Snow biking

RichJS

Likes Dirt
Well, winter is really here - so I figure I might as well embrace it fully. There's lots of snow coming, but when it does what Aussie snow does and has turned to hardpack my thoughts will wander to one question: Can I ride it?

Anyone given snow / ice riding a crack? Whereabouts? Years ago I saw a pile of DH'ers at Mt Buller on the first weeked of the ski season..

On the equiment side - I don't have a fatbike, so studded tyres will have to do (Schwalbe Ice Spiker.)

Now, has anyone got trail suggestions? I know there's the Nordic / XC Skiing trails at Perisher. The skinny-ski guys are probably convinced that bike tyres will trash the trails, and I'm sure this is true when the snow is fairly soft. Hardpacked, not so much? I understand there's other trails/roads around that could be good for a hit out..

I would like to find some fairly-flat trails, cause then I can get a ski kit and tow my daughter in her Chariot - like this guy:


Yes I could just ski on the trails with the chariot, but I'm the worst Nordic skiier ever. My daughter will be able to ski on her own by the time I get good enough to tow the Chariot without killing us both.
 
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telemike4

Likes Bikes
On the equiment side - I rode on snow/ice in Japan with my brother on his normal tyred mountainbike. Admittedly it was in town, so hardpack, but it did OK. He does it all the time with normal MTB tyres. Just runs them really low pressure (way too low for dirt), so low that the tubes rotate around the rims and the valve stems go crooked. But it worked fine and he never seemed to have valve problems. You might want to give this a try if you can borrow some knobby 2.3s before splurging on studded tyres.

On trail suggestions - I would have thought the terrain around 5 mile dam (which is on the road to Mt Selwyn) would be flatter than the trails around Perisher.

Probably best to try it without your daughter first.
 

gravity

Likes Dirt
Well, winter is really here - so I figure I might as well embrace it fully. There's lots of snow coming, but when it does what Aussie snow does and has turned to hardpack my thoughts will wander to one question: Can I ride it?

Anyone given snow / ice riding a crack? Whereabouts? Years ago I saw a pile of DH'ers at Mt Buller on the first weeked of the ski season..

On the equiment side - I don't have a fatbike, so studded tyres will have to do (Schwalbe Ice Spiker.)

Now, has anyone got trail suggestions? I know there's the Nordic / XC Skiing trails at Perisher. The skinny-ski guys are probably convinced that bike tyres will trash the trails, and I'm sure this is true when the snow is fairly soft. Hardpacked, not so much? I understand there's other trails/roads around that could be good for a hit out..

I would like to find some fairly-flat trails, cause then I can get a ski kit and tow my daughter in her Chariot - like this guy:


Yes I could just ski on the trails with the chariot, but I'm the worst Nordic skiier ever. My daughter will be able to ski on her own by the time I get good enough to tow the Chariot without killing us both.
I've had a go at riding in the snow a couple of times. I did it last year up at Mt Buffalo in winter. There wasn't much snow but I rode up the Horn Rd (closed in winter) which was mostly covered in snow. It was mild and the snow was super soft, slushy and slow going...even riding back down the hill ! I have ridden when the snow is firm/frozen or hardpacked and this is much easier. Nice knobby tyres and play around with the right pressure is the go. Give it a go...
 

climberman

Likes Dirt
I think the skinny ski guys are right, and that you would trash the nordic tracks.

You could try about 7 billion other areas before the nordic tracks... which are groomed to be tracks.

Try to ride to CP form Perisher.

Or the link road between Smiggin Holes and the Guthega Road.

Or any of the FT's in the park when they are covered. Try some of the lower ones below Sponars.

'Hardpack' will depend on the day you are riding as well as off-piste snow tends to be highly variable. Sat'dy out form Dead Horse the Rams Heads were frikkin ice nightmares, Sunday they were soft and quite nice. Neither day would I have ridden a bike on em... the idea of breakable crust on a bike just seems too horrible to contemplate.
 

RichJS

Likes Dirt
Thanks for the suggestions.

I am not interested in riding the bike in soft snow - the board will make an appearance on such a day. Breakable crust is off the list too, cause I can see that being a nightmare. I figure there has to be plenty of hard-packed trails to get around on, right?

The Anthem doesn't have the clearance for real 2.3"+ tyres so I can't give the DH tyres a run at super-low PSI. I'm going see how tubeless 2.1" spikes goes for me .. and, yes, I'll definitely be practising without a passenger first!

Fatguts- near you: I'm in the ACT.
 

FatGuts

Likes Dirt
Fatguts- near you: I'm in the ACT.

A couple of local places that you can go, only when it snows in the Brindies are Smokers Trail and Mt Franklin road. Both will be closed to vehicles when it has snowed & are endless amounts of fun :p
 

telemike4

Likes Bikes
My wife's friend just told us tonight that you can hire the ski adaptors for a chariot trailer from a place in jindabyne (Paddy Pallin I think). This might be worth a try before you buy.

Post up how you go. I have a chariot too and used to XC ski heaps (pre kid).
 

RichJS

Likes Dirt
My wife's friend just told us tonight that you can hire the ski adaptors for a chariot trailer from a place in jindabyne (Paddy Pallin I think). This might be worth a try before you buy.

Post up how you go. I have a chariot too and used to XC ski heaps (pre kid).
I just called up Paddy Pallin (A.K.A Mountain Adventure Centre) and they even hire out Chariots complete with ski kits (or bike hitch.) That's pretty cool. Am getting a price on hiring just the ski kit and will weigh that up vs purchase.
 

FatGuts

Likes Dirt
Thats only part 1 of 4 for the whole run from top to bottom. The guy came top 5 in category I think - just under 1 hr.

I watched all four last night, YEEEHHHAAAAAAAA!!!!! Man there is some sweet flowing track in that ride.
 

RichJS

Likes Dirt
Cool. Post up the prices (it will save me the effort). Cheers
$40 a day for chariot + kit (they suggested it's cheaper per day for multiple days)
$25 a day for ski kit (same again, though seems a little pricey given ski kit costs less than 1/2 of the base unit)
 
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