POV: Barelli and Vanderhoek’s 24 hours of Gnar

Heat and huge hucks on the epic "Le Tour de Gnar"

Photo by: Steve Vanderhoek YouTube

Terry McKall August 10, 2021

B.C.’s Sea to Sky corridor is home to a near-endless list of iconic trail features, both classic and contemporary. Hitting as many of them as possible in 24-hours is a border-line insane idea. So that’s exactly what Yoann Barelli and Steve Vanderhoek did.

In the middle of B.C.’s unusually intense summer heat, the duo set out to hit as many big features – drops, rock slabs and jumps – as they could from sun up to sundown. The day started just after 3AM and kept rolling until after 9PM, all in 30-degree heat.

Welcome to Le Tour de Gnar.

Out of that 18 hours of insanity, Barelli and Vanderhoek have made two edits. Barelli’s Le Tour de Gnar, part of his Into the Gnar web series, and Vanderhoek’s GoPro POV footage from the pair’s epic day. You can watch both below now.

Steve Vanderhoek: Le Tour de Gnar w/Yoann Barelli

What’s Steve Vanderhoek say about this entirely unreasonable but amazing quest?

“Yoann had the idea to ride some of the gnarliest features in the Sea to Sky from Pemberton to the North Shore in one day… how could I say no! We woke up at 3:45 am and didn’t stop till 9pm. 30 degree heat, bugs and the mental fatigue from processing all these features took its toll but made for an unreal day! Thanks to NF for supporting and Kelsey Toevs, Alexandre Chapellier and Travis Bothner for documenting the mission. Looking forward to the next one!”

Yoann Barelli: Into The Gnar – Le Tour de Gnar

What does the pioneer of this insanity, Yoann Barelli have to say for himself?

I had this idea for quite some time already, sending all the gnarliest and some of the most iconic features of the Sea to Sky corridor, in one day, from Pemberton to Vancouver for a new and burly episode of Into The Gnar!

This place has some of the most insane lines in the world, some are pretty new and some other are 10 to 15 years old, still holding, still waiting to be send.

For this project I needed a team mate, someone who can go by feel, someone who can do one or two run ins at the most, and send it, safely, just one time, and moving on to the next one, for a full day.

Steve Vanderhoek is the most raw talented rider I know, he sends it hard, he goes with feel and is a pretty good time, when I called told him about the idea, he said yes right away.

Couple weeks ago all the stars aligned. Steve, Kelsey (Steve’s fiancé and videographer), Alex (young and talented shredder videographer), Travis (NF boss and photographer) and I were free for a full day at the same time. The project was going to happen !!!

I had no idea it was going to be that hard, mentally and physically, it was 30 degrees, super dry and loose, the conditions were pretty sketchy!!

Finishing the day with Steve’s line and the top part that I’ve never ridden before was one of the most committing moves I’ve ever had to do.I was drained, and this thing is beyond crazy.. After that, everything seemed easy hahaha !!! I simply can’t wait for our next project.