Blog

The sun is setting a bit earlier, the leaves are turning brilliant yellows and reds, and the northern lights are starting to dance above yurtville. Sylvain was able to get a great shot of the main yurt all lit up and cozy, with a band of fluorescent green lighting up the sky above. Pretty cool! http://twitpic.com/2iooxa

We have some cool packages in the works for 2011. Our Ride and Reach retreat with pro rider and extraordinary person Ryan Leech was a huge success this year. So, we are going to run another one next year! Dates are July 3 - 9, 2011. If you are interested, please contact us via .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) for more information. Another package we are pretty excited about is a mountain bike photography learning retreat with one of the best mountain bike photographers in the business, Dan Barham. While the details are still being worked out, generally it will involve you, your camera, Dan’s expertise, wicked riding, yurtville fun and all meals and transport. Pretty sweet! As soon as we figure out details like dates and prices, we will let you know.

We will also be doing a women’s retreat, complete with instruction and fun rides on all the singletrack that flows through southern Yukon. Good times!

All the guides from Boréale were able to convene on Monday to do a ride that defines the over used word “EPIC”. An 85 kilometre backcountry ride in the wilds of Kluane National Park. Kluane is 1.5 hours west of Whitehorse and is home to the mammoth Mount Logan, the mighty St. Elias mountain range and the healthiest population of grizzly bears in the world. The ride was intense, taking our tough riders about 12.5 hours through the alpine, sub-alpine and through countless creeks.

Will this be included in 2011 packages? Jury is still out on this one. It is definitely backcountry and definitely mind blowing! Please check out our twitter account for some pictures.

I just took the thermometre out into the sun. So far it is reading +35 degrees! Main yurt is feeling a bit like a yurt oven right now. The hot, dry weather is supposed to continue all week! Sylvain has spent the day tuning all the Norco Fluids for a big day in the alpine tomorrow. Hopefully we will get some good shots to share on our facebook page. Check it out for all the updates!

Professional photographer Dan Barham has just left after a week of mtb photography in the Yukon. The weather cooperated and I think we can expect to see a few Yukon shots grace the covers of mtb magazines in the near future. Keep a look out!

We have a little over one month to go for our 2010 season and it has been great. Tonnes of new faces from all over North America coming North to check out the riding. One of my favourite parts of the business is watching the evolution of “Yukon Time” for our clients from down south. Life is pretty laid back up in the Yukon, mostly due to our endless days of sunshine. We aren’t in a rush! It is cool to watch how quickly people start getting in the groove of ‘it will happen when it happens’.

Another busy week coming up for Team Boréale. Good times!

We’ve been riding with Dan all week, showing him some of our highlights for singletrack around here. I do find it amusing that we take him to spots that we, as riders, think are beautiful and picture worthy and he just rolls on by without a glance. Then, in the middle of apparent nothing-ness he stops and says “I can shoot here”. When we get back to the yurts and check out the pictures - they are amazing! As Tony said earlier today, that is why he is the professional and we are not. If you are ever searching for a photographer that has the eye for perfection, contact Dan. Great guy!

Today we shot on Montana Mountain on a trail called Mountain Hero. In the alpine for hours and then descended through various stages of the boreal forest ecosystem. It is an amazing trail, hard work greatly rewarded by fast downhill singletrack. Sylvain showed us a few new spots today on the downhill, including a 1910’s silver miner’s outhouse with a stunning view of endless mountains and lakes. Wow!!

I think we successfully capped the day with a maple syrup fondue and a glass of wine. Oh so civilized!