This past weekend was the annual Birken-Pemberton 4×4 Rally, which included a road rally, hill climb, mud bog and off road course. My friend and fellow snowmobiler Stephanie competes every year driving her infamous truck, the “Pussywagon”.
Here are some photos I shot over the weekend:
Steph driving in the Mud-Bog.
Driver Stephanie, moral support Pearl, and co-pilot Shanna.
I was beyond stoked when this package arrived on my doorstep last week and a brand new Alpinestars Carbon BNS system was in the box! This is an invaluable piece of equipment that I wear every day I go snowmobiling and DH Biking. You can’t put a price on the health of your C-Spine and surrounding soft-tissue. Since I started wearing this brace a year ago, I no longer suffer whiplash or “huck-neck” while doing drops. I feel naked without it, and it still offers amazing protection while not compromising range of motion or vision. It is incredibly comfortable to wear as well which was why I initially chose this brace over other competitors. If it’s not comfortable you are less likely to use it ever day you go out riding, or you might be sacrificing performance riding. This is definitely not the case.
Here are two POV Videos of me doing sizeable drops with and without the neck brace. The evidence does not lie, and the benefits of the Alpinestars BNS system are quite obvious. The drop I wasn’t wearing the brace I suffered a soft tissue whiplash injury in my neck and spent the next two weeks in pain, extremely stiff and barely able to move my neck.
No neck brace:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eb18AGsCzWI&feature=youtu.be
Using the Alpinestars BNS System:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MdELtv-xhPI&feature=relmfu
For more information, check out Alpinestars website at:
http://www.alpinestars.com/shop/categories/moto/protection/bionic-neck-support-cf/
Sorry for the delay in posting, I’ve been back at school at SFU the past month and I’m taking a full 25 credit course load. It has been quite the readjustment going from a busy winter in the backcountry to busy school days in the city. The past two weekends however, I’ve managed to still get out and get some adrenalin pumping through my veins in the mountains. The Crud2Mud race took place on the 27th of May on Whistler, featuring a ski race from the top to mid-mountain, followed by DH biking to the base. Here are some photos that also appeared on Whistlerblackcomb.com that I shot.
I am beyond stoked for DH Biking season, and the Whistler Bike Park crew has done a phenomenal job of snow clearing and getting trails open for us to ride!
Gaper Day also took place on May 28th, and I did coverage again for Newschoolers.com at:
http://www.newschoolers.com/readnews/5219.0/Gaper-Day-at-Whistler-Blackcomb
Here are a few teaser photos from the article.
The Whistler Question also ran a photo of mine in the paper of Sheldon Steckman hitting the pond skim Switch.
I just finished up a super hectic week shooting and covering the AFP World Championships for Newschoolers.com over the Whistler Ski and Snowboard Festival here in Whistler BC. Here are links to the articles and coverage I’ve done. Let’s just say it feels so good to sleep for a full 8 hours, and I’m thinking of possibly creating T-Shirts that say “I Survived WSSF”. Thank you to Mike Atkinson for helping me out with the tricks and technical details, Chris McMahon and Jeff Schmuck at Newschoolers.com for being so amazingly helpful, supportive, and for this amazing opportunity, Eric Zerrenner for allowing me to attend such an amazing and memorable night, and lastly all the athletes for throwing down so hard in less than desirable conditions.
Association of Freeskiing Professionals Awards Dinner
http://www.newschoolers.com/readnews/5091.0/AFP-Champions
Superpipe Finals
http://www.newschoolers.com/readnews/5084.0/AFP-World-Championships-Superpipe-Finals
Big Air
http://www.newschoolers.com/readnews/5083.0/AFP-World-Championships-Big-Air
Slopestyle Finals
http://www.newschoolers.com/readnews/5081.0/AFP-World-Championships-Slopestyle-Finals
Slopestyle Eliminations
http://www.newschoolers.com/readnews/5075.0/AFP-World-Championships-Slopestyle-Qualifiers
This Saturday I went up sledding with Grant, Clint and Jorli to hit a booter that they had reshaped the night before and made quite a bit kickier/changed the trajectory on to make it quite a bit larger than previous. Things got a little sendy.
And then I shorted it by about 10 ft and hit the uphill knuckle, the ONE time I forget to put my mouthguard in!
Whoopsie.
Photo by Grant Clarke.
The commentary is priceless.
Nadia Samer 