Mo Awesome conquers the Whistler Four Corners
Mo from Awesome MTB is an avid rider and has been doing a lot of adventure rides as of late. His latest one just might be the most impressive one yet. The Whistler Four Corners ride is the combination of 4 different epic rides that each would usually take a full day individually. It’s a huge day of climbing but the crazier part is that it is also a huge day of some of the hardest legal trails in Whistler. It turned out to be quite an incredible story of perseverance! Here is his story in his own words!
We started our ride in the dark before the sun came out. The first climb was to Top of The World and you don’t really know how steep that mountain is untill you’re making your way up it in the freezing cold with no light. We made it to the top pretty quickly, took in some insane views then ripped some very steep and slippery trails down. There is way easier ways down but today was not about easy, both up or down!
Half way down on one of the toughest trails I’d ridden cam cleaned a section and as he did I heard him yell he just got stung and then tip over because he was clipped in. Then I heard the wasp nest he must have woken up tipping over and I yelled “go now, wasps” he took off and I knew I had 2 options. Hike back up away from the wasps but get stuck or ride through and hope I’m fast enough to not get stung. Well turns out I’m not fast enough to not get stung and as I rode through them on some of the gnarliest sections of trail I could feel my self getting stung from my legs and back. I screamed as I rode trying to not lose control of my bike while also not stopping. When we finally felt safe to pull over Cam asked if I was allergic I said no. Cam didn’t think he was either. He got stung twice and I somehow only got stung 3 times. We rode more gnarly trails making our way down when close to the bottom cam said “I feel a little itchy” and I told him we should get back to our van and we had benadryl. By the time we made it to the van Cams body had hives all over. We made the call for Hannah to drive him to the ER and wait with him and id go up to lord of the squirrels and if they cleared him he could meet me after the next lap.
In the heat of everything I forgot to bring a second bottle I knew I would need for lord of the squirrels. That ride is an epic climb up to a very remote area and only 1 bottle is not enough. The climb to top of the world is insane and I’ve always said one of the most scenic sections of climbing you’ll ever do, especially at the top. I was worried for cam but also a tad bit wooried about grizzly bears since this zone has had some interactions from them in the past and I had figured Cam probably would do better than me in a grizzly situation. On my way up my buddy Steve texted me asking how it was going and we made plans to meet at the bottom of the lord of the squirrels downhill because I wanted someone with me for double black trails I would be doing after. The climb to lord of the squirrels is amazing, the down hill, in my personal opinion, absolutely sucks. Probably one of the bumpiest blue trails I’ve ever ridden it took its toll on my body and by the time I finished it I was in serious pain. I met up with my buddy who saved me with a bottle and we cranked out some classic whistler double black gnar trails (high society and wizards burial) and popped back out on the road.
We were about to head up to one of the gnarliest trails on the map in whistler and a trail I had only heard stories about called Gargamel. I knew if there was anyone that could lead us down it was Ryan Rodriguez and surprisingly for someone who doesn’t do many pedal rides or ride too many whistler valley trails he had actually done this one before.
The climb we took to gargamel was brutal, one of the worst fire roads I had ever climbed. It was steep and loose with RZR’s flying past us. But somehow my legs were still working really well and I made it to the entrance. There is no scarier feeling than making it to the beginning of one of the gnarliest trails you have ever ridden right as you hit 12k feet of climbing . I was dead but stoked to check this one off the list and Ryan helped show us all the lines , quiet a few of them I either walked or did the go around. However I rode way more than I thought I could, mostly because getting off the bike and walking was actually harder. I definitely was pushing past a lot of pain and had to shut my brain off. But just like that we reached them bottom and realized we checked that trail off the list! It was just as gnarly as people made it out to be, a true all mountain trail and it was awesome to see it.
We made the long pedal back to the village, I said bye to everyone, and I met Hannah again for one more refuel. The sun was starting to set and I still had to climb to dark Chrystal. The bummer was there was no way I was going to be able to finish, at least with a downhill. I told Hannah I’ll just climb to dark Chrystal and go back down the fire road because riding that trail in the dark with no lights and solo after 14k feet of climbing was probably not the move. The human body is crazy and I'm thankful for everything l'm able to do! Mountain biking to me is all about getting out there, exploring, and seeing hon far you can push yourself both physically and mentally.
The La Sal Peak was the perfect bike for this monster ride. It pedals so good but has plenty of support for the gnarly trails in Whistler.
Can't wait for the next adventure!
