An Icy First Adventure

THE ICE ROADS ARE CERTAINLY NOT FOR EVERYONE AND IT’S IMPORTANT TO BE WELL PREPARED IN WILDERNESS FIRST-AID

Hibernation was taking hold again, and the winter months crept onward as I was stuck inside. I’d watch from my window as the toppling towers of snow piled up on the flimsy oak branches in my yard, and each day the trees would attempt to shake the heavy snow to keep their branches from bowing and breaking under the weight.

Last fall, I purchased my first new bike, a 2020 KTM 790 Adventure R. After test-riding one last summer, I felt an unshakeable lust that settled in my thoughts for months; a bike that — for me, in the brief ride I experienced — felt like an extension of every facet of my body. I brought the bike home in November, unloaded it from my truck in the snow, and rolled it into my little shed, fondly known as “the stable.” From my window, as I looked past the snow-laden branches and out at the stable, I started to dream about our first adventure together.

I reached out to Mike Haberoth from Ride North Moto. I had met him at the Edmonton Motorcycle Show a few years before, when he tried to convince me that riding ice roads in northern Alberta and the Northwest Territories during winter was a really “fun experience.” Although the idea sounded a little crazy, it was just the type of adventure I needed. Haberoth