Words and Captions Hayden Brosnan Photos Oli Gagnon he west coast of Vancouver Island just feels big. Big sky. Big trees. Big weather. Big bald eagles flying overhead. Big black bears on the beach eating big fish from the big, cold Pacific. Big logging trucks blowing by on big, long, winding roads. It’s a place where you need to have a plan when you leave the house, to know what you are doing and how to get to there safely. Because in the backcountry on the west side of Vancouver Island, you’re at the mercy of nature. T Amid all that big there’s our little crew. We’re here to find some snow and waves for Quiksilver’s annual Surf the Mountain trip. I’m with Austen Sweetin, Bryan Fox, Red Gerard, surfer Mikey Wright and photographer Oli Gagnon. Travis Rice may join us, but he’s currently in Alaska. It’s my first time meeting any of these guys. My first time on the west coast of Canada. My first day at a new job as a designer for Quiksilver and for all intents and purposes the first snowboard trip of my life. Out of the frying pan and into the powder, so to speak. We’re at the Nootka Wilderness Lodge, a floating fishing lodge in a protected bay by Nootka Island. It was a two-hour drive west from Campbell River to the dock and then another two-hour boat ride to the lodge—four hours from getting a text out from your phone. As the boat worked its way through rocks and rips, coves and caves, we scoped all the different waves on the way. Beach breaks as well as slabs, lefts and rights. Growing up a surfer, I’d heard whispers and tall tales of the waves out here, though it was always hard to tell if it was earnest or bullshit. But throughout the years a photo would surface of one of the pioneering Bruhwiler brothers or Peter Devries on a perfect wave in a 6mm wetsuit, with Sitka trees in the background, and I’d realize the whispers weren’t just old wives’ tales. On our first full day, the guys use a helicopter to get a few runs in— yes, the lodge has a heli—then check out some other spots nearby for future potential. Originally the idea was that the guys would heli from the lodge every morning, but the weather has bigger plans. We spend the following few days fogged in on the boat, battling rough seas to get back to the waves we had checked out on our way in. There are countless coves and nooks and crannies, which makes us feel confident we’ll find a zone open enough to let the swell in but protected enough to keep the wind out. Thanks to some local knowledge, we’re able to find exactly that. Vancouver Island has all these nooks and crannies, so you’ve kind of got to know what’s up with the swell direction and wind. This was the last day we surfed and the waves were big. Because it’s coved out, it’s protected and mel-low in this spot, but it was an hour-and-a-half from where we were staying and really hectic getting there. It was stormy, the boat was rocking. Mikey (pictured) and Travis paddled out, but the raddest part about this is that Oli shot this from the beach. He’s not an ocean guy and got seasick the first day on the boat. He and Sam Sosnowski put all their gear in Pelican cases, attached them to leashes and then paddled 300 to 400 yards through the surf to get to the beach. VANCOUVER ISLAND 087
The Snowboarder's Journal The Snowboarder's Journal 20.3: Page 87
