RESISTING REINVENTION

NELSON, B.C., IS ONE OF THE LAST DWINDLING HOLDOUTS OF OLD-SCHOOL DH IN NORTH AMERICA. THESE ARE THE PEOPLE KEEPING IT ALIVE.

- MATT COTE

Eric Wahn looks like he’s competing in a World Cup DH race, only on a trail twice as steep. He weaves between old-growth fir and hemlock with statuesque form, slamming his bike into corners with mere flicks of his weight. Where most people’s brakes would be cooked, Wahn isn’t even using his.

My host, fast as he may be, is no racer, though— he’s a 31-year-old professional forester, and this is just how he rides. That’s because his hometown of Nelson, British Columbia, is one of the last places on earth that still holds a raft of this style of riding: steep, deep, technical, and really scary. While mountain biking as a whole has been sanitized over the last decade and smoothed out for smaller bikes, Nelson remains a throwback to the unsanctioned terror of yesteryear.

The hills above the Queen City of the Kootenays are still laced with the work of the sport’s most demented heyday. The picturesque lakeside town, known for its soft-sided arts and culture, has paradoxically maintained some of the most rugged mountain bike trails in North America. In Canada’s westernmost province, Nelson might just be making DH’s last stand.

Ride to the Hills