This mid '90s Hardbody pickup is a one-of-a-kind design from the folks at Rocky Mountain Off-road in Red Deer, AB. It's always good to know a fabricator or two that can make your vision a reality.

Written/Photography by
Wade Stoddart

Like many of you readers, I have one big 4x4 event that I make a point of attending every year. 2005 marked the 3rd Annual Nissan Jamboree, but this year it was called the Import Jamboree. Basically, if you owned an import 4x4, you were welcome to attend.

For those of you who either live in or have visited Alberta to partake in off highway travel, you have probably been to the area called Waiparous. It has a majestic beauty about it all when you get into the open valleys and see the first ridges of mountains and trees; it's definitely one of my favorite areas.

The Unimog from the Canadian Off-Road Expo has been spotted at several events across Alberta this year. They even had some time to make an appearance at the Import Jamboree.

Anyway, the 3rd Annual Import Jamboree had taken place this past August and it was a blast. With mainly word of mouth the Calgary Nissan & Import 4x4 Club managed to attract a wide range of import 4x4 trucks. We had all manner of Nissans, Toyotas and we did have a couple of club members with domestics but that's a different animal all together. The club even managed to attract the Canadian Off Road Expo Unimog courtesy of Corey Geisbreight. The entire event was centered on responsible wheeling and family involvement and indeed, this simple concept seemed to be the main attraction for the nearly 30 trucks in attendance.

Chris's solid axle Pathfinder is able to flex over just about anything with its full coil suspension. I've seen this rig go through some pretty nasty stuff.

The 4-day event kicked off on a Thursday at a privately operated campground in the heart of Waiparous with part of day one spent setting up camp and socializing but trail runs usually began once a few people got settled in. The rest of the weekend is coordinated with organized trail sign-ups with suggested return times because the evenings usually had something going on back at camp.

I liked the fact the entire event is worked around a flexible schedule so people can enjoy the trails and still have enough time to extract the good stucks that are usually encountered. Let's be honest what fun is a trail if at least one person doesn't get stuck? It usually makes for good photo opportunities so it's a win-win situation.

There was a wide range of 4x4's and driving abilities so we had several groups that ended up on various trails rated from easy to extreme. With the little bit of rain that fell a few days prior even the easy trails had their challenges, and everyone had the chance to show off their skills.

This '03 Xterra was unstoppable with its undercarriage armour and ARB rear locker.

To cap off the event, the organizers managed to get a huge BBQ trailer on loan from Midwest Surveys, all the food and fixings for Saturday's BBQ courtesy of the club's long time sponsor Brasso Nissan, and numerous prizes from a long list of sponsors.

Once the BBQ was underway drivers were encouraged to take part in the blindfold run and the slalom course. The blindfold run has become a club favorite over the years where the driver wears a blindfold and a sighted passenger directs them through a maze. Penalties were given for touching or breaking the stakes and the best time won a cool trophy. The ladies did the slalom course in forward gears and the guys had to finish the course in reverse. It's harder than it sounds but it made for some great fun.

And the winner of the "I really meant to do that Award" goes to this fellow. I'm not sure of the name of this trail but I do know the flexed position was a common sight that day.

All the kids were given glow sticks on the last night and they even had a chance to beat on a piñata covered in (cough, cough) Jeep Decals. Thanks to the rapid price drop in digital cameras nearly every person has one and that fact was put to good use when all the photos were uploaded to a laptop and projected on a huge screen via an LCD projector. There was even a highlight video from last year's event.

It took over two hours to get this guy out of the soup. His front bumper was almost ripped on the process but despite the thick goo they all made it back in time for the BBQ that night.

With our favorite backcountry area at risk of being closed after 2005 the future of the Import Jamboree seems a little uncertain; I for one hope there will be many more Jamborees for years to come.

For those who love diesels here's an old beauty that was rescued from a field. Its owner happily chugged through Cabin Creek and several other off shoots during the weekend.

 More Photos | Top | Articles