Mt Buller - All you need to know

[andy73]

If I get up the stones to take it it looks like there's plenty of room for me to bin it on the landing without hitting a tree.

It's a pretty open area there. Landing would need to have been sculpted from what was there.

 

[gregp]

I was on a 2015 Giant Reign and had no problems. The climbs I walked, I probably would have done on my 29er hardtail as well. As the trail naturally beds in and gets a bit rougher, I think it will be bike of choice.

Hey Stinky, which parts did you walk? On the Cornhill/Stonefly climbs? Or on the new part of Epic after you left Stonefly?

 

[djam]

its a fair climb right out of TBJ, so don't think its downhill from there. Check out the strava segment
"Epic from Telephone box junction".

You must do this ride once, then comment. I'm afraid Delatite has nothing on the epic descent
and I ride it a 3-4 times every week.

I rode it on an 8" kona, my 15 yo on an 8" Atomic. Yep, we did walk some of the fire trial climbs, they
are hard going on any bike.

but the descent... WOW and it just keeps on going.

 

[teK--]

Rode the Epic yesterday.

FUCKING AMAZING.

Bit of a climb from the shop ~9kms but rewarded with the most insane 13km descent ever. We had to stop halfway for a breather due to leg cramps and arm pump it is like the world's longest pump track.

It was a bit dry and rutted out from about halfway down though.

The "official" route doesn't do it justice. It should be the regular Stonefly descent rather than the fire road.

Near the top:



The "enchanted forest" at the end will trip you out and make you just top and wonder if you'd died and gone to berm heaven:



Taking a dip in the Delatite is always obligatory afterwards

 

[mrbernie]

Rode the Epic yesterday.

FUCKING AMAZING.

Bit of a climb from the shop ~9kms but rewarded with the most insane 13km descent ever. We had to stop halfway for a breather due to leg cramps and arm pump it is like the world's longest pump track.

It was a bit dry and rutted out from about halfway down though.

Also did it on Saturday... the climbs certainly aren't small (did the whole epic) and to be honest, it wasn't exactly the most enjoyable thing at the time, but in retrospect it was a quite an awesome day!
Wasn't expecting the last ~2.5km of the decent to be on fireroad either, but I wasn't complaining after climbing what seemed like 4 bazillion meters.

I was surprised at how well the Spartan handled it all and can't wait to get back up there soon!

 

[moman]

and to be honest, it wasn't exactly the most enjoyable thing at the time, but in retrospect it was a quite an awesome day!

Haha. This is fantastic. I've had many rides that felt like this

 

[andy73]

Rode it last Sunday. It's an amazing experience to get it done but it is immensely tough (especially if you've been downhilling the past ten years and only had your trail bike for a month). have to say, riding Lystie on the weekend was hilarious - absolute walk in the park once you've done the climbs on Epic.
The thing to not is that you will be climbing for MOST of it. After Telephone Box Junction there is still a lot of very steep climbing to get done. The other thing that kept happening to us was that we kept thinking we'd arrived at the famous descent, smashing a few turns etc, only to suddenly be faced with another heartbreakingly steep climb. Don't drop your seat post or put your tray in the upright position until you see a log with the word 'enjoy' carved into it. Then it is time to hold er open. this section of trail is honestly just an absolute hoot! feels like you're on a roller coaster. Get off the brakes and you will have the most epic 15-20 minutes ever!
Next time we plan to shuttle to TBJ. There's still a lot of climbing to do but the thinking is we'll arrive at the top, feeling a hell of a lot fresher than we did so we can really open up on the descent.
Also, make sure you take plenty of calories (think energy gels), snacks etc. It took us 4.5 hours.

 

[Nautonier]

Rode it last Sunday. It's an amazing experience to get it done but it is immensely tough (especially if you've been downhilling the past ten years and only had your trail bike for a month). have to say, riding Lystie on the weekend was hilarious - absolute walk in the park once you've done the climbs on Epic.
The thing to not is that you will be climbing for MOST of it. After Telephone Box Junction there is still a lot of very steep climbing to get done. The other thing that kept happening to us was that we kept thinking we'd arrived at the famous descent, smashing a few turns etc, only to suddenly be faced with another heartbreakingly steep climb. Don't drop your seat post or put your tray in the upright position until you see a log with the word 'enjoy' carved into it. Then it is time to hold er open. this section of trail is honestly just an absolute hoot! feels like you're on a roller coaster. Get off the brakes and you will have the most epic 15-20 minutes ever!
Next time we plan to shuttle to TBJ. There's still a lot of climbing to do but the thinking is we'll arrive at the top, feeling a hell of a lot fresher than we did so we can really open up on the descent.
Also, make sure you take plenty of calories (think energy gels), snacks etc. It took us 4.5 hours.

Did it again this weekend and can confirm that it's much better doing the Stonefly descent and circuit road to TBJ (an easy 15min roll). Adds about 10km to the entire ride, but you get 2 amazing descents rather than one. Wanted to hit the descent again today but weren't too keen on doing the climb again so we talked to Yully at the cafe who baked us some little wings that somehow made the bikes levitate all the way up to Smoothie, which was an easy pedal to the top. He's definitely the man to talk to if you want an 'assisted adventure'.

 

[andy73]

Did it again this weekend and can confirm that it's much better doing the Stonefly descent and circuit road to TBJ (an easy 15min roll). Adds about 10km to the entire ride, but you get 2 amazing descents rather than one. Wanted to hit the descent again today but weren't too keen on doing the climb again so we talked to Yully at the cafe who baked us some little wings that somehow made the bikes levitate all the way up to Smoothie, which was an easy pedal to the top. He's definitely the man to talk to if you want an 'assisted adventure'.

Yeah we've heard the same thing. We almost did the Stonefly descent but weren't sure if the circuit road would present more climbing. Definitely a good option!

 

[Nautonier]

Yeah we've heard the same thing. We almost did the Stonefly descent but weren't sure if the circuit road would present more climbing. Definitely a good option!

I was part of that "we" and wish we had tried it then, but the fire road was also quite fun. There is a very small amount of gentle climbing on the circuit road, but nothing to get the heart rate up and it's all over in 5 mins.

 

[dA_bOmBbIkE]

Still not sure I completely understand the shuttle for epic... Do you end up at the bottom? Or are the trails as part of it to get you back within riding distance of the village? Also if going mid week are self shuttles the only option?

 

[Nautonier]

Still not sure I completely understand the shuttle for epic... Do you end up at the bottom? Or are the trails as part of it to get you back within riding distance of the village? Also if going mid week are self shuttles the only option?

You end up at the bottom, which is ideally where you want your car, hence the usefulness of shuttles to the village or TBJ. Bear in mind that if you shuttle to TBJ, you're only effectively doing half of the Epic.

 

[dA_bOmBbIkE]

Ok thanks, So it said somewhere that shuttles only run on weekends is this true

 

[dragon_191]

Mid-week shuttles starting on Monday:

http://www.mirimbah.com.au/mountainbiking.html

I'll be heading there this weekend to ride the Epic and as many other Mt Buller trails that my legs can endure.

 

[sawmillone]

mid week shuttles start Monday from Mirimbah but the last one is 2 pm. to buller. people need to ring or email Mirimbah and ask about a 4 30 shuttle . it makes sense to run a 4 30 pm midweek shuttle

 

[Mywifesirrational]

Remebering this is the DH forums...

I give the epic trail an epic 'Meh' in reagrds to shuttling. I won't bother riding it again, unless I buy a lycra jumpsuit and a hardtail 29'er.

It certainly had some nice bits, but the 'reward' wasn't particularly worth the effort. It's a little too 'groomed' for my style of riding, they have tried too hard to make it look nice at the expense of some decent variety on the DH descent, still a lot of boring fireroad towards the bottom of the descent, with lots of hidden edges which make it dangerous to ride at speed.

Admittedly I road it on an aggressive AM bike which does quite well on the Delitite or the DH tracks, but on an XC ride like the epic, even from telephone box junction, the AM bike was way overkill. I'd give the Delitite 9/10 for awesomeness (scenery, speed and air ambulence potential), Klingsporn Bridle a solid 7.5/10 and the Epic (from TBJ) 4.5/10.

I also road it with a collapsed lung and three broken ribs, which perhaps didn't help my impression as I was not feeling great.

 

[Nautonier]

I also road it with a collapsed lung and three broken ribs

You are joking right?

 

[Mywifesirrational]

You are joking right?

Nope, I had emergancy cardio thoracic surgery the following day and 5 days in hospital, apparently I was a lot worse off than I felt.

Which explains why the hills were somewhat challenging.

Had a bit of a whoopsie at Mt Buller on the weekend. Bit of a long winded yarn.

First run down Delatite I had a tyre puncture, something big enough to put a 5c piece into the casing, unfortunetly this happened at a time when I had already committed to a high speed and steep corner, I road off the track according to strava at 44km per hour, over the bars with a 2-2.5 meter drop.

Absolutely massive crash for me, instant loss of breath cant move or speak for a bit, but otherwise feel pretty good. Dodged a bullet on that one!

Continued riding for the day also road the epic trail (wasn't overally impressed), but I was having a bit of rib pain, figured I'd probably twinged them. Was also having trouble breathing on extertion, I had to walk all uphills (quite slowly), but I got my days riding done that we had planned, not pleasant but done.

Drove home that night and I wasn't struggling per sae, but I wasn't exactly feeling chipper, bads not sleep and sunday morning sexy time the mrs pressed onto my ribs and ouch were they sore, still got bussiness done.

Went out for lunch, promised mrs that I'd swing by ED on the way home.

Went into ED at 4pm, waited 4 hours to be seen (which is well within acceptable limits in Vic), triage nurse and Doc didn't seem to think much was wrong. I Was going to be sent hone and I requested xrays as the pain and breathing where both worsesing, doc finally agreed and called an on call radiologist in (small hospital).

While xrays done, was chatting you friending young radiologist and suddenly she got quiet and more serious, didn't notice this at the time.

Back in waiting cubile pondering what I might get for dinner on the way home, Doc and 2 nurses enter with wheelchair, I was told to get in wheel chair and they explain on the way.

The hospital does have a surgical ward, but not open on weekends, so I was stationed in the middle of ED with staff there helping others get gowns on and equipment ready.

I was quite bewildered and at this piont getting REALLY stressed.

My diagnosis was mutliple rib fractures, a collapsed right lung and a high risk cardiac arrest shortly due to heart failure (my blood pressure, from stress, was now about 240 / 110), the cardio thoracic consultant on the phone had told them I can't be transferred because of the risks involved, do the surgery now.

I am a tolerant man for pain, but the surgery to have a tube jammed into my plural sack to get the pressure out to allow the lung to re-expand and take pressure off the heart... it was very unpleasant, I'd perhaps have preferred the cardio thoracic surgery over the general ED physician to have done this procedure, but at this stage I was just hoping to see my kid again.

After surgery got a short few minutes to see the Mrs and Son, was off my face of what ever they gave me, put into an ambulence and sent to a bigger hospital, very uncomfortable with a tube rubbing on the lungs.

Cardiac thoracic surgeon was waiting on arrival, she was really good rechecked everything and had time to explain a few things, I was particularly interested why I was attached to a bubbling fishtank.

Spent the last 4 days in hopital, after reading the referral the trauma surgeon decided to to listen to anything I had to say regarding symptions and I had several brain, abdomen and limb CT's along with regular chest xrays to confirm lungs expanded and stayed expanded.

I am home now, off my face apparently (I feel normal) and won't be going back to work anytime soon.

Now for the moral of the story:

If you have a crash thats bigger than normal - GO TO FUCKEN HOSPITAL! this shit aint worth dying for, don't tolerate the pain or discomfort becuase you can.

The last thing I thought of as my pusle dropped into the 30's and alarms and shit where going off, people in gowns looking very stressed and everything got hazy, was my son.







Our public health system not perfect, but after working in it and using the pionty end, I think it's awesome, the Dr's, surgeons, radiologists, orderlys and especially the nurses - thankyou.

 

[Nautonier]

Sheesh, that's major. No wonder you weren't really feeling it on the Epic, surprised you even felt well enough to attempt it. It's always a horrible moment when the hospital staff get all serious and make it clear you aren't going anywhere anytime soon.

 

[Stinky]

Remebering this is the DH forums...

I give the epic trail an epic 'Meh' in reagrds to shuttling. I won't bother riding it again, unless I buy a lycra jumpsuit and a hardtail 29'er.

It certainly had some nice bits, but the 'reward' wasn't particularly worth the effort. It's a little too 'groomed' for my style of riding, they have tried too hard to make it look nice at the expense of some decent variety on the DH descent, still a lot of boring fireroad towards the bottom of the descent, with lots of hidden edges which make it dangerous to ride at speed.

Admittedly I road it on an aggressive AM bike which does quite well on the Delitite or the DH tracks, but on an XC ride like the epic, even from telephone box junction, the AM bike was way overkill. I'd give the Delitite 9/10 for awesomeness (scenery, speed and air ambulence potential), Klingsporn Bridle a solid 7.5/10 and the Epic (from TBJ) 4.5/10.

I also road it with a collapsed lung and three broken ribs, which perhaps didn't help my impression as I was not feeling great.

I would argue the opposite. I find Delatite a bit ho hum. It is basically just a lot of fire road with some cool bridges. The Epic on the other hand is singletrack that is a heap of fun. Remember that is is new. Give it a year or two and the rocks will grow out of the trail and green stuff will close in on the edges. (I rode on a new model Reign that was a size too big).

Whilst it is not super technical, I would still reach for the AM bike on this one.

Both would be hard work with broken ribs and a collapsed lung.