Specialty · Ride
Alpine singletrack, desert slickrock, hut-to-hut traverses — matched to how you actually ride, not how brochures ride.
"Intermediate friendly" is the most dangerous phrase in mountain-bike travel. It means nothing, and it books people onto trails that ruin trips. We don't ask whether you're intermediate — we ask how many hours you rode last month, what grade of trail you ride at home, and how you feel about exposure. Then we match terrain, daily hours, and support level to the honest answers, and tell the operator exactly who's coming.
Where we send riders
Floatplane-accessed alpine singletrack above 2,000 m, plus Whistler for warm-up laps. A ten-week season, July–September. The best high-alpine riding on the continent.
Slickrock, mesa edges, and point-to-point epics like the Whole Enchilada's 2,100 m of descent. Spring and fall only — summer is an oven and we'll say so.
Hut-to-hut traverses with rifugio dinners, lift-assisted big days, and centuries-old trails. June–September. The gelato-to-singletrack ratio is unmatched.
Peru and Ecuador descents that start above 4,000 m and drop through three climate zones before lunch. Shuttle-assisted, altitude-aware, May–September.
The Cannon ride scale
Two numbers matter: how technical the trail is, and how big the days are. Our ratings combine both — and we plan around fitness first, because everyone overestimates their technical riding and underestimates their engine.
Level 1. Green/blue trails, 2–3 hour days, full shuttle or lift support. You ride a few times a month.
Level 2. Blue trails with optional features, 3–4 hour days, up to 600 m of climbing. You ride weekly in season.
Level 3. Blue/black terrain, 4–5 hour days, 800–1,200 m of climbing, some exposure. You ride twice a week and have done multi-day trips.
Level 4. Sustained black terrain, 5–7 hour days at altitude, hike-a-bike sections, real exposure. The Chilcotins live here. You ride 5+ hours a week and it shows.
Level 5. Expedition riding: remote, self-sufficient, consequence terrain, weather windows. We build these rarely and carefully, with guides we know by name.
Bikes & gear
Straight answers
This is for you if you ride at home and want dirt you can't get at home — bigger, longer, higher, or older. Level 1–2 riders get real trips too: lift-assisted Alps weeks are some of the best value in adventure travel.
It's not for you if you haven't ridden in a year and want to "get back into it" on a Level 4 trip. We'll happily build the twelve-week on-ramp instead — the training block is part of the trip.
Sample expedition
8 days · from $4,300 pp + air · Effort ●●●●○ · Jul–Sep · Blue/black rider
Two Whistler warm-up days, then a floatplane into the South Chilcotins for four days of high-alpine singletrack — 25–40 km days, meadow passes, and descents that run 1,500 vertical meters. Full outline on the trip page.
See the full sample itinerary →We also regularly build: Moab long weekends, Dolomites hut-to-hut weeks, Peru big-descent trips, and mixed itineraries — ride mornings, dive afternoons, if the geography cooperates. Tell us how you ride.
Whatever the number, there's a trip that fits it exactly. Tell us and we'll show you.
Plan your ride trip →