"So now what?", said Kenny Smith as we drove out from the Whitehorse airport in a rented truck along with James Doerfling and myself...







The Mountain Hero trail is a resurrected old tramway trail that was used for an old silver mining operation. It is 40km long and climbs over 1400 meters up and over Montana Mountain. This was the high point.

James and Kenny make their way past one of the many dilapidated mining shacks strewn across this ride.

Finally, after five hours of climbing and traversing, and climbing again, we got a little taste of what we came for.

The Mountain Hero trail was better than expected and conditions were all time. Onward to the Dempster!

We had unfinished business with the dempster highway.





Kenny Smith

First night's headquarters on the Dempster.

This trip was one of a kind because we just wung it. Last minute we all decided to just pay for everything out of our own pockets and next thing we knew we were on the FTW journey!





James Doerfling

Insert token Yukon Grizzly shot here...

Kenny Smith, exploring possibilities.

This was my favourite shot from this trip, and the one I entered into the PB POY contest. I thought we had a pretty good crack at it with this shot, but it was not to be. Our photo was beaten out in the third round by Christoph Laue, who went on to win it.





Margus Riga

Day one on the Dempster... done.

Onward along the never-ending ribbon of dirt that is the Dempster Hwy.

The Eagle Plains motel. The only place to stop for supplies and a comfy couch on the whole Dempster Hwy.

Kenny Smith designated himself as the full-time driver of this trip. Kenny works as a heavy logging truck operator in the off-season and gets squirrelly when he's in a vehicle and not behind the wheel. A happy Kenny is a nice Kenny.

Our goal after such a great mission the previous day was to drive as far as we could up the Dempster and scout locations. Then head back down and hit all the good looking spots. Here we are at the Arctic Circle.

Looking back towards the Richardson Mountains from the top of the Dempster, somewhere north of the Arctic Circle.

Around every corner there was a new ridge or peak to bag.





Kenny Smith

Arctic Circle camp location. Huddled behind our truck to shield us from the haineous winds and frigid temperatures, as the northern lights raced overhead.

This was the hardest shot I have ever tried to take. It was only a short hike from our camp spot to the top of this ridge, but the unyielding, 50mph winds and the arctic temperatures (literally) made it hard to stand up, never mind try to set up for a shot. I couldn't use my main flash as it would have just blown away, so I was forced to bury my small backup strobe in the ground. Kenny and James were both lying down in fetal position waiting for me to get my shit dialled. I couldn't feel my fingers to adjust the dials and buttons on anything. What's worse; Kenny and James couldn't hear me when I was finally ready. When they did hear my screams, they were only able to stay on their bikes for ten feet before being blown off them. This was the one shot we managed to get before retreating back down to our camp.





Margus Riga

A night at the Arctic Circle took it's toll on us. It was time to pay another visit to Eagle Plains to restock on vital supplies.

We spied this little beauty steps from the highway and had to get it.

It's so rugged and untouched up here with so much potential, we barely scratched the surface.





James Doerfling

Let's play I spy.

We liked this spot so much we came back for round two. We waited for light for this shot for two hours.

We hiked a solid 2 hours up steep, loose rocks. Never realizing this would be one of the longest, steepest descents I have ever ridden.





Kenny Smith

What goes up, must come down. This 7km long ridge was a bitch to climb but coming down was an experience we will never forget.

Yet another spot we had visited the previous year and witnessed James Doerfling take one the gnarliest spills of his career, ending with his bike getting tomahawked two hundred feet to the valley floor. Needles to say James opted to relax this session and watch Kenny get rad.

Last camp spot of the trip.

Hits off the highway for miles and miles. James Doerfling.

It was like we were in our own private paradise. We had the run of the place.

Our trusty truck. Thanks for putting up with us and our shit, and not dying on us.

Last ride of our trip. This was the only actual "trail" that was open to bikers. It was an out and back 5km long tourist trail built by the Tombstone Park rangers.

Oh, the possibilities.

One Day I will disappear to Dawson City and turn into a crusty old gold miner.





James Doerfling

Kenny posed a good question. The plan was to fly to Whitehorse, and get a rental truck, but from here, we were running 'er pretty loose. We wanted to drive up the Dempster Hwy and see what we could find, but it was 6pm in Whitehorse and we had no supplies, and we needed to get our bearings set straight.We had but one contact... Sylvain and Marsha over at Boréale Mountain Biking. The call was placed and within minutes we were racing over to check out Boréale's new headquarters.Boréale is the place to go if you're in the Yukon with a bike. If anyone could set us straight and get our adventure going it was Sylvain and Marsha. That evening over a roaring Yukon-sized bonfire it was decided that we would warm up with the one ride that eluded us on our previous visit to the Yukon.MENTIONS: @devinci, @Margus