Park Update: Bailey Mountain Bike Park

 ;-) love you sir.

 Extremely insulting to all the people who have been working their asses off for 5+ years now to make Beech happen. Be grateful for what exists, not long ago there were no options.

 Everyone at Beech is constantly upping their game in every way possible. There are more trails in the works and a ton of lift/winter improvements currently happening.

 No offense bro, but I went opening day. If they had done off season work I sure as heck couldn't tell. Don't get offended by my comment as far as the trail workers go... It's the ownership who won't sink the needed $$ and assets. Case in point they have basically 3 trails. Bailey opened with SIX.

 @preach I love both places and have to correct your exaggerations.
1. Beech crew went down the length of the trails and cleaned up ruts, grooves drainage on all lead ins, particularly the Am trail grass start. There was a monster rut down all open slope sections of trails and they roughed in all of them and cleared the rut flush.

Pro top section, they cleaned up the off camber after the ditch jump and above the rebuilt the right hand berm.

They built a massive catch berm after the final table top, smoothed out the lander after the final rock slab too. There is still plenty of work that place can do, but they are a family owned business, not corporate funded.

Now, that being said Bailey has put Patrick to work 6 to 7 days a week and he has carved a great flow trail with variations down a private mountain and built a quality expert DH natural trail that joins it near the bottom. Had Beech committed to a trail like Skywalker/Mr. Hyde 5 years ago, we wouldn't even have needed Bailey, and that I do have to fault them for, but again...they are a 4 season resort with greater responsibilities and so very much to do year round.

2. I understand there are variations at Bailey, but its somewhat misleading to say SIX trails. There are 2 main lines, Skywalker to Mr. Hyde to Jumanji is ONE. Veering onto the alternate midpoint (Dr. Jekkyl) is a short divert of a "green" segment, not a full trail.
Welcome to the Jungle to Jumanji is trail TWO and the true DH track.

I think folks need to know its a ridiculous amount of fun and don't overstate things like the # of trails. 6 variations on 2 trails is a more honest portrayal.

People are slaving and putting time and money into DH in WNC and it is flipping awesome folks...just awesome!

 That's a fair and balanced statement my brother

 I think Beech has done a really good job this season. I noticed the improvements on opening day immediately, namely the much needed berm after the table. The only thing that kinda frustrates me at Beech though is ongoing repairs throughout the season. I've been twice this season when the last table was super sketchy to hit because of the massive water flow right in front of the lip. Maybe it's just me, but that really puts a bummer on the rest of the line after the hip jump. Instead of ripping through the rest of the line, you kinda know you have to take it easy there. As a paying customer, I'd like to see more attention devoted to fixing things like that in a more timely manner. Also that flat turn after the hip is sketchy. Maybe pro riders don't have a problem there, but what percentage of customers are pros? I'd love to see a berm there, and so would all the people I ride with. Having bitched now, I do seriously enjoy Beech and I'm glad to have options in WNC.

 Agreed my bro. The general upkeep has been "hit or miss" at best. I'm no Johnny come lately... I have been riding there for 4 years. And what first was excitement about what was being done has faded into the reality that "what is being done" is building Mtn top decks to have yoga on.

 It's healthy to note that we each have different things we'd like to see updated, changed or maintained on the mountain.

My biggest beef is with the pro rock garden. It's the longest sustained section of lines and trail features on the mountain, but it's not been maintained since it's inception. I personally tried to stack up some rocks on the entry of the left line to make a clean line into it because there isn't anymore. The exit of the left line, the big log has moved out away from the take off. The middle with all the rocks, all dirt and small rocks have migrated out and it's just a bunch of bomb holes.

it just needs to be re-armoured and it would be great again. I used to love to freight train down that thing. Rode it in the bone dry two weeks ago and couldn't clean it. Yeah, I suck sometimes, but that wasn't the major factor.

My problem is I love DH more than any other sport on earth. I obsess about it.

 Still under soft opening.

 Yes....the current shuttle is being evaluated. If it works as well as they like they plan on adding another and bumping up ticket sales.

 Thanks for the replies, looking forward to checking you guys out when you get the shuttling set up. Looks like a blast! Coot

 That's my son (7y/o). He's not quite a shredder yet but he's getting there!

 Rock Gardens still under development.

 Same here, didn't post this...

 I didn't post this either.. Something's up with the comments

 What is this, I did not post this.

 Dude, go to beech Mtn down the road... It's only rock Gardens there and it sucks

 There might not currently be any rocky blacks but I've talked to the people that run it and they assured me there will be later on.