Kicking Horse Bike Park - Trail Crew Update #2

Posted: Jun 17, 2009

The straight goods on Kicking Horse Bike Park, straight from the trail crew's fingertips.

Kicking Horse had one of its best season openers ever on the weekend of June 12. The rain stayed away, the sun was shining and I saw nothing but smiles on a lot of new and familiar faces. Buckets of snow melted and things are looking good for opening the top of the mountain soon.

Phase II of Stickrock was unveiled and I'm stoked that I got the first ride down of 2009 (Take that Woodchuck. How's the beach in Croatia? Boring I bet!) Have a look at the POV helmetcam video that a couple patrollers filmed of Phases I and II of Stickrock. It is difficult to tell just how steep the first and second slabs are, but the fact they are not peddling should give you a clue. That, and the screaming brakes.

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Conditions got pretty dry by Sunday, but on Monday the showers started and the trails have tightened up. Continued showers, with weekdays with no riders for each of the next two weeks, means the trail crew is getting a lot of work done to make things even better. On June 26 we are open 7 days a week until early September. Then back to weekends.

The Bridge From Space on Kranky Pants (if you don't know this br-r-r-r-ridge, you are lucky) has been replaced with some smooooth, flat fir. Never again will I be standing somewhere on the mountain and hear the familiar rumble as a rider vibrates across the BFS, exclaiming “What the #$%& is this?”. Bridge From Space: remembered, but not fondly.

Superberm, especially the new section in the middle, took a bit of a beating. But that's what happens to the popular trails. There is so much organic material in some of those berms that we are going to have to take a more creative approach to fixing them. So keep an eye open for that. And there are still a few persistent leaky problems we have to solve. But overall I love that run and it has a great future.

More changes to come as Showdown, Rock Garden and the other upper trails emerge from hibernation. I'll keep you posted, but better yet come and have a look yourself.

2009 trail maps just arrived. These things are amazing. They include not only the KHBP trails, but also Golden's Mount 7 downhill, the Moonraker and Canyon Creek x-country, and hiking trails, all superimposed on Google Earth images. You can get FREE ones from www.tourismgolden.com and all over town. If you think these maps look great, wait until you see the website.


Finally, a request on part of all trail crews everywhere. Please SLOW DOWN in work zones. Not only do we not have any idea just how much in control you are, we don't really want to bathe in dust all day. Besides, if you hit the brakes and cruise by slowly, you can tell us just how much you love the trails, which inspires us to make better trails. When you fly by willy nilly, all we want to do is throw a rake at you.

Ride on.

Crowe
www.kickinghorseresort.com