Home

10%

Exploring a Granite Paradise!

By: Mark Matthews

By KAVU

October 29^th, 2024

This backcountry mission was like nothing I’d ever done before! We dove headfirst into the Coast Mountains of BC, discovering some of the world’s longest slab descents. Four nights completely off-grid, riding through an endless granite playground.

It was like riding on the moon.

Exploring a Granite Paradise!

The highlight? A massive slab descent that took over five minutes to rip down. Five minutes! My hands were cramping from hanging on, but I was grinning ear to ear the whole way down.

Rolling into base camp, the views were unreal. It was that kind of jaw-dropping scenery that makes you forget how tired you are—mountains stretching forever, and golden hour?

Straight-up otherworldly.

Huge shoutout to Ian from Flow State Guiding for taking us through this dream zone. The guy’s a legend, but we’d soon find out how gnarly things were about to get.

Exploring a Granite Paradise!

Exploring a Granite Paradise!

Exploring a Granite Paradise!

By day two, things started to heat up. We hit a massive 8-hour loop to get back to camp, and by the time we got there, we were completely cooked. But, it was an adventure ride like no other. I’ve never seen the coastal mountains from this perspective before, or rode so much granite in my life!

We set even bigger goals for the next day—bigger lines, more exposure, and a descent all the way down to this lake that sat far below our camp. That’s when things went sideways. Ian tried to hop over a sketchy cliff edge, but his bike kicked back, and BAM—deep gash to his ankle. Dude was tough, though. We handed him a radio and sent him back to camp, while we went full-on solo mission mode.

The line Ian came up short on, definitely a no-fall zone!

The descent toward the lake in that golden light was insane! One of those rides where you just want to high-five the universe. I wanted to hit that line a dozen times, but the sun was setting fast.

Exploring a Granite Paradise!

Not knowing the safest way to slow down before the lake was the scariest part.

Then came the true test: No one had ever tried to get back to camp from the bottom before. Over the radio, Ian’s like, “Just follow the waterline around the lake and hike back up.” Easy, right?

Not even close. It got dark fast, and suddenly we’re facing a field of 10 foot + tall boulders. Oh, and our drone pilot, Anderson, he’s hauling a 50-pound e-bike and still wrecked from the day before.

Exploring a Granite Paradise!

Anderson and I slowly navigated our way back to camp. The poor guy looked like he was dragging a tank through a minefield.

Exploring a Granite Paradise!

After a couple of gnarly hours, we finally crawled back to camp. The next morning, Ian’s ankle was not looking good—infected and gross—so he flew out for medical help. The rest of the crew packed up and left, leaving just me and Anderson. That night, we went on a final mission to snag the ultimate drone shot of me shredding this massive slab. As the golden light hit the mountains.

Exploring a Granite Paradise!

Exploring a Granite Paradise!

I hustled to get in six laps. The final lap was the Absolute money shot... FPV magic!

With camp packed up and just the two of us left, we spent our last night under the stars, sleeping on nothing but granite rock, in our sleeping bags. Anderson? First time in Canada, first time in the backcountry, and the dude’s sleeping near a can of bear spray like it’s his security guard... classic!

Stoked from nailing that epic drone shot on the final night, we were aiming to squeeze in one last session before heading out. But after days of pushing hard, the fatigue caught up with me. One small mistake nearly turned into something way worse!

I came out of this one unscathed.

Exploring a Granite Paradise!

One hour later, the helicopter came in to scoop us up, and just like that, we were back to civilization. It was hands down the best way to unplug—just a fun crew, bikes, and the wildest few days of summer 2024.

KAVU DAYS, baby!

Exploring a Granite Paradise!

Exploring a Granite Paradise!

Check out the Video Below!

Footnotes

Knowing Ian Middleton, and knowing this trip went down... I couldn't wait to see the images. I'm far from disappointed.. Mark and Epic are both 4 letter words! As is KAVU;-))

FootNotes

Knowing Ian Middleton, and knowing this trip went down... I couldn't wait to see the images. I'm far from disappointed.. Mark and Epic are both 4 letter words! As is KAVU;-))

© 2026 KAVU

By: Julia Botelho Morgan

Living a KAVU Life

Hartman Rector

Under the Stars in Moab

By: Neil Amonson

Adventure Buddies

By: Neil Amonson

Peace and Balance

By: Felicia Sturgeon

An Adventure in Feltre, Italy

By Nick Greece

Loading, please hold on.