Revelstoke BC - Martha Creek and Keystone rides

Sep 8, 2009
by Tyler Maine  
Hurtin' for Vert 2009 - Part 1 of 4

Part one sees the gang in Revelstoke, B.C. riding Martha Creek and then Keystone at Standard Basin. Rough trip plan was simple - meet in Revy on Wednesday night, then get up and ride on Thursday. Obviously nothing is that simple, but our group is well versed in how trips work and we were locked, loaded and caffeined up and on the trail before noon. High alpine riding here we come!

Check out all the amazing pics inside, and some words on the trip too!Words by Tyler Maine (unless otherwise noted)
Pictures by Margus Riga (unless otherwise noted)

Revelstoke -

To those that have not been to Revelstoke or that do not follow snow trends in the winter, well then you need to take a trip to experience the town and once you've finished reading part one, you'll likely book a ticket or hop in your vehicle and head there on your own too. Not only is the snow grand, but the biking is world class. You will not find any lift access in any of these stories, but if you wish to earn your vert, than you will appreciate what we got ourselves up too. Don't worry though, we did use trucks and vans and maybe a helicopter too over the course of 4 days, so it wasn't all about the pedal up - yet!

The Revy leg of the trip was put together by Lorraine Blancher and Reg Mullett, both with lots of local knowledge and a keen eye for great rides. Lorraine destroyed her knee days before the trip while competing in Whistler at Crankworx (noticing a trend with hurt riders and Whistler) and was unable to join us on the trails but graciously opened her house to our posse of riders. Our crew of riders consisted of Andreas Hestler, Wade Simmons, Margus Riga, Dave Burch, Simon Stevenson, Matt Brassard, Manfred Stromberg, Mario Lenzen, Matt Ryan, Johnny Smoke, Reg Mullett and Myself for the whole trip, but we made friends and had others join at various points in the rides. Ian and Nicole Stewart as well as Casey and Elinor Brown joined us for Martha Creek and Ian and Nic stayed on for Keystone too.


Martha Creek - Dist 11 km Descent 4750'
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Martha Creek - Pic by Smoke

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Pic by Pat

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Pat's GPS seemed to record something different than Smokes?



Ride number one for the day was Martha Creek. Most folks camped 3km from the summit, while a few of us trickled in from town. It’s best to start any road trip with a HUGE shuttle/descent to set the pace for the coming days and what better way than to start us off above alpine.

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Pic by Ty

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Pic by Smoke

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Pic by Smoke

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Pic by Smoke

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Pic by Ty, flats were a common 4 day theme

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Pic by Nic

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Pic by Smoke

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Pic by Smoke

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The recovery of the vehicles and camping supplies after the Martha ride allowed us to get some lake time in, eat, fix flat truck tires and keep the dogs on a leash until we all headed up to Standard Basin for the Keystone ride.

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Pic by Ty


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Pic by Ty


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Pic by Ty





Keystone at Standard Basin is along the same style of ride as the Seven Summits in Rossland (which we’ll be visiting in a few stories from now), high alpine All Mountain Bike riding at its best.

Keystone - Dist 22.5 km Descent/Climb approx 3000' round trip (I'm surprised too, check the profile).

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Keystone at Standard Basin


We didn’t pull out of the parking lot for the trail head until 4PM and I had been told it was a 4 hour round trip. Needless to say after 2 hours on the way in, I was not at the cabin, so I turned around at that point to be sure that I got out in the day light. The rest of the crew was able to bang off the whole point to point and return and we all rolled out as the sun was going down. If these pics don’t make you want to ride, then you'd better re-think your life priorities.

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Pic by Ty

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Pic by Smoke

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When I look at this picture it tells me stories and I want to sit down and hear them

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This worries me!

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What dreams are made of

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Pic by Dave

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Pic by Dave

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Pic by Dave

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Pic by Ty, Smoke's van is closing in on half a million kms and it faithfully drug us around the mountains.


Darkness fell as we rolled off the mountain and back towards town. The original plan to drive to Nelson passed as we were all too tired and just wanted to eat and sleep – thankfully the Village Idiot (Restaurant) had food and Lorraine was still cool with our dirty smiles in her house for another night.

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Big thanks to Lorraine for all the hospitality on this leg of the journey, to Ian, Nicole, Casey and Elinore for joining in on the rif raf rides for the day too and to Reg for his input on the trails that we should tee up while in town. And Smoke for the shuttle action in the Bush Pilot Biking Van.

Check out the Hurtin for Vert Riders here.

Author Info:
brule avatar

Member since Mar 27, 2001
3,581 articles

33 Comments
  • 8 0
 I Take it that you guys had alot of practice fixing flats
  • 2 0
 thankyou pink bike! haven't ridden sale since the new boardwalks were put in, how's the muck up top? we got blanketed in snow up top last night btw. next time would love to see some pics of the boys and girls on boondockers (boulder) or southern comfort (mackenzie/rmr). great job and great story!
  • 1 0
 yea or snakes and ladders is a good trail (boulder 14k)
  • 2 0
 Wow, Keystone looks so killer in the summertime. I have been sledding Revy and Keystone for years, this is time i've seen summer pgoto's of the basin. Beauty !!

Any good trails up Boulder, Hall Mtn, Begbie, McCrae, Griffin, Turtle etc ?

Revelstoke BC is heaven on earth !
  • 2 0
 Agreed, in the winter its awesome. From this it looks pretty nice up there in the summer too.
  • 2 0
 A buddy and I did this trip the week after you guys were there...was AWESOME, the horsefly's in the parking lots where vicious though...lol...thanks for rekindling those memories...GREAT trails and good friends...that's what it's all about.
  • 5 0
 looks like fun... is that the Jaw drop i see on Pats GPS? Razz
  • 4 0
 So many PB kids rip on XC. When you look at stuff like this I have no idea how you can. What an awesome trek!!! So jealous.
  • 5 0
 That's what I like about the PB shit talk that goes down. Those comments are going to be around for a long time, and can come back to haunt at a much later date.

If only those punks knew. I was amazed at the speed at which the crew was descending gnarly terrain on small bikes. Way faster than than the average "freerider". You gotta figure that we had a full range of bikes on the route from the first day, and that Dingo on the Stumpjumper was challenging the front of the pack almost the whole time. With Reg and Wade in there, you know that's pretty damn fast, and there weren't a lot of big breaks in the group either.

I've got another version of events for you and a Nice Interactive Map.
  • 2 1
 It might be because of where they live. But yeah I gotta agree with your comment elcielo. But around here XC is really boring to be honest. Anywhere out west though...all I gotta say is wow. I got a chance to go to Alberta and BC this summer and it was just amazing. I mainly rode downhill at Silver Star in Vernon, BC. But I'd be just as stoked to climb a mountain and bomb down it. Amazing is all I can say. To anyone who lives out there I envy you.
  • 2 0
 Marthas is one of my most favorite rides this year. Keystone is gonna be on my to ride list for sure!
  • 2 0
 omg martha is the best and fastest trail in revy
  • 3 0
 What a great article. Very inspiring with some top notch pics.
  • 1 0
 B E A U T I F U L

Damn, that's the most sweet series of articles, really dives in to mountainbiking, as it is to us all - riding and enjoying! Big Grin
  • 2 0
 Do you carry loads of extra tubes on the actual ride or just quick patches?
  • 2 0
 one word ; epic.

and this word is used a lot , but this is the true defénition of it.
  • 2 0
 Yeah Revy! That why I moved here. We've got some of the best, most technical riding around!
  • 2 0
 Amazing scenery!!!!!!!!!!!Wish i could ride there...
  • 2 0
 thats in my backyard! XD
i LIVE in Revelstoke, how i do love it here Smile
  • 1 0
 i was up marth creek trail in august and it was actually the best biking ive ever done just cuz it had everything up there
  • 3 1
 looks like an Epic trip, lol at pats GPS Razz
  • 1 0
 I rode Southern comfort last friday for the first time... Sweet. Love revy riding.
  • 1 0
 I'm surprised to even see tubes! unless they started tubeless, then it makes sense
  • 1 0
 Thats what I call living life.
  • 1 0
 how was the mudbog on marthas ?
  • 1 0
 Muddy! But there was wood that had been flown in and we were told that a crew would be working on various zones to improve the trail in the coming weeks. So much fun up there.
  • 1 0
 ,,,,,,,,,,wow that's how to enjoy life,,,,,,,,,,,,,
  • 2 1
 Those trails look so fast and so fun, I wanna go ride them so badly
  • 2 1
 yay...wow...Revelstoke...horray...
  • 1 0
 I know what I am doing next summer!
  • 1 0
 that truck is SICK. great scenery
  • 1 0
 martha is so smooth. but it is crazy long
  • 1 0
 yeah revy!







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