Sledding with these boys is not for the faint of heart. Snowmobiling is their obsession. Conquering the most malicious chutes in Revelstoke, B.C., is their goal. Pushing the limits of gravity is their game. And making it all look easy is just the way they roll.
Known around the sledding scene as the Boost Crew, the tight-knit group is rewriting the rule book when it comes to what is possible on a snowmobile.
“You wanna know what it’s like?” asks Laird MacDougall, a Boost Crew regular who has been riding Revelstoke’s Boulder Mountain for more than 15 years. “It’s almost like this underground society—the whole chute climbing thing is so new. It’s never been done to this extent; we’re pioneering a sport.”
Perilous passages
Simply put, chute climbing consists of navigating vertical cracks in the rock at highway speeds. As MacDougall points out: It’s the only sport in the world where if you don’t make the course your attempting, it could chew you up and spit you out thousands of feet below.
“A lot of people don’t realize because pictures and video don’t do it justice,” says MacDougall. “They figure it’s just point-and-shoot, but that’s not the case. There are twists and turns; you are on and off the throttle, rolling in and out, all the time. If you miss your line you’re in real trouble.”
The Monster Bowl is one of the most well-known bowls on Boulder Mountain. It consists of four chutes, which have collectively been climbed about 20 times. MacDougall has pulled three of the four chutes, and is among only a handful of guys to do so.
Chute climbing is not just about the riding either. There is an important technical mechanical aspect to it. Members of The Boost Crew are riding among the top 30 fastest four-stroke custom-made snowmobiles in the country, every one of them on a 174-inch track.
A serious art
With souped-up sleds ranging from $30,000 - $50,000, The Boost Crew takes snowmobiling seriously. It is not only a lifestyle but a huge investment of time and money. The group—which also includes Neil McLaren, TJ McLaren, Shane Render, Phill Speed, Josh Seddon and Captain Ron MacDougall—fully understand the risks and rewards that come with scaling the Rocky Mountain’s harshest, steepest peaks on the fastest, baddest sleds in the world. After all, their life—and the life of those they ride with—depends on it.
“The whole group completed an avalanche course together,” says MacDougall. “Everybody wears beacons, probes and has shovels; everybody wears the ABS avalanche backpacks and we don’t drink on the hill. We’re in constant radio communication; we’re physically fit, strong and skilled.”
But even fully prepared, he admits that chute climbing is an incredible intense and terrifying experience.
“We’re adrenalin junkies, for sure; but we’re still scared and should be. You don’t think of anything else when you’re climbing. You get huge butterflies and are totally nervous—every single time.”
But the fear is nothing compared to the feeling of adrenalin that takes over while cresting over a hill, adds MacDougall.
“You’re just pumped and your heart is beating so hard it feels like it’s about to explode through your chest. You start hollering, jumping up and down—there is no other feeling in the world like it.”
Name the chute
One of the rules to chute climbing is that if you’re the first conquer a chute, you name it. MacDougall has named two—one on Boulder Mountain and another in Castlegar.
“There are not a lot of people who do this kind of thing, but anyone who does knows that if you are the first to climb a chute, it’s yours to name.”
Although there is plenty of intensity and competition on the mountain, The Boost Crew is just as much about having a good time as anything else. They are always laughing and joking, cheering each other on, and establishing a sense of camaraderie and brotherhood that can only be understood at 8,000. That high up, you play by your own set of rules.
“We could almost write a rule book of chute climbing etiquette and everyone who is seriously into the snowmobiling culture in Revelstoke is in on it,” laughs MacDougall. “One of the biggest traditions among the boys is the ‘double high five’. Honestly—after what we pull off—one high five is just not good enough.”
On average, the Boost Crew might ride 100 kilometres a day, two or three days a week, from the end of November right through to the May-long weekend, each piling up around 4,500 kilometres a season.
Surely, this translates into a ridiculous amount of ‘double high-fives’.
