, powder seekers in search of virgin turns can get onto a cat with long time extreme snowboarders Steve Matthews and Terri Rengstorff, and venture into some excellent Idaho terrain without a lot of hassle. I first visited this entertaining couple in January for a level I avalanche course they offered. The class was a eye opening experience, but no catboarding was involved as we work-shopped all day on the side of the cat track learning about surface hoar and digging snow pits. The little taste I got from that day was temptation enough to convince me that I had to come back and ride the place. Tahoe photographer Angie Silvy and I had unsuccessfully planned trips all winter long and kept missing each other. Then she called and said she was coming to check out the Northwest, and surprisingly I was going to be around for a few days. She said she'd bring her roommate, Sims rider Dylan Farr, and I should call a few people and get something going. Enter Elan Bushell, a local rider who makes dropping large rock bands look as easy as taking a morning shower. Also joining us would be Amy Campion, his girlfriend who would prove to us that some girls can stick their cornice drops smoother than most guys. Lucky for us, Steve and Terri had a few open spots that day, but there was a catch--KXLY--a Spokane ABC affiliate television channel would also be filming. Well, we all know how TV can massacre snowboarding if the filmers aren't experienced, but we didn't stress too hard on this little fact. We were going catboarding, so it'd all be good. We started rolling up the mountain at about nine AM. Steve drove the lead snowcat, attempting to clear the road that had received a good couple of inches since the previous day when he was up there. There were ten guests with Peak Adventures that day. Jimbo, who also became known as "Hollywood," was the guy driving the $50,000 camera down the mountain on his skis. We were all in awe of this as the camera did not look light, and the snow was deep. He had organized this little trip for the television station he worked for and brought a few of his friends along to film them having a fun day romping in what he called "a popular new alternative to resorts."
Sparky, the radio exec was a friendly guy in his 40s, who seemed to be a little alternative to the norm with a pierced right ear and on a snowboard. He had been riding for eight years and had never been on skis. Devun was also a snowboarder from Spokane. He was a little younger than his buddies and the crazier of their group. He wore a Briko helmet to prove this and dropped off everything the pros did. His courage didn't seem so surprising after we learned that his hobby was Gelande--long distance ski jumping. Bill, the skier in the quad group, was a doctor from Spokane who was getting married in a few weeks. For his honeymoon he was going to take his fifteen year old kid skiing. Then there was Dave, the local kid. He was a quiet eighteen year old who won the trip with Peak Adventures at a bar-b-que raffle. The lucky guy not only got a free trip, but he got his fifteen minutes of fame on KXLY from that day. Then there was our pack. We weren't an unusual bunch, no green hair or nose piercings, just your everyday average pack of snowboarders who live, breath, and eat snowboarding most of our waking moments. I was the only one who had never been in a cat before. As we reached the summit of Pierson Mountain, I knew this would be my day. The first run was the shortest. A rolling hill with nice big tree wells to play on and a little steep ride down to the next road where the cat was waiting. A good warm up and sampler of what would be next. We were sort of in search of sucker patches of clear sky, but they were far and few in between so Steve drove us to slopes that were tree-filled giving Angie and Jimbo runs they could work with. Many of the runs in the area have been named by Steve, Terri, and their guests with quirky titles that reflected snowboarding thought pattern. There was Whoops, a tree filled run with tons of bumps and stumps to lob off of. Then another area was called Stoker Basin. Bumps, Jumps, and Stumps, also a knolly run with a lot of room for freedom in the trees. There was Sunset Trees, Treelicious, The Three Meadows, She Boogies Basin, and The V. For the most part trees and meadows were our stoke. We tried dropping one cornice for the cameras, but the runout was a little slow and everyone pretty much ate shit. Then in a rare sunshine moment, Amy charged the cornice, popped off the overhang, grabbed her board, and stomped her landing. All were impressed. She was smiling the victory grin. Throughout the day we looked for rocks to practice some Kodak moments, but that search was fairly futile because it had snowed so much this season. Steve informed us that all of the cliffs and rocks that are present in the beginning of the season were pretty much buried so we eventually gave up and kept our eyes out for kicker building terrain. After a few more runs The V was one of our last and longest runs giving us 1,400 feet of vert. While this may not sound like a lot, every second of the run was utilized to the fullest by our group and by the end, no one could deny that their legs weren't burning just a little from cutting up the powder and launching off of rolling mushrooms. We were all snow coated at the bottom from tumbling and face shots
It wasn't until the end of the day that we found the kicker spot. It was at the bottom of The V. A perfect launcher sat intact at the downside lip of the road where the cat had pushed snow into a mound. Less than five minutes of smoothing it out and we had a jump. It was small, but workable. Elan buckled in and rode off it launching a nice, smooth spinner and landed happily in the powder riding away with grace. Dylan followed pulling a 360, which completely stoked Jimbo, the $50,000. Dylan would probably make the evening news in Spokane, but we'll never know 'cause we would all be elsewhere by the time the show aired. The end of or fun came too quickly as it always does when you are tasting fresh powder. We tried to fight it, taking one last run in near darkness. Goggles were more of a hindrance than a help at this point because the tinting made it virtually impossible to see. We dropped for the only time that day, BoarderCross style with reckless abandon. "I don't usually let people do this," Steve informed us. "But 3-2-1 drop." All twelve of us including Steve and Terri raced for the open snow, each trying to get the perfect line that never crossed another track. It was a perfect run. Elan was singing, Jimbo was whooping, everyone was smiling huge like giddy children on Christmas morning. It didn't matter that our eyes were stinging from the cold, or that the tree branches threatened to grab at us in the darkness, we were in powder paradise. Exhausted we stood around at the bottom, no one really talking, just smiling as the cat came crawling down the road toward us. The lights flashing yellow and red, casting our shadows on the quiet trees around us. The snow was falling harder than it had fallen all day. Tomorrow would be a glorious day, but unfortunately we would be gone. We loaded up, everyone getting that one last picture and taking a last look at the darkness surrounding us. |