Trails in Canada
- Thread starter yuley95
- Start date
pink poodle
気が狂っている男
I know! We walked down there thinking we were in for some decent coffee...nope! Not even a pot of mud. We did find a good coffee roaster in Pemberton.
*Hank Scorpio remains the greatest Simpsons episode ever made.
yuley95
soft-arse Yuley is on the lifts again
Revelstoke
This just might be my favourite place so far. If you looks at the trail maps for Revelstoke resort, it looks a bit limited but the trails are long and REALLY well built.
Buy your tickets online a day or so prior to riding and they are pretty cheap ($55). Numbers were pretty low when i was there and i was able to walk straight into a gondola and have it to myself. There is a mid point which is actually about a third of the way up the hill where you exit the gondola and get into another to go the rest of the way.
Once you get to the top you can either ride a 7km trail to gain another 500metres elevation or just drop in. I planned to ride the climb trail at some point in the day but once I did my first lap that idea went out the window. There is just no need. My first lap took me along ‘Guilt Trip’ to join into ‘5620’ which takes you all the way to the bottom. It was a 12km ribbon of flow and jumps. It was awesome.
On my next lap, I decided to ‘Bagful of Boogie’ and just go to the mid station. Even that smaller lap was 10km and the trail was even better. As much as I love Whistler, I feel like they play it a little safe - especially on the blue trails. There are no gaps and no real drops - even as options. At Revelstoke, everything is well build but they seem to give you a bit more to chew on. There are options for gaps, drops, sneaky tech lines and more.
I then shifted to the black tech line of ‘Fish Bonker’ and it was SO GOOD. They seem to start all of their black trails with ‘squirrel catchers’ - features designed to let you know what skill level is required for the run. On Fish Bonker this meant a skinny into a drop then a sharp turn into a big drop. The rest of the Trail is steep and lose with multiple lines like a choose your own adventure.Then a bit of flow, more skinnies into a whale tail and later another wooden feature into a drop/berm.
I did laps and laps while my family explored other activities on the mountain then stayed on for more laps while they went home. I was toasted after about 60km fo descents and had to call it but wanted to do more.
Interestingly, riding here cemented my view of Big White. Where are Big White, I often found myself wondering what the fuck the builders were thinking, I was instantly in tune with the builders at Revelstoke and felt comfortable - even on my first run down a trail - that I could trust where the trail was going and what the intention of each feature was. Boost, squash, rail or brake - everything seemed intuitive and fun.
I highly recommend Revelstoke if you’re heading this way.
This just might be my favourite place so far. If you looks at the trail maps for Revelstoke resort, it looks a bit limited but the trails are long and REALLY well built.
Buy your tickets online a day or so prior to riding and they are pretty cheap ($55). Numbers were pretty low when i was there and i was able to walk straight into a gondola and have it to myself. There is a mid point which is actually about a third of the way up the hill where you exit the gondola and get into another to go the rest of the way.
Once you get to the top you can either ride a 7km trail to gain another 500metres elevation or just drop in. I planned to ride the climb trail at some point in the day but once I did my first lap that idea went out the window. There is just no need. My first lap took me along ‘Guilt Trip’ to join into ‘5620’ which takes you all the way to the bottom. It was a 12km ribbon of flow and jumps. It was awesome.
On my next lap, I decided to ‘Bagful of Boogie’ and just go to the mid station. Even that smaller lap was 10km and the trail was even better. As much as I love Whistler, I feel like they play it a little safe - especially on the blue trails. There are no gaps and no real drops - even as options. At Revelstoke, everything is well build but they seem to give you a bit more to chew on. There are options for gaps, drops, sneaky tech lines and more.
I then shifted to the black tech line of ‘Fish Bonker’ and it was SO GOOD. They seem to start all of their black trails with ‘squirrel catchers’ - features designed to let you know what skill level is required for the run. On Fish Bonker this meant a skinny into a drop then a sharp turn into a big drop. The rest of the Trail is steep and lose with multiple lines like a choose your own adventure.Then a bit of flow, more skinnies into a whale tail and later another wooden feature into a drop/berm.
I did laps and laps while my family explored other activities on the mountain then stayed on for more laps while they went home. I was toasted after about 60km fo descents and had to call it but wanted to do more.
Interestingly, riding here cemented my view of Big White. Where are Big White, I often found myself wondering what the fuck the builders were thinking, I was instantly in tune with the builders at Revelstoke and felt comfortable - even on my first run down a trail - that I could trust where the trail was going and what the intention of each feature was. Boost, squash, rail or brake - everything seemed intuitive and fun.
I highly recommend Revelstoke if you’re heading this way.
yuley95
soft-arse Yuley is on the lifts again
YES!! Ever seen a man say goodbye to his shoes before?
pink poodle
気が狂っている男
yuley95
soft-arse Yuley is on the lifts again
Nelson - Mountain Station and Svoboda trails
After travelling through BC and riding only in bike parks so far, we have now settled into Nelson in the Kootenay Rockies and I’m riding local trails 3 or 4 times a week until the snow comes in.
This terrain and the trails themselves are very different to the bike parks and really shine a light on how versatile current day enduro bikes are. More on that in a minute.
The soil here is next level. Like nothing I’ve ridden before in Australia. Kinda spongy and rich dark coloured and with grip for days. It’s a good thing too as the trails here are steep and intermittently carpeted in roots or clusters of square edged, grapefruit sized rocks. And then slabs. And then that lovely, lovely dirt.
The trails are definitely more ‘tech’ than ‘flow’ and you find yourself navigating steep chutes, often requiring you to get off the brake through off camber section where you suddenly hit Mach 10 and need to get on the anchors and wash it all off before a tight corner into another chute.
There are also a ton for cool built features like skinnies and drops and skinnies that turn into drops and road gaps and roller coaster section and more.
Then there’s the bears… I didn’t know what to expect or how to approach it when I first got here so I just asked people in bike shops. Turns out you just ‘holler’ once in a while so you don't ever scare them and hope they are never in the middle of a trail as you come around a corner. I also now carry bear spray strapped to my bike.
Speaking of my bike - the Kavenz really shines here. It was good in the bike parks but as speeds hit Mach chicken and the jumps turned size-massive, I could see the appeal of a downhill bike. The cool thing about the Kavenz is that I could actually fit a dual crown fork and bump the rear travel up to 180mm to turn it into a park slayer but I’m travelling light and can only really run it in one configuration for the entire trip.
Now that I’m having to winch up 500 metres of elevation just to get a lap done, and then navigate steep sections down that alternate between tight and tech with short burst of flat out root-fests, the Kavenz in it’s standard 160mm set up is feeling perfect. It’s comfortable to climb with a steep seat angle and strikes a really good balance of monster truck and manoeuvrable. Quite a feat and I think it comes down to the mid-high pivot magic. Anti-squat keep bob to a minimum and the amount of anti-rise keep the rear nice and active over all the roots and rocks on the steep descents.
There are a few more trail areas around Nelson to check out including a couple of machine built flow/jump trails and an area called ‘North Shore’ that looks too have massive jumps and features that will be beyond me but I’m keen to see them up close.
Within an hour’s drive I also have Rossland, Trail, Castlegar and Kaslo trail networks but not sure how much of those I will cover in the time we have before the weather turns. I’ll keep you posted!
After travelling through BC and riding only in bike parks so far, we have now settled into Nelson in the Kootenay Rockies and I’m riding local trails 3 or 4 times a week until the snow comes in.
This terrain and the trails themselves are very different to the bike parks and really shine a light on how versatile current day enduro bikes are. More on that in a minute.
The soil here is next level. Like nothing I’ve ridden before in Australia. Kinda spongy and rich dark coloured and with grip for days. It’s a good thing too as the trails here are steep and intermittently carpeted in roots or clusters of square edged, grapefruit sized rocks. And then slabs. And then that lovely, lovely dirt.
The trails are definitely more ‘tech’ than ‘flow’ and you find yourself navigating steep chutes, often requiring you to get off the brake through off camber section where you suddenly hit Mach 10 and need to get on the anchors and wash it all off before a tight corner into another chute.
There are also a ton for cool built features like skinnies and drops and skinnies that turn into drops and road gaps and roller coaster section and more.
Then there’s the bears… I didn’t know what to expect or how to approach it when I first got here so I just asked people in bike shops. Turns out you just ‘holler’ once in a while so you don't ever scare them and hope they are never in the middle of a trail as you come around a corner. I also now carry bear spray strapped to my bike.
Speaking of my bike - the Kavenz really shines here. It was good in the bike parks but as speeds hit Mach chicken and the jumps turned size-massive, I could see the appeal of a downhill bike. The cool thing about the Kavenz is that I could actually fit a dual crown fork and bump the rear travel up to 180mm to turn it into a park slayer but I’m travelling light and can only really run it in one configuration for the entire trip.
Now that I’m having to winch up 500 metres of elevation just to get a lap done, and then navigate steep sections down that alternate between tight and tech with short burst of flat out root-fests, the Kavenz in it’s standard 160mm set up is feeling perfect. It’s comfortable to climb with a steep seat angle and strikes a really good balance of monster truck and manoeuvrable. Quite a feat and I think it comes down to the mid-high pivot magic. Anti-squat keep bob to a minimum and the amount of anti-rise keep the rear nice and active over all the roots and rocks on the steep descents.
There are a few more trail areas around Nelson to check out including a couple of machine built flow/jump trails and an area called ‘North Shore’ that looks too have massive jumps and features that will be beyond me but I’m keen to see them up close.
Within an hour’s drive I also have Rossland, Trail, Castlegar and Kaslo trail networks but not sure how much of those I will cover in the time we have before the weather turns. I’ll keep you posted!
yuley95
soft-arse Yuley is on the lifts again
I only rode the bike park at Revelstoke and it was awesome. I hear the rest of the trail network is brilliant too.
Stredda
Runs naked through virgin scrub
He's done a fair bit of riding there the past few days. Even just did the Revy 50 a couple of days ago.
Mattyp
Cows go boing
Baby brother? No, it's the aborted fetus...
caad9
Likes Bikes and Dirt
Trying to remain slightly positive seeing I'm stuck here
pink poodle
気が狂っている男
Stredda
Runs naked through virgin scrub
I asked my mate who is over in Canada at the moment about what he thought of the trails there compared to here (Tassie of course) in regard to rating (is a black here a black there), the quality of the trails and maintenance of the trails. He said that we stack up just as good in those areas, it's just the huge volume of trails to choose from is the big difference.
yuley95
soft-arse Yuley is on the lifts again
My wife thought I had planned our trip around bike parks after about our 3rd stop that just happened to have a bike park nearby. I opened Trailforks and showed her that you can’t go 5 metres without bumping into another trail network here. It’s a phenomenal amount of trailwork.
Stredda
Runs naked through virgin scrub
For sure. I've looked at Trailforks around anywhere in northern North America and it blows my mind how many trails there are!
yuley95
soft-arse Yuley is on the lifts again
Nelson - Morning Mountain
Just a few K’s out of town is an area referred to as Morning Mountain. It’s an area with a few BIG long trails but is generally centred around a group of trails you can pretty easily lap in either small loops (around 200m elevation) or a larger loop (just over 400m elevation).
Before I talk about those trails though, I did one day riding up to, and then down, one of the marquee trails around here - Powerslave. It’s definitely something you need to be committed to and honestly something I’ll likely only ever do once. It was about 780m elevation from where I parked the car (side note - just getting the car there was a fair ordeal as the roads are fire access roads and pretty rough). The climbing was mostly easy enough and the views were amazing.
The trail itself is batshit crazy.
While it starts with a short undulating section through pines it then presents you with a steep hike-a-bike section thats so steep its difficult to get up with your bike. After that it turns steeply downhill with some very steep, very tight and very low traction chutes filled with rocks ranging in size from tennis ball up to baby head. You come around a tight corner and find yourself at the top of a chute having to commit… then questioning if you really should… then realising there is no other option… then committing to the first couple of metres… then realising that there is no stopping now and if you eat shit you will ride the full chute on your nose wearing your bike as a hat. The kicker is that you can’t get halfway and open the brakes as there is always a tight corner at the end with high consequence for overshooting.
Getting to the bottom of the first chute is a good feeling but then you come across another and another… You repeat the process above but make it through the first half of the trail and things change pretty dramatically in terms of the rock/dirt mix.
It goes from very rocky to loose brown pow-pow. It’s a welcome change and I found out later that a lot of people just cut into the trail at the halfway point to avoid the rocks. From here it still has steep and sketchy chutes but you can kinda surf them and there is generally a small catch berm at the bottom so you can feel confident to let the brakes go at some point and enjoy the ride. There is a bit more flow too and it eventually opens up to another trail called Bear’s Den which is less steep and has a number of well built features - particularly roller coasters.
They can actually be pretty intimidating to ride into and you need just the right speed so you crest the top without overshooting. There are some big ones and one in particular with no ride around option.
As for the main group of trails at Morning Mountain, they make much more use of the elevation than the trails in the Mountain Station area which tend to feel more old-school free ride. These trails have flow. Some are hand cut mild tech trails (like Blue Steel) and others are machine cut flow/jump trails (like Lefty and Rhythm & Blues). They are pretty addictive and even the tech trails have pretty good flow. In fact, I think Blue Steel is my favourite. While it is strewn with rocks and roots, there is enough grippy loam in between to find traction when you need it. There are a few small berms here and there to lay into and a good number of cheeky natural gaps to find by launching off rocks and landing on the back-side of roots across the trail.
There is a great vibe at these trails and I think I’ll be spending as much time as I can there.
Just a few K’s out of town is an area referred to as Morning Mountain. It’s an area with a few BIG long trails but is generally centred around a group of trails you can pretty easily lap in either small loops (around 200m elevation) or a larger loop (just over 400m elevation).
Before I talk about those trails though, I did one day riding up to, and then down, one of the marquee trails around here - Powerslave. It’s definitely something you need to be committed to and honestly something I’ll likely only ever do once. It was about 780m elevation from where I parked the car (side note - just getting the car there was a fair ordeal as the roads are fire access roads and pretty rough). The climbing was mostly easy enough and the views were amazing.
The trail itself is batshit crazy.
While it starts with a short undulating section through pines it then presents you with a steep hike-a-bike section thats so steep its difficult to get up with your bike. After that it turns steeply downhill with some very steep, very tight and very low traction chutes filled with rocks ranging in size from tennis ball up to baby head. You come around a tight corner and find yourself at the top of a chute having to commit… then questioning if you really should… then realising there is no other option… then committing to the first couple of metres… then realising that there is no stopping now and if you eat shit you will ride the full chute on your nose wearing your bike as a hat. The kicker is that you can’t get halfway and open the brakes as there is always a tight corner at the end with high consequence for overshooting.
Getting to the bottom of the first chute is a good feeling but then you come across another and another… You repeat the process above but make it through the first half of the trail and things change pretty dramatically in terms of the rock/dirt mix.
It goes from very rocky to loose brown pow-pow. It’s a welcome change and I found out later that a lot of people just cut into the trail at the halfway point to avoid the rocks. From here it still has steep and sketchy chutes but you can kinda surf them and there is generally a small catch berm at the bottom so you can feel confident to let the brakes go at some point and enjoy the ride. There is a bit more flow too and it eventually opens up to another trail called Bear’s Den which is less steep and has a number of well built features - particularly roller coasters.
They can actually be pretty intimidating to ride into and you need just the right speed so you crest the top without overshooting. There are some big ones and one in particular with no ride around option.
As for the main group of trails at Morning Mountain, they make much more use of the elevation than the trails in the Mountain Station area which tend to feel more old-school free ride. These trails have flow. Some are hand cut mild tech trails (like Blue Steel) and others are machine cut flow/jump trails (like Lefty and Rhythm & Blues). They are pretty addictive and even the tech trails have pretty good flow. In fact, I think Blue Steel is my favourite. While it is strewn with rocks and roots, there is enough grippy loam in between to find traction when you need it. There are a few small berms here and there to lay into and a good number of cheeky natural gaps to find by launching off rocks and landing on the back-side of roots across the trail.
There is a great vibe at these trails and I think I’ll be spending as much time as I can there.