Skull Saboteur Sentencing Videos

These videos are a tiny portion of the half a terabyte of raw footage that was shot by various infrared wildlife cameras, GoPros and other recording devices. Most of these were submitted to Judge Milne by Crown Counsel prior to the Tina Kraal’s sentencing hearing. Videos are below the statement from the mountain bikers who caught Mrs. Kraal.

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The two mountain bikers who undertook the investigation, Gord Berg and Shaun Rivers, release the following statement:

We would like to thank the RCMP and Crown Counsel for their efforts on this independent citizen led investigation.

We will not comment on the sentence Mrs. Kraal received today.

Today’s result closes this unfortunate tale of Mrs. Kraal and the Skull trail. This story isn’t about user conflict. It is a story about the deliberate, persistent effort by one person to attempt to interfere with legitimate trail users she didn’t even know.

What’s needed is respect: Respect for trail users of all types; Respect for the shared resource of trails of all types; and Respect for the land manager that governs use of these trails: the District of North Vancouver.

The District is managing the trail network by engaging with organizations such as the North Shore Mountain Bike Association (NSMBA). We informed the NSMBA at the initiation of the investigation as they are the legal trail stewards of the Skull trail. They were then informed again when we had approached the RCMP with the dossier of evidence. Lastly, they were informed of the arrest of Ms. Kraal on Jan 5, 2015.

With the culmination of this matter we need to focus forward. There are many types of activities that people undertake within the near country of our North Shore mountains- trail running, hiking, dog walking, mountain biking, and even picnics. Most all of these activities are trail based, as we know.

Let us NOT focus on the types of trail users, let us focus on WHY we are all there!

All of us have a responsibility to care for the trails. We also have a responsibility to others in understanding their right for their use and enjoyment too- this is key.

This case was only about one person, Mrs. Kraal, undertaking actions with the sole intention to disrupt another’s legal use and enjoyment of the trails that they are sanctioned for.

And she got caught.

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This video gives you a tiny glimpse into the incredible lengths Gord and Shaun went to so they could be sure there evidence was impeccable. Every night when Gord set up a camera, with fresh batteries and a new memory card, he would time stamp it with his GoPro and his cell phone to have verify the time stamp on the camera, which could be manipulated. Occasionally a camera would reset causing the time to reset so this provided a level of security against that as well. All this at 2:22 in the morning. Every night for over a month. That, my fellow riders, is heroic.

All the videos below aside from the last were taken on January 4th, 2015. This was the night of Mrs. Kraal’s arrest. 

In order to try and gain insight into Mrs. Kraal’s exit and entry points, Gord began taking more risks with his camera placements. She spots the camera(which was locked in place) and later handles it, eventually leaving it facing away from the trail. 

This video shows Mrs. Kraal pulling a branch onto the trail.

Infrared crossfire. It appears that a light has been turned on behind Mrs. Kraal, but we are seeing the crossfire of another infrared camera as more debris is being placed.

“Trail Spear.” The discovery that Gord Berg felt was particularly dangerous and revealing.

This video shows Mrs. Kraal’s dog running away from the camera. Apparently he was charging an RCMP officer who was forced to defend himself. It appears the dog is looking toward Mrs. Kraal and then it charges.

Mrs. Kraal’s arrest in the forest.

This video, using several GoPro angles as well as a handheld camera, was made to show how challenging Lower Skull is and how dangerous it becomes with obstacles, like logs and branches, added to the equation. Gord Berg is filming and Shaun Rivers is riding.

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I will be publishing an interview with Gord and Shaun in a few days. Until then, instead of harping on about the sentence or with judgements about Mrs. Kraal’s actions, maybe we should focus on this two spectacular members of the mountain bike community. You have done us proud gentlemen!