Of course, to Catherine, who had driven the course personally many times, and guided a large number of Land Rover owners through

We immediately edged our way down an extremely steep embankment, so steep in fact that Catherine had to get out and guide me down. (Photo: Catherine Lemieux, Land Rover Canada)

its many twists and turns, it was just another day on the job. But for me, who has done a fair bit of off-roading since my dad first purchased a Land Cruiser FJ40 and taught me how to pilot it from the ripe old age of (well, I'd better not confess so that I don't incriminate him), what I was experiencing was not for the faint of heart.

We immediately edged our way down an extremely steep embankment, so steep in fact that Catherine had to get out and guide me down, one rock face at a time. At

At some points, all I could see were her hands pointing which direction to turn the wheels, up over the lip of the hood. (Photo: Catherine Lemieux, Land Rover Canada)

some points, all I could see were her hands pointing which direction to turn the wheels, up over the lip of the hood. While somewhat unnerving to be moving forward, the SUV canted sideways at a 30 degree angle and forward by at least as much, and simply trusting in the person walking ahead to know which way to position the wheels in order to find the most grip and best bring the vehicle down with the least amount of damage, hopefully that being none at all, it must even be more unnerving for the person facing 5,500 lbs of steel overhead and an intermediate off-roader at the helm, awkwardly attempting to negotiate the steering wheel while fumbling with his left foot on the brake and right foot on the throttle.