Video: Up and Down Squamish
Up and Down Squamish features a thrilling trail ride loop on Diamond Head in Squamish, BC. Shot in sequence, this 30km loop takes around 2-3 hours, hits 6 trails, climbs a total of 1500 metres (nearly 5000’), and rewards you with 10 km of descent. Enjoy a mix of hand built trails and machine built trails that have been made possible by SORCA, Dream Wizards, and countless volunteer hours.
The first trail on the loop is called Power Smart. Located at a high elevation and off the beaten path, this trail has endured more damage caused by water than by cycling, dirt biking, hiking, or even horse riding. This trail is wild, with lots of steep, technical switchbacks and loose rocks the size of your head. During most of the year water runs down the trail, you’ll be sure to get your feet wet. It’s not a popular trail that gets ridden very much and it is in dire need of repair. This trail is a lot of fun to ride though, be sure to hang on tight. Power Smart feeds into IMBA Smart. There are nice long corners and well planned switchbacks on this trail. Enjoy a descent followed by a bit of climbing as you pass from mature forest to areas of regrowth. Carve around narrow round corners, cross tidy bridges, and have a fast exit! This trail is another hand built gem in the Sea to Sky Corridor. Next is a trail called Fred. This is a good XC trail that has a few punchy climbs, some short, steep descents, and lots of technical turns. The more you ride it the more you’ll discover the flow built into this trail. It gets better every time you ride it. Ongoing maintenance continues to improve the drainage and speed.
Tinder is next; it is the obvious way to connect Fred and Your Mom. A brand new machine built trail by Dream Wizards, it features bermed corners, braided climb lines, table top jumps, split cedar river crossings, and manageable grade climbs. Cruise through fresh clear cut and enter the mature forest! Your Mom is a real charm. Here you will find lovely curves and corners. Beware of adjacent borrow pits as one false move means you’ll be buried alive. The gentle terrain carries good speed, but watch out because there are corners that will catch you if you’re going too fast. You will finish on Phil and Cams which is also the bottom of Pseudo-Tsuga. This piece of trail rewards you for all the hard work you’ve put in. Enjoy easily acquired speed, bermed corners, rollers, and optional gap lines as you cruise down to the bottom parking lot. People will be watching, so be sure to pick off the last gap to berm.
Thanks to Dunbar Cycles and Transition Bikes for making this video project possible. Thanks to SORCA for overseeing and maintaining the vast Squamish trail network. Thanks to Dream Wizards for the addition of Tinder Trail this summer. If you feel obligated please purchase a trail pass and/or donate to SORCA for increased maintenance and further trail development at SORCA on Trailforks. - Sid Slotegraaf
Transition Bikes
Dunbar Cycles
SORCA
MENTIONS @TransitionBikeCompany @dunbarcycles
The first trail on the loop is called Power Smart. Located at a high elevation and off the beaten path, this trail has endured more damage caused by water than by cycling, dirt biking, hiking, or even horse riding. This trail is wild, with lots of steep, technical switchbacks and loose rocks the size of your head. During most of the year water runs down the trail, you’ll be sure to get your feet wet. It’s not a popular trail that gets ridden very much and it is in dire need of repair. This trail is a lot of fun to ride though, be sure to hang on tight. Power Smart feeds into IMBA Smart. There are nice long corners and well planned switchbacks on this trail. Enjoy a descent followed by a bit of climbing as you pass from mature forest to areas of regrowth. Carve around narrow round corners, cross tidy bridges, and have a fast exit! This trail is another hand built gem in the Sea to Sky Corridor. Next is a trail called Fred. This is a good XC trail that has a few punchy climbs, some short, steep descents, and lots of technical turns. The more you ride it the more you’ll discover the flow built into this trail. It gets better every time you ride it. Ongoing maintenance continues to improve the drainage and speed.
Tinder is next; it is the obvious way to connect Fred and Your Mom. A brand new machine built trail by Dream Wizards, it features bermed corners, braided climb lines, table top jumps, split cedar river crossings, and manageable grade climbs. Cruise through fresh clear cut and enter the mature forest! Your Mom is a real charm. Here you will find lovely curves and corners. Beware of adjacent borrow pits as one false move means you’ll be buried alive. The gentle terrain carries good speed, but watch out because there are corners that will catch you if you’re going too fast. You will finish on Phil and Cams which is also the bottom of Pseudo-Tsuga. This piece of trail rewards you for all the hard work you’ve put in. Enjoy easily acquired speed, bermed corners, rollers, and optional gap lines as you cruise down to the bottom parking lot. People will be watching, so be sure to pick off the last gap to berm.
Thanks to Dunbar Cycles and Transition Bikes for making this video project possible. Thanks to SORCA for overseeing and maintaining the vast Squamish trail network. Thanks to Dream Wizards for the addition of Tinder Trail this summer. If you feel obligated please purchase a trail pass and/or donate to SORCA for increased maintenance and further trail development at SORCA on Trailforks. - Sid Slotegraaf
Transition Bikes
Dunbar Cycles
SORCA
MENTIONS @TransitionBikeCompany @dunbarcycles
Author Info:
Member since Feb 17, 2009
Must Read This Week
[UPDATED] Final Elite XC Results & Overall Standings from the Mairiporã XC World Cup 2024
42229 views
42229 views
Sign Up for the Pinkbike Newsletter - All the Biggest, Most Interesting Stories in your Inbox
PB Newsletter Signup
Buy Transition, you'll be most pleased.
The Shore took a long time to get to the point where trails are even considered legit. We've come a long way from back-in-the-day when trails on Cypress, Fromme were getting chainsawed. We probably still have a long way to come.
In Squamish they have (mainly) one land manager and some private land owners. The Shore has something like 5 land managers. Respectfully, I think you're missing the point that the red tape in the Shore is a factor of having to deal with so many competing interests.
Anyway enough about the politics. I've come around to the thinking that the bureaucratic stuff is a necessary "evil" and that if it means sanctioned trails and no more mass chainsawing and decommissioning of trails that's a good thing
All of our trails must be considered 'sustainable' in the sense that they can't allow sediment to fill streams, hurting fish habitat.
Is there just very little environmental concern for this, or are the majority of the trails on private land and no one says anything? Just curious what is said about all that and what happens behind the scene since all I know is what I read on here and reports from friends who go out there and ride and come back grinning.
Bottom line is that yes - it's eroded and pretty beat but also its a pretty old trail that got heavily used. It's also in an area that is slated to be logged sometime in the future and not near watershed so the concern about water quality isn't there. Someone else can speak to whether newer trails need to be built to an environmental standard
Generally good to start in the area above Quest Uni though. Head up the legacy climbing trail and ride Half Nelson and Angry Midget - the first is machine built pump track flow, the second is a more natural rooty and downright fast singletrack.
When you're looking for a bit more gnar head over to Mice&Men hill, go up the 50 Shades of Green climbing trail and pick any route down from the top. Pretty much slab city up there.