ErniE BUEhlEr's - NRG BLOG

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gArEtt BUEhlEr asked his dad if he could build a few jumps in the front yard of their home. the answer was “yes.” But a few weeks later, when his father, Ernie, returned from work and saw what his son had done to the property, he was more than a bit surprised. “i remember saying, ‘holy shit,’” Ernie Buehler recalls, still somewhat amused. “i thought they’d made the jumps too big and too far apart.” The view from Ernie’s front window had changed dramatically. Garett and Kootenay pro riders Kurt Sorge and Mike Kinrade, along with local shredders Nick Cima, Russ Fountain and Rick Schneider, had built a dirt-jump park. They made three lines that even included an old school bus they brought onto the property. The build was a four-month project that changed Ernie’s front yard forever. His home sits on 10 acres near Grohman Narrows, across Kootenay Lake from the mountain-bike hotbed of Nelson, British Columbia. It’s primarily boat access, unless you want to take the roundabout road that is a one-hour drive from town. In the winter, the road shuts down completely. Ernie’s small motorboat lives down at the dock and makes the 10-minute trip to town several times a week. It usually returns overloaded with bicycles, groceries and whoever is riding that day. Ernie’s place is hard to get to and hidden. It’s quiet here, but occasionally a neighbor will drive by on a sunny day and wave. One thing’s for sure, though: If you can ride these jumps, you’re going to go big. no timE for school crossings: thE yoUng BUEhlEr opts for thE AEriAl ApproAch. At right, mEticUloUs AttEntion is pAid to thE EndUring ElEmEnts of thE gArdEn’s frAmEwork. 100 I bikemag.com bikemag.com I 101
trAnscendentAl levitAtion: kurt sorge rises Above his worldly environment. “Dad didn’t really know what we were up to and thought we were just going to build one jump,” Garett recalls. “He was surprised, but stoked. He’s pretty mellow and doesn’t really care.” A view of hAppiness And pride Looking across the yard, a huge transformation has taken place. The dirt is good, and there’s a natural downhill grade that is well suited to building jumps. And with the slope facing south, it catches the sun for most of the day. The start gate is on the gravel road that runs along the property and leads down to the first set-up jump, which branches in three directions. The left line leads to a large hip, then to a jump onto the school bus before a step-down off the bus. The middle line has the largest jump in the yard, at 38 feet lip-to-lip. The tricky, BMX-style right line 102 I bikemag.com has a left-hand hip into a roller, followed by two more doubles. All three lines are tough to ride. “It makes me happy that he built those jumps,” says Ernie. “It makes me proud. It’s pretty awesome—and it didn’t cost me anything. It makes for a more interesting front yard, and I’m never going to change it—even after they stop jumping.” heli-skiing And hucking Ernie immigrated to Canada from Switzerland in the ‘70s to learn English and find work in the mountains. He eventually met Hans Gmoser, now known as the godfather of heli-skiing, and joined his elite team of mountain guides. Gmoser had come up with the idea of using helicopters for recreational skiing, and experienced guides were in short supply at the time. Ernie has since logged 40 years working as a heli-ski guide for
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ErniE BUEhlEr's - NRG BLOG

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