The straight goods on Kicking Horse Bike Park, straight from the trail crew's fingertips.
Kicking Horse opened last weekend to great fanfare. Well, there weren't gobs of fans, but the ones who were here were great. And the fare at the Eagle Eye restaurant was great too. So, yeah, I'm sticking with the opening sentence.
Despite the best efforts of La Nina's destructive nature and Boo the grizzly's disappearing character to prevent the opening, we finally made it. It sure wasn't easy and required a few stitches and tetanus shots, but we believe the efforts have well been worth it. The weather cooperated on opening weekend and we had a blast on the fresh, tacky, tilted goodness.
Getting wood to the workplace, life is a Scottish festival of mightiness.
As the snow continues to melt, we continue to move uphill with our rakes, shovels, chainsaws, tolerance of blood-sucking varmints and grandiose dreams of a better tomorrow. Here's what has been going on:
Rock N Roll We were very pleased to see the top 8 berms had almost no damage. Just a bit of raking was required. Below that, however, the bridge over the big creek that drains Crystal Bowl was snapped in 4 places.
Hobo and I both got our feet wet at the very beginning of this rainy, miserable day. Our toes weren't the tastiest raisins in the cereal box after that.
What do you suppose happens when BOB misplaces a hammer? This is how the Crowe-Magnons use to make bike trails.
Despite appearances, the crew is solid and hard working this season. Except when it rains. Hey, I said "hard working"!
Upper Kranky Pants Anticipating a lot of water damage, we weren't disappointed when we pulled up to this run. But unlike the early years when tuning this run would take days and days, now it only takes hours and hours.
Heavy melt off damage corrected.
Pioneer As always, this classic didn't need much work because it is old-school singletrack that people want to ride rough. So we largely let it be. We did, however, have to fix a couple of stringers on Spiral Tap for the first time since its construction.
Picking out just the right bug whacker
Superberm Largely built on a swamp, Superberm has given us no paucity of headaches. Our dreams of changes continually evolve and we hope that one day the bike park's reality will match those lofty wishes. In the meantime, we are tackling one problem at a time.
This landing was built last year in the dry of July. We discovered this spring that it sits on top of a snow melt seepage. Messy. This is a temporary fix to get this section into action.
Stickrock Stickrock was a monster to build, but never needs maintenance. That is until this year: 3 broken stringers. But that's not bad considering there are probably 100 odd stringers on this trail.
Looking down, looking up, looking down.
Waiting for the tires.
Showdown Most of the trail is snow free, except some very deep berms. There are a lot of rocks and burned stumps scattered about. We began cleaning up from below and hope you can start from the top.
Despite the poor grammar, the message is clear: you want more open, we want more open; you want to help, we want you to help.
10 Road While the snow is melting, it isn't melting fast enough for anyone's liking. So it looks like we'll be riding the 10 Rd for a while longer, so we'll try to pretty up the few features for you.
We've also begun replacing bridges that get destroyed every winter by the machinery with culverts. Riders won't care a bit, but it makes our lives easier.
Finally getting rid of that damn bridge we had to move every fall and spring. Sucker was hefty.
Who says Kicking Horse doesn't rock?
Here's how opening day went as seen from our chest:
Perhaps I've gone on too much about all the damage up here from La Nina's great volume. Riders won't even notice because we've been performing laser surgery that barely leaves a scar. Mostly I write about it so our manager doesn't think we spend all our time swatting bugs and daydreaming about earth-moving machinery. So come on up, we are making this park great just for you. And for us. Well, mostly us. But you too!
Ride on.
Crowe
kicking horse bike park