Somewhere under the tree line, well-hidden among the spruce and pine and soft, springy moss, a man is hard at work.

He works his saw methodically back and forth along the fallen tree’s corpse, a can of bear spray fastened to his hip, his small white terrier exploring the nearby woods.

His saw breaks through the other side and Wayne Roberts carefully moves the tree off the trail, making the trail safe for Montana Mountain’s riders once again.

Roberts, beloved by the mountain biking, trail building and Carcross communities, died in his home overlooking Lake Bennett last weekend. After a long battle with cancer, he finally lost.

“He was a guy who would just do it,” said friend, Derek Crowe. “He had a can-do attitude.” Roberts moved to Carcross from Vancouver Island in 1998. Roberts was attracted to the area by its history.

Born a century sooner, Roberts may not have been out of place with the colourful characters of Yukon’s past.

After the Klondike Gold Rush, silver veins were discovered in the mountain. A Montana man named John Conrad consolidated the claims and built an extensive network of trails, tramways and wagon roads to transport the silver off the mountain, when the Windy Arm Stampede faded away, so too did the trails. They remained hidden for nearly a hundred years.

Shortly after Roberts arrived in Carcross, he was out bushwhacking along the Skagway highway and discovered a mule trail well-hidden in the undergrowth.

He began clearing away a century’s worth of growth on the trail he would soon use for his tour company, Fireweed Hikes and Bikes.

“I needed something with everything in it that’s ‘the Yukon’ and that had it,” he told the Yukon News in 2011 when the resulting Mountain Hero trail was given EPIC status by the

International Mountain Bicycling Association. “It’s fast, it’s got wicked turns, it has some incredible scenery, wildlife - you name it, it’s there.”

The trail has since been lauded by international media and visited by active people from around the world.

But back in the early 2000s, Carcross wasn’t the mountain biking destination it would become nearly a decade later.

At the time, a photographer and writer for an American mountain biking magazine were sent to Yukon to explore the territory’s potential for single track epics.

Alberta-based photographer John Gibson knew the potential for alpine rides. He wanted to get up high. Crowe, who was accompanying them queried Roberts, who was at the time, the only mountain bike tour operator in the territory.

Roberts said he had the perfect trail. The only catch: he hadn’t finished it. So he spent the next couple days and nights getting it ready for the Outside media.

“He was very funny and passionate. A real true Yukoner, a real character,” said Gibson.

When they arrived, local historian Murray Lundberg gave them a ride up the mountain in an old pick-up truck

“It was a really Yukon adventure,” said Crowe. “It was kind of a bushwhack.” The resulting first descent of Sam McGee’s trail (now part of the Mountain Hero loop – a 24K, 1,400-metre climb and wicked downhill) is detailed in a 2002 Globe and Mail travel piece by Mitchell Scott.

“We broil with anticipation at breathing life into single track that has laid dormant for a century,” writes Mitchell. They pass “abandoned tailing pipes, mine shafts, weather-worn structures and stone cookhouse” on their way to the top. As they descend back to Nares Lake, Roberts’ “excitement (is) visible in his wide smile and even wider eyes.”

When, in 2006, the Carcross and Tagish First Nation land agreement was settled, Singletrack to Success began as well, with a goal to “build a destination, one trail at a time,”

First Nations youth were employed to go out and build trail on the mountain. They discovered more networks leftover from the Conrad era and set to building the trail infrastructure that led to the mountain being co-named “The Best Biking Destination” in the world in 2013 by Outside Magazine.

Roberts was a mentor for the groups of First Nations youth that set to work on the mountain. He possessed a set of skills uncommon in today’s world and gifted many of his tools to the youth.

“There’s not much that Wayne couldn’t do,” said Crowe. “He could fix anything. he could build anything.”

And in 2012, when Roberts first had to undergo treatment in Vancouver, one of those youth stepped up as a crew leader, leading people to finish the trail that Roberts had started as a connector from McDonald Creek back to Carcross along Lake Bennett. Wayne’s World is now used by many.

“We all went out and worked on it to give him a trail before he passed away.” said local mountain biker Sierra Van Der Meer.

She remembers Roberts as the first cheerleader for the trails in Carcross, an”original grumpy trailbuilder.”

“I think Wayne saw what Carcross could be before anyone,” she said. “He was so enthused about it.”

While Roberts gave up his guiding business almost a decade ago, he remained a defacto tour guide, showing people his beloved mountain and offering up nuggets of history along the way.

Recently he took to riding an e-bike to continue enjoying the trails in his backyard.

After a day of shredding, he would welcome new friends and old on his porch for a nice cold Yukon Gold beer.

Roberts was also a regular at the local coffee joint, Caribou Crossing Coffee.

After seeing a trail, even if it was only partially finished, “He then championed it to such a high degree,” said Van Der Meer. “He was the guy at the coffee shop talking it up.”

Roberts especially enjoyed pairing his cup of joe with one of the cafe’s cranberry cinnamon buns. And even on some of his toughest days, he would make his way down to the cafe for good company and laughs.

For the rest of the month, Caribou Crossing Coffee has a gallery of ravens, the trickster and messenger between the lands of the living and the dead, created by Yukon artists. The gallery is dedicated to the memory of Roberts.

Roberts was also an accomplished photographer. His magical photos of the northern lights inspire imaginations, their arcing swirls of green and purple illuminating the still waters on Lake Bennett, when it’s no longer night, but not quite morning.

A celebration of life will be held for Roberts at the Carcross Community Centre on Sunday from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Last weekend Roberts’ sister built a fire in his home overlooking the lake, nestled into the base of the mountain he cared about, and as he had asked, he breathed his last breath at home.

Roberts’ spirit will be remembered as cyclists whip down Mountain Hero trail and as the Northern Lights dance across the sky.

By Marissa Tiel, Star Sports Editor