Happy Holidays eh

Hey riders? How's it going? Wishing you all a fantastic holiday season filled with cosy fires, good friends and family, some all-time meals and a few drinks too.

Oh yea...

Why not grab your big bike and join us on the Pura Vida DH trip in Costa Rica this winter? The Godfather of mountain biking, Wade Simmons is the guide. March 2-10, 2007 is FULL and we have spots left on March 11-19, 2007. Let's go!

Big Mountain has just signed on with Sombrio outerwear. We're proud to be rolling in the best riding gear available.

Road biking? Yep, it's true. We've just re-launched our sister company's new site: Check it out: http://cycleventures.com/

Here's to a steep and dirty 2007!

Cheers! Chris

Good times

I just stumbled upon this shot today, I love it. I think that it nicely sums up why we ride. From left to right: Alain Bonnefoy, Paulo Valle, Peter Schwartz, Francois Panchard, Evan "Little Goat" Schwartz, Joe Schwartz and Wade "Chimonez" Simmons.

People Magazine, sorta...

Monsieur Raphael is in People Magazine...check it out!

World Champion!

Big Mountain guide Raphael Faiss kicked major bike messenger ass at the 14th annual Cycle Messenger World Championships in Sydney Australia on October 23rd. Yep, he won the main event and has been crowned World Champion! To determine the World Champion the main race involves a gruelling drop/pick checkpoint race on a closed course. You have to be able to think as fast as you can ride. Now we know why he was so strong this summer while guiding our Cloudraker trip...Raphael is on fire!

Raphael co-owns Velocite Courier in Lausanne, Switzerland. Check it out: http://velocite.ch/new/
Results of the CMWC: http://cmwc.sydbma.org/

Congratulations Raf!

Ride Guide TV, Disneyland and other treats...

What's up? We're pumped...watch Global television across Canada on Saturday, October 21 (tomorrow eh) to see an epic episode on Big Mountain in Switzerland. Double check local listings for times. The segment will be airing internationally in 60 countries in the coming months. Yeehaw!
I'm off to Squamish and Big Red Ted's place this morning...going on a ride with my friends from Chromag Bikes (http://www.chromagbikes.com) and the posse from Whistler and Squampton! Psyched!!! We are going to hit Disneyland in Britania Beach and im riding my Trek Session 10 which might kill me on the climbs but we'll see. I'll be back with tales and photos from a epic ride with an epic crew...
Oh yea, this sweet fall riding photo is of Joe Schwartz and Amael Donnet in zee Alps a few weeks ago...pinning it!
Laters, Chris.

Back in BC

Slowly adjusting to life back in beautiful BC. It's very nice to be home...cool moist air and leaves on the ground! Schwartzy and me nailed a few killer days in the Valais between finishing our road bike trip in Tuscany and flying home from Geneva. Yes, that's right, road biking. This is a whole other story...that i'll tell you about later. Anyhow, we busted out of Italy, popped into the Kona Europe headquarters in Monte Carlo to drop off a bike and then pinned up to the Hotel La Vallee, our home near Verbier and surrogate family. We are treated so well there it's insane. A big thanks to the Pelletier family! The fall weather was prime in the Alps: cool in the morning and warming up to the low 20's c by mid-day. Perfect for riding. We hooked up with a posse of rippers: guide Francois Panchard, writer Amael Donnet, photographer Christophe Margot and Red Bull atheletes Rene Wildhaber and Phil Meier. Rene is one of the worlds top endurance DH racers and a former top 10 racer on the Word Cup - won Peru this year and the Mega Avalanche at Alpe D'Huez. Phil is a pro skier based in Verbier. Needless to say we had a wicked time!!! They were doing a story for Red Bull and we luckily joined them for a few days.

Check out these links of wicked panorama photos taken by Panchard:

http://www.arolle.com/redbull/pano/tseuzier.php
http://www.arolle.com/redbull/pano/rhonegletscher.php

Joe is back in Nelson for a few weeks before heading over to Thailand for a month to join his woman. Nice! I'll be here in Vancouver and Whistler and Pemberton...planning trips for 2007 and beyond and watching the snow line creep down the coast mountains. Talk to you soon...and happy riding eh.

Chris.

Life in the fast lane.

Hey there. I'm sitting in a hotel room in Rome Italy right now, it's raining out...im thinking back to summertime on my mountain bike in the Swiss Alps. Yes, it was good, really good. To the riders who came over and joined us this summer - CHEERS! Thanks for joining us. All of our trips were a total success. Of course there were a few falls, some minor injuries, a few snowy rides...but all in all our summer in the Alps was unreal. We have so many good photos too, im pumped. Here are just a few little nuggets from each trip...enjoy.
Also, a HUGE HUGE thanks to our guides this summer: Raphael Faiss, Al Pittar, Paulo Valle, Francois Panchard, Wade Simmons and Joe Schwartz. Without your help we would not have been able to pull it off!
What's next for Big Mountain? Stay tuned...we have just finallized our 2007 Swiss Alps line up and it looks tastier than ever. We'll have these up on the site very soon.
Happy riding eh...talk to you soon.
Chris.