Swansea news

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Swansea news
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flag pano-dude
Posted: Oct 12, 2007 at 10:34 Quote
I thought I would update everyone on what is happening at Mt Swansea. The Columbia Valley cycling society has been working with the Ministry of Tourism, sports and the arts for the last year to legalize the bike trails on Mt Swansea.

We are part of the new trail management/user agreement the province of BC has started. This is to give mountain bikers a legal place to ride and build. It has been a slow process but things are starting to happen, you probably have and will see some changes on the mountain.

We have removed most of the stunts on the mountain. This is due to a few reasons; they were rotten, not safe or did not comply with the new standards of trail building.

Also The road is currently closed to vehicle traffic to be re-built and re-graded with improved water management. This is a huge and expensive project which will make shuttling much smoother. Please respect the closure while the contractors are out there. As well next spring please stay off the road until it thaws out completely before using it. We will be putting up signage to inform users of conditions.

The Main parking area has seen some changes; large rocks have been placed to prevent vehichle access into the grass areas and an outhouse has been installed. This area is not intended for camping, it is a day use area.

We expect to have the area legalized for next spring and at that point the trail work will start. If you want to be a part of what is happening check out our website www.columbiavalleycyclingsociety.org and join up.

cheers
D
flag rm-rider
Posted: Oct 24, 2007 at 22:34 Quote
Hey i was wondering if it may be possible to get a few dirt jumps in by the parking lot close to the middle of the mountain. I think that it would be a great spot for jumps there because of the dirt is almost perfect there for building them.
flag pano-dude
Posted: Oct 29, 2007 at 11:11 Quote
We are putting a bunch of ideas together for the area. Dirt jumps have been brought up, but it does not really fit with what we want the area to become. There has been a proposal to the Town to construct a dj park beside the new skatepark.
flag stever
O+
Posted: Oct 30, 2007 at 13:49 Quote
That's pretty cool. So when is the roadwork supposed to be done? For next spring, when the "road thaws out completely" will the trails be open for use (ie. even though the stunts have been removed)?
flag Cro-Mag
Posted: Oct 31, 2007 at 9:07 Quote
That's great news Darcy! When's the road overhaul starting? You guys getting any kind of permission to build new features? What about some of the newer wooden stuff, you guys rip that out too? Can you tell us more about these new "standards"?

CM!
flag pano-dude
Posted: Oct 31, 2007 at 17:47 Quote
How are ya doin' Aaron?
The Road is done and sweeet! The only wood left is the log ride near the top, Rock road gap,the cliff drop from gravy trail to huly girl and the step up on hula girl.
The rest was rotten.

The final draft of the trail management agreement is out and ready to be implemented now. We need to deal with the ecobiologist now due to a wildlife habitat area on the mountain. Our initial discussions with him started bad, he was not going to allow anyone, not even hikers to use a couple spots! Things have turned around and we should be ok now that we have shown him trails can be built to limit the damage to the earth, we just need to be able to do it legally to do it properly.

The new standards aren't that new, just new to most back country trails. Basically IMBA and Whistler TTF standards up to black diamond, possibly double black as long as there is little chance of a novice accessing the TTF.

We are putting togther a plan for approval this winter with re-routes, new TTF's and signage.

If you get a chance come on out for one last rip on the dirt.
flag obee1
Posted: Dec 1, 2007 at 16:38 Quote
any trail days in the works? i can think of a coupla bros out here who like to dig, do it enough to get us all divorced, and like swansea. a lot.
flag pano-dude
Posted: Dec 9, 2007 at 13:32 Quote
no trail days for the next few months..... we'll be putting together a calendar for next summer shortly after Christmas. Check our website www.columbiavalleycyclingsociety.org
Darcy
flag stephen
O+
Posted: Dec 24, 2007 at 21:11 Quote
I hope things don't stray to much from where they have been! Mt. Swansea has one of the most chilled out trail systems i've ridden. The trails have a nice and easy, relaxed flow to them (perfect after a good night at 2k camp aha). Me and friends have had many good weekends out there riding, partying and enjoying what it has to offer.

It does sound like more is going to be done to the trails which is great. We were building and maintaining them whenever we went out there, and by the time we were back, they had returned to their over ridden and under worked-on state. You said most of the stunts were rotted, and I believe it, but why remove and not just maintain. Myself and a few friends raked and rebuilt the entire landing to the large roadgap just above the campsite, and came back like a month later and it was gone! Needless to say we were kind of disappointed.

What would you guys say about building up the jumps after the steeps from Gravy Train to Hula Girl? They are spaced poorly, especially with the speed you have after that roll down, but that's an easy fix. Those haven't been worked on for forever, and have some potential. Keep us posted on any trail days, because a collectivised group of people will help fix up the trails WAY quicker than me and a few buddies at midnight!

It's great to hear that the area is getting taken care of, it's a classic, and for awhile there it looked to be getting forgotten about, and the people who were using it didn't even know the mountain bike trails existed, stupid edmontonians...haha
flag pano-dude
Posted: Dec 25, 2007 at 12:06 Quote
stephen wrote:
I hope things don't stray to much from where they have been! Mt. Swansea has one of the most chilled out trail systems i've ridden. The trails have a nice and easy, relaxed flow to them (perfect after a good night at 2k camp aha). Me and friends have had many good weekends out there riding, partying and enjoying what it has to offer.

It does sound like more is going to be done to the trails which is great. We were building and maintaining them whenever we went out there, and by the time we were back, they had returned to their over ridden and under worked-on state. You said most of the stunts were rotted, and I believe it, but why remove and not just maintain. Myself and a few friends raked and rebuilt the entire landing to the large roadgap just above the campsite, and came back like a month later and it was gone! Needless to say we were kind of disappointed.

What would you guys say about building up the jumps after the steeps from Gravy Train to Hula Girl? They are spaced poorly, especially with the speed you have after that roll down, but that's an easy fix. Those haven't been worked on for forever, and have some potential. Keep us posted on any trail days, because a collectivised group of people will help fix up the trails WAY quicker than me and a few buddies at midnight!

It's great to hear that the area is getting taken care of, it's a classic, and for awhile there it looked to be getting forgotten about, and the people who were using it didn't even know the mountain bike trails existed, stupid edmontonians...haha
The direction we are planning for Swansea is to keep it simple for sure. A few re-routes to reduce erosion, signage for stunts(legality reasons), some new stunts/ options and that's it. We are also working on 3 large scale xc loops in the valley as well so time and manpower is limited.

As far as the reason for not maintaining the stunts instead of removing was the main parts of most of them were rotted and it's easier to start from scratch, build them properly with the proper materials to ensure they do not need much for maintenance for years.

The big road gap was a liability( I have seen quite a few yard sales and a couple with serious injuries). The government gave us an option of removing the bad boy and continue to use the area as is or not remove it and have the area closed to all biking.

The terrain on Swansea is so dry, i have raked the bottom sections on a Friday a.m. and came to ride Sat evening and it's like i was never there.

We can definately use some help and feedback from out of towners. The best way to help is to join the club. The more members we have means more influence, funding and work we can do on the trails.

Darcy
flag stephen
O+
Posted: Dec 25, 2007 at 15:08 Quote
That sounds great dude! And obviously a wel made decision towards the big gap. Out of curiousity, who would be liable? Aren't they pirate trails? I can't believe somebody would sue if they crashed their bike doing something like that, it would have been 100% their fault. ugh people are friggin idiots.
flag pano-dude
Posted: Dec 28, 2007 at 7:31 Quote
my guess is the lawyers would name the province, the bike club(because we have been working openly on the trails) and probably myself and the other club directors. This is what they do, accuse everyone and hope for $.
flag quinner
Posted: Feb 28, 2008 at 14:50 Quote
How's things looking out yonder. It hasn't snowed for a few weeks, back-country snowboarding is getting a bit crusty and I don't own a sled...so It's time to start searching for rideable locations close to home. I mean close cause I don't think I can afford to keep flying to the Island just to ride my bike on dirt.

If there is no significant snowfall I suspect I'll be out in a week or so. As always when I ride at Swansea taking care of the trails is always a priority.

I suspect the road will be the sketchy part this time of year, so opting to pedal-up will be the only option.

Any insight Darcy would be appreciated.

Qn'r
flag jackhennigan
O+
Posted: Feb 28, 2008 at 20:02 Quote
Hey Qnr,

Was there two weekends ago and it was still under a tone of snow. I suspect it will not be ridable till about easter.

Jack
flag quinner
Posted: Feb 29, 2008 at 9:35 Quote
jackhennigan wrote:
Hey Qnr,

Was there two weekends ago and it was still under a tone of snow. I suspect it will not be ridable till about easter.

Jack

Same go for Radium? Guess I'll be flying to the Island to ride then...Thanks Jack!
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