Kicking Horse Bike Park - Trail Crew Update #7

Posted: Sep 27, 2009

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

Another fantastic season has passed us by on the inside corner while we were busy enjoying the sun. It seems like only 4 months ago we started scratching the dirt to make it ready for summer, when really it was 16 weeks ago! And now we are putting the trails to bed for the winter, to hibernate along with Boo, the resident grizzly.

Some great things happened up here at Kicking Horse Bike Park again in 2009. None greater than the increased number of smiles and yahoos that peppered the park. Despite the GLOBAL ECONOMIC RECESSION, the number of bikers riding at KHBP increased by about 15%. If that was a return on investment offered by Earl Jones last year, I would have given him my money.

Another great thing is the dirt jump line. After three attempts, they turned out superb. And this year, because we relocated them away from a ski run, they are staying! That means first thing next year the djs will be good to go. All that is left to do there is build a green line and a double black line.

Stickrock's first full year was a huge success. Many people considered cleaning it the goal of the season, and as we never had to cart a broken body off, most must have been successful.

Below that, the still nameless woodwork trail saw a couple weeks of extension, but it will have to wait until next year before it gets open. There is still a lot to do there.


Rock n Roll will have a new entrance in 2010. The 10 berms have been raked out to wait for winter to lay on them and tamp them tight. A bridge and some jumps need to be added and the final piece grubbed out to connect to the original trail. It will be a huge improvement. Hopefully a little bit of fun too.


I would like to take the opportunity to highlight the tremendous gift bestowed upon the trail crew by this year's most gracious and gratified rider. Chris from Sunshine brought to us on the last weekend a token of his appreciation that... excuse me, I'm getting a bit choked up here... that really touched our hearts. Chris became a very special person to our little family by bringing us,... yes, sniff, beer. Plenty of beer. Burp.

We want to thank all the riders for showing up and having a great time. We can hear the hoots and hollers whenever we slow the furious pace of our park improvements, and they inspire us to continue on. Have a great winter. We'll see you on the powdery slopes.


Ride on.

Crowe
www.kickinghorseresort.com
FREE bike maps of all Golden trails and a NEW Backcountry Map at www.TourismGolden.com