Scopin the Gobi

Words by Jeremy Grant. Photos by Todd Barber

DAY 1

"He says there was a murder here last night, " explains our translator with a half English and half Mandarin accent. " We should get out of here." Darren Berrecloth, Cameron McCaul, Blake Jorgenson(Photographer), Todd Barber(Logistics) and myself(Filmer) all look at each other for a quick second, taking a brief moment to let it sink in that we are not in North America anymore. This is a long way from home and we can't let ourselves forget that. This still moment of awareness lasts only a second and then we quickly start moving towards the vehicles and get the hell out of there. The man who ran out of his mud hut to tell us that we were about to shred a murder scene disappears over the hill. As we drive off Berrecloth looks over his shoulder out the back window at the Alaskan looking dirt face riddled with cliffs and chutes. Right then I could tell that this would be the first of many trips to the Gobi Desert in China and I wondered to myself why it took the sport of freeriding so long to get over here.

Shooting in the Gobi Desert

"It took so long to get over here " explains Red Bull Rampage visionary Todd Barber between chop sticks full of chicken " simply because it's expensive to travel to the other side of the world and it's a long way to go based on google earth and a few photo's on the internet." Our group of four are the only westerners in the small local restaurant. I fumble with the chop stick's between my fingers trying to get a hold of the battered chicken in the center of the table before the rest of our team devours it. I understood what Barber was saying as I have watched many Freeride Entertainment shoots that are supposed to be the next big thing in freeriding come back as lifestyle segments. " And also" Barber says chewing another huge piece of chicken, " the timing is really difficult, the Gobi has extreme winds and with that come dramatic changes in temperature, ranging from –40°C in winter to +50°C in summer. These couple weeks in October were the only weeks where there wasn't blistering heat, extreme winds or sand storms." I first heard about this trip a month ago but apparently it had been in the making since the fall of 2005. I watch Barber place another piece of chicken in the chili sauce as I still grope at the few remaining pieces of chicken with my chop sticks. Barber chews and then tells me about how a friend of his had seen the Rampage and was later traveling in China and told Todd he had to check this place out. It took 2 years to work out the logistics, funds and crew, but here we were, October 2007 eating chinese food after the first day ever of freeriding in the Gobi Desert. China really is a different place. I fumble with my chop sticks and finally get the last piece of chicken in my mouth. I taste it. Hmmm? I think to myself, this chicken really is gamey.

Dinner in the Gobi Desert

Building in the Gobi Desert

FINAL DAY

Two weeks have now passed since we've been here. In China, tourist are not allowed to rent cars so we are not only forced to come to terms with our drivers chaotic driving style but also his taste for chinese pop music. McCaul and I have iPods but I'm beginning to fear Berrecloth now knows all the words to Xin Yue Tuan's "One Night in Beijing" . We're starting our four day journey back home. Every one is tired from two weeks of hiking lines, building features and shredding gnar. The mountains blur by out the car window and slowly morph back from unbelievable riding playground to unridable rock. I wonder if this place will ever turn into a riding proving ground like utah has become or is it just to far away. I wonder if there is still room for this big mountain riding in the new world of slope style and dirt jumps. I look over at McCaul staring out the window deep in thought as well. I try to guess if he is wondering the same things I am. He takes his ear phones off and looks at Berrecloth and me. " Did you guys see a single dog the whole time we were there?"

Rockin out in the Gobi Desert

And then Alex says, "This place sucks, I want to go back to Whistler..."

Sometimes things are not how they appear...

Well, let me tell you how it all started...