Radical Hill

The Edge Crew originally made the trek to Red Cone in late July this year. Unfortunately, due to timing, a few of us couldn’t make it when it was originally slated. An easy solution was to run it again a week later! This time Brentas even found a way to keep his tie rod in tact! We began by meeting at the world famous C-4 and 285… The weather was cool and comfortable after a night of rain showers. The drive was awesome at that time of the morning. We stopped to air down, and began our journey. After hearing about the tragedy that took place just 2 weeks prior, we felt compelled to see what may have happened first hand. The climb to Red Cone was as great as the first time, simply amazing. The trail was wet, and the challenges were great as always. The optional uphill rock section was a little more washed out than in previous years, which added to the fun. At the top of the Cone, we parked and watched the Mountain Goats in their habitat… When we were about to head down we heard an old radial powered airplane headed our way! That’s about the last thing we ever thought we would see. He flew right over us, turned, circled around and made a few more loops. The wildest thing was when he dropped in low and pulled up just in time to fly right over Radical Hill where a military plane had crashed in the 50’s! It was like history all over again, except he made it over the top without a problem! The downhill section never gets old, and this trip was no exception. We made our way through the saddle making our usual left toward Radical Hill. With some heavy clouds building over head, we decided to climb the monster before the lightning lit up our lives. As we climbed the first section, we couldn’t help but try to imagine how that Jeep went off 2 weeks before. The road surface was in relatively good condition, of course extreme caution is needed with all the off camber and extremely narrow shelf road to the top. No one in our group had a single issue; in fact the only thing we can imagine happened was a mental error or vehicle failure. Whatever the cause, the trail condition probably had very little to do with the accident. We do wish the driver that survived the very best during this tough time, as well as the loved ones of the young lady that wasn’t so lucky. It should also be a much needed reminder to everyone that enjoys our sport, that safety must always come first… Christopher…