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...
The value of Rest at the Four Seasons Whistler
Bottom Line: The Four Seasons Whistler proves that a Hotel is more than just bricks and mortar, it’s always about the people you meet and interact with that truly affects your experience. The people here made us feel at home and the location is steeped in Whistler history. If you want to rest and recuperate while still hitting the mountain slopes then visit the Four Seasons Whistler. Observations: We recently had the opportunity to visit the Four Seasons Resort in Whistler. Something we’ve been focusing our energy into in 2015 is rest coupled with our training and adventures. By the end of 2014 our bodies were feeling the effects of pushing them constantly for the previous few years with little to no planned rest. Niggling issues were becoming chronic and hampering our ability to progress further in our pursuit of exploring our local mountains. So when the offer came up to spend a night at the Four Seasons Resort in Whistler we gladly accepted. Upon arriving, our first impression that really stood out for us and continued to stand out for the duration of our stay was the manner of the people we’d meet that worked there. It’s always the people. We love Whistler and spend a lot of our time practicing skiing there. We also know that the majority of the people that live and work there are there to ski also. You can feel it when you are buying a coffee or browsing in a shop. Everyone is helpful but you get the sense that they’d rather be skiing. You get used to it as it’s understandable. They are working a job here to facilitate their need to ski. This was not the case at the Four Seasons though. The staff there talked to us, not like Royalty, but like fellow humans. The interest was genuine and sincere. It was frankly astonishing to the point that it stuck with us. I asked Danny, a Manager at the Four Seasons Whistler, about this and he informed me that the Four Seasons goes to Hotel Schools in Australia and England to search for candidates ahead of the upcoming season, be it Winter or Summer. It is in this way that they can find people who love their work and need experience but also want to live somewhere beautiful like Whistler for a season. I thought this was very clever and evident in the standard of service we experienced. Rest and Rejuvenate: Our room was awesome. I don’t know much about decor but it was cozy and comfortable. It looked out on trees which I actually appreciated. After our day of skiing we...
10 Things My First Ultra Taught Me
Technically anything over the marathon distance of 42.2 km (26.2 miles) is classified as an ultra distance. With this in mind it means I officially ran my first ultra trail race in August 2013, when I ran the Squamish 50 50 km (31 miles) trail race. However, it wasn’t until I decided to run my first 80 km (50 mile) trail race that it actually felt like I was entering the ultra arena. This felt monumental and to be honest a little outside of my wheelhouse. But I was committed to running it, not just surviving it, and I tried to focus hard on training. Seeing as I am not a professional and fairly new to the trail running scene, my approach to training, although a little more refined recently, could be called somewhat clumsy and haphazard. I have several sports/hobbies that I like to pursue - rock climbing, mountaineering, ice climbing,skiing - so my attention and energy can be diverted easily. Because of this my training became a bit of a juggling act. I ended up learning a lot while training and running my first ultra. Here are the top 10 things I learned during the process: 1) Run a lot of hills - Yes this means hill repeats. BORING! That’s probably what you are thinking and I know because I thought the exact same thing. In fact I remember one elite trail runner say that you know are deep into training season when you have a fair share of boring runs. Yes, not every run is going to be about having fun but about pushing you outside of your comfort zone. Besides if you are anything like me, slightly masochistic as most long distance runners are, you will find joy in these training runs too! 2) Run back to back long runs -The LSD (long slow distance) is the trademark of endurance runners. Spending a lot of time on your feet, not worrying so much about the actual distance covered, but about the hours you spend out there. So run a big 6-8 hour run on Saturday and get ready to run at least another 2-4 hours on Sunday. Let your body know your mind is in control and you are running whether the body protests or not; run on tired legs. 3) Eat a lot while running, even when you don’t want to - I learned this when I let a podium finish slip through my fingers because I didn’t focus on getting calories into my body early on in the race. It was only when my friend, who was keeping pace with me that day,...
Sky Pilot Race Recap
From reading some of our past posts you may have realized that the Sky Pilot is one of our favorite mountains around Squamish. It’s a spectacular alpine area where backcountry adventure is around every corner. So when we heard that the Coast Mountain Trail Series was bringing a trail race to this area, we knew we had to run it! The inaugural race was scheduled for September 21, which could mean beautiful fall weather or torrential rain; it could go either way here on the west coast. With the race being set in such a rugged area there was a lot of trail building happening weeks before the race. Everyone involved in creating this race wanted to make it a unique mountain running experience. The excitement was building when there was talk of roped sections, boulder fields and ridge running. However,days before the race, the endless summer sunshine we had been experiencing changed to the autumnal rains, which meant all of the fresh new trail became streams of mud. The steep trails were now too wet to run and it would be too risky to send all of the runners out onto this terrain. But if I have learnt anything about the Coast Mountain Trail Series races, it’s that they do not disappoint, and with literally hours before the start of the race, a change of route was put in place. They were going to make sure everyone got the mountain running experience they promised! This was some of the rugged mountain trail. Mt. Habrich from the summit point of the race. Checking out the view from the summit. We showed up to the starting line, on a sunny blue bird day at the top of the Sea to Sky Gondola, not totally sure of the new route and curious where exactly it was going to take us. Leigh and I were running this one together and decided to run it as a fun run. No need to race, just enjoy the new course, take a few photos along the way and revel in the scenery. As usual the starting area was buzzing with the energy of runners antsy to start, one of my favorite parts of racing. Just feeding off of that energy can carry you for miles! And we needed that energy to carry us. This course was unforgiving in its ascent. Starting on the tame and gentle uphill Sky Pilot ridge trail, we would eventually be taken straight up to a ridge that connected to Mt. Habrich. Running or rather power hiking up steep, loose, duff covered forest trail, straight onto a boulder field. Crossing the...
