The Smith Rock Ascent Race Report
The Smith Rock Ascent is a trail race that is organized in Smith Rock State Park, Oregon. A few months ago a friend made myself and Spring aware of this race and we got stoked to run it. Not only was it in a place that has world class rock climbing, which we love also, it was also in Oregon, a beautiful state in the US we’d been hoping to explore for quite a while. We planned a road trip from our home of Squamish, BC down to Oregon for 7 days. The race would be on the 3rd day. We awoke on the morning of the race to Semi-Trucks revving their engines at a rest stop. The previous two days had been jam-packed with exploring some beaches and waterfalls and a lot of driving. Spring exclaimed: “This is probably the worst way I’ve prepared for a race ever!”. Our legs were stiff from sitting in the car and we’d gotten no sleep that night due to vehicles passing in and out of this rest stop. It wasn’t the best place to sleep but both of us were so tired the previous night that continuing to drive would have been too dangerous. We were about a 45 minute drive from the starting line so we headed out, stopping for coffee and a pastry along the way for breakfast. Not an awesome race morning combo I know. We pulled into Smith Rock and parked. We still had plenty of time before our race started so we went about collecting our bib numbers, getting changed into our running gear, filling our running vests with Hammer Gels and water. By the time we’d joined everyone else at the starting line we both felt pretty awake and ready to go. The energy was electric. A few days prior I’d gone to a free talk on fuelling for athletes given by our friend Paul at UPrise Performance Camps. He mentioned that some people have had success with taking a gel a few minutes before a race if they haven’t had breakfast. I hadn’t had much of anything to eat so I decided to take a gel before starting. A few minutes later the starting countdown began and you could almost feel everyone revving their internal engines. Go! I started out well. I tried to stay with the front 20% of runners. The course followed the Crooked River for a while before ascending a steep road. Thankfully this was in the shade. I ended up speed walking it which worked good as I passed quite a few people doing the uphill running trot which...
“Spring Rush” Trail Race Recap
Every time I have ever driven through the Kelowna area, gazing at the dry, sagebrush covered hillsides, I have dreamt of running there. So I was pretty stoked to get the chance to run “Spring Rush” on April 25 in Kelowna. Not only is the race named after me (you may have to fact check that with the race director), but the race would wind through the very hills I have long dreamt of running. The event is located a ten minute drive from Bear Creek Provincial Park, which came in very handy for camping the night before. With such a short drive from the start line it meant I didn’t need to get up too early on race day. When I arrived at the start line the morning of, the tents were just being set up. Despite the flurry of activity I wanted to take a minute to meet Rene Unser, the race director, as I have seen so much of her through social media and have heard so many wonderful things about her. She said hello with a big warm hug and was bubbling with excitement! All I could notice was the huge smile on her face and how eager she was to share her local trails with everyone that day. This race was tough, tougher than I thought it was going to be. I am not sure what I was expecting, in fact I didn’t actually research much about the actual course before running it. There was a quick glance of the elevation profile, but apart from that I was just so stoked to run the race that I didn’t pay much attention to anything else. I had no knowledge of when the big hill was coming or of the endless switchback descents. Everything was a surprise and in the end I kind of liked it that way. If you are reading this though you probably want to know a little bit about the course, so I’ll share some of it with you. The course is flowy, runnable, dreamy singletrack. But don’t let that fool you, there is some serious climbing to be done on these trails and it is the runnable nature of the trail that makes this race tough. When you are used to technical uphill running, like I am on the west coast, you get used to slowing down a lot. This terrain, however kept you running, even when it was steep. You are convinced that since the path under your feet is not technical there is no reason to slow down, so you push harder. Then there was “the monster climb”. This is the part of...
Instameet at the Sea to Sky Gondola
I am getting very excited, in less than two weeks I’ll be hosting my first Instameet. There are already some fantastic folks from Instagram signed up ready to have fun on the trails. Everyone is welcome! Come hit the trails with us, have some laughs and take some photos along the way. If you want to join in the fun please make sure to email me at [email protected] so that I can make sure to keep in touch and update everyone on possible changes. I am also stoked to announce that the Instameet is being supported by Hammer Nutrtion Canada, Ra Energy, Arc’teryx and the Sea to Sky Gondola!! Come hang out! When: 9:00am May 2, 2026 (rain or shine) Where: Sea to Sky Gondola, Squamish, BC (Basecamp). We will be hiking the Sea to Summit trail to the lodge at the top to take in the views. Don’t forget to bring your $10 download fee for the Gondola ride down. Why: To spend time on the beautiful local trails and have some fun! How: Run, Hike, Skip….it doesn’t matter, let’s all get moving together on the trails! Who: Everyone is welcome! Special Info: The Sea to Sky Gondola has offered a bag drop for our group, so bring a change of clothes and they will deliver it to the top for you! Once at the top we will be able to enjoy a complimentary beverage from the cafe in the lodge or on the balcony and take in the views over the Howe Sound. See you all out...
The Cap Crusher Race Report
Recently we ran in and completed a trail race called the “Cap Crusher“, the first running event of the year in the Coast Mountain Trail Series. This would also be our personal first race of the year and for Leigh likely his 5th total time running this year. It starts and ends in Capilano Regional Park, right near the immense Cleveland Dam. It’s name is very appropriate; “Cap” for Capilano and “Crusher” for the fact that this course will crush your quads. It climbs ~800m’s (2600ft) over a short 13km’s. There is an 8km variant to the course (named the toughest 8k in Canada) but we both chose to run the longer distance. Here is our individual experiences with this race: Leigh: So I’ve raced very little in the past. The Cap Crusher would be my 4th time running in any sort of organized race, ever. But, in 2015 I’d like to increase my base running fitness. Off the couch I’d like to be able to do +30km trail runs in the mountains easily. To help motivate myself this year I’ve signed up to run a bunch of races. So, we arrived at the starting line for the Cap Crusher early and picked up our bib numbers. There was a slight chill in the air coming across Capilano lake. In the distance I could see the snow capped summits of the Lions. Immediately we started recognizing faces and saying hello to the people we knew. The energy in the crowd waiting to start running was palpable. Gary Robbins, the Race Director, gave his speech about the course and then the countdown began. If you’ve raced before you likely know the energy in the crowd at this point, but if you haven’t I can only explain it this The energy is electric. It’s almost like you can feel everyones heart-rates start to increase as the countdown reaches zero. The main challenge at this point is controlling the urge to just sprint when you hear them shout “Go!”. Inevitably, there’s always a few in the pack that sprint out ahead, riding a wave of stoke that they hope will carry them to the finish line. Within 500m’s these early starters have usually slowed right down and begin to get passed. For myself, I tried to maintain a slow starting pace, but I knew I didn’t want to get caught up in the back 70% which would choke up and stall as the course narrowed to uphill, single-track trails. I ran harder at first to stay with the front pack until everyone started spreading out and then settled in to a slower...
Learning to Ski Steeps with “Extremely Canadian”
This year myself and Spring at Pebbleshoo have set ourselves the goal of training and educating ourselves a lot more in regards to the activities we’re interested in. Being honest it has felt like our ski game has been stuck in 2nd gear for a while now. We both took an intro to skiing a few years ago, learning how to do a downhill wedge and ski bunny hills but apart from that we’ve been simply trying to teach ourselves the proper technique. It hasn’t worked. So recently we had the opportunity to take a 2 day Steep Skiing Clinic with Extremely Canadian out of Whistler. Our expectations with this clinic were to go from being cautious skiers capable of linking a few turns down black diamond runs to feeling confident on double black diamonds and skiing more fluidly and aggressively. Day 1: Our Mettle was really tested on the first day. It was awesome! It was a slow progression through the day of skiing steeper and steeper snow. First, after meeting our guides at the Whistler Base, we did a warmup ski run so our instructors could determine our competency and expectations. After watching our ski form we were split into groups and myself, Spring and two others were assigned to Extremely Canadian guide Peter. First up we did some laps on a groomed blue run so Peter could watch us and give us advice on how to improve our form. For balance we practiced picking our uphill ski off the snow while we completed a turn. I found this incredibly helpful right away and realized my balance was all wrong. Peter was great with giving individual advice to each of us to help us iron out our own specific issues. Next we practiced pole planting form. Something we’ve been sorely neglecting and it was definitely needed. From there, after warming up and some guidance, we cranked it up a notch and hit our first black diamond run, Whistler Bowl. We’d never skied it before but Peter was great with getting us into it safely. Skiing Moguls, but not as we knew it We did a few laps of Whistler Bowl, working on a few different techniques while getting used to the steeper angle. One of the techniques that stood out for me was skiing on top of moguls rather than between them. I was so focused before on trying to stay in the runnels between the moguls that I’d never thought to just ski the bumps on top of the moguls. The rest of the day was a mix of exploring the various bowls on Whistler Mountain and skiing steep...
The Amazing ACC Clubhouse in Canmore
Bottom Line: The Alpine Club of Canada Clubhouse in Canmore is a hostel like no other we’ve ever seen. We almost don’t want to let the secret out about this place as we want to keep it to ourselves. But that wouldn’t be fair. If you are staying in Canmore for it’s access to adventures and want to immerse yourself in mountain culture then you simply have to book a stay at the ACC Clubhouse. Observations: We’d heard rumours on the grapevine of some well furnished, cozy cabins on the outskirts of Canmore filled with the positive vibes of mountain people featuring spectacular views of the surrounding mountains, for the low price of $36 a night ($25 for ACC members). We had to check it out! We’ve been members of the ACC and we’ve visited a few of the Cabins they maintain in the mountains on the West Coast. Something that always strikes us about them is how comfortable they are considering where they are located and how cheap they are to stay in. We’ve stayed in other Cabins in the mountains that are sometimes nothing more than a wooden garden shed, with shelves to lie on. Hey, when you are moving in the mountains you appreciate any kind of shelter you can get. The ACC Cabins that we’ve stayed in though have always gone above and beyond in providing facilities and comfort in really wild locations like high ridge crests or at isolated alpine lakes. We had a trip to the Rockies planned so we wanted to see what the ACC would offer at their Clubhouse in Canmore, which is near a large town, but still in a pretty wild location, located a few kilometres outside of town, nestled in the trees below Grotto Mountain. More than simply a Hostel. What I found did not dissappoint. I’ve stayed in “Hostels” in Europe and they can tend to have a bad name for being noisy, crowded and not relaxing. They are somewhere you crash after a night of partying. I did that through my 20’s and while affordable, I didn’t get much sleep there. Now in my 30’s I’m motivated to sleep well, get to bed early and get up and out before dawn to make use of the daylight in the mountains. The ACC Clubhouse is a different type of Hostel. It has shared rooms, eating areas and facilities but that’s where the similarities with the City Hostels I’ve stayed in ends. The feel is much more like the mountain cabins that I love to visit now. The views from almost every window are breath taking and inspiring....
