Trail Tales from the ‘Wack
Last week, myself along with Pinkbike’s Radek and Ben joined local rider and trail builder Derek Roque of Fracture Products along with local riders Mike, from the local bike shop Pedalsport, and Jay to investigate the mountain’s newest offerings. The idea of developing the trails on this mountain was founded in the need for decent riding that didn’t mean the hour-long journey into Vancouver to ride the ‘Shore.
Jay on the step up.
The area is ripe for riding, “The ‘Wack” as it is affectionately called is nestled as the foot of the Coastal Range. Here the valley floor lifts up to peaks that are known for all mountain sports, including Mt. Slesse, a world famous climbing peak that took the lives of all aboard a Trans-Canada Airlines flight in 1956.
Slightly less steep however, Vedder Mountain summits on a thin long ridge with Cultus Lake to the south and the Fraser Valley to the north. The mountain has long been home to dirt bikers and quad riders, but the entire ridge is encircled with a forestry road making shuttle runs an ease, which due to the incredible vertical gain, is much welcomed when accessing the mountain’s fast flowing trails for those of us with freeride and DH machines. I ride here quite often, just minutes out of town Vedder offers up some convenient local riding for riders of all skill levels and it’s a great place to hone your skills.
We all met up at the bottom of Vedder and loaded up for the trailhead, the recently constructed “Lesbians Only” and “Wifebeater” being our targets. Most of the trails on the mountain are shuttleable with any vehicle although Lesbians Only and Wifebeater are fed by one of Vedder’s earlier constructed offerings, “The Den”. The Den starts off from a long since de-activated logging road, the only way to access the trail head is to drive up the last section in a four-wheel drive. Not that the road is all that rough, but there are some ditch crossings that aren’t easily navigated with a two-wheel drive. If you don’t have a four-by-four, you can drive most of the way up, with a short walk the rest of the way.
Jay schools "Muff Diver" with grace at the exit of Lesbians Only
Although The Den would be the usual approach to Lesbians Only and Wifebeater, Derek chose to show us one of the first constructed trails on the hill, “The Playground”. Not often visited due to difficult access, The Playground winds it’s way down from above The Den joining this run part way through. The Playground’s early construction features tons of build up sections; twisting ladders that lead to drops, which in turn lead into long log rides ending in drops. Because of the difficult access this trail sees little use and as a result doesn’t see much maintenance. The ladders and stunts are badly weathered and need some attention soon, which they are about to get, Derek and the local posse are looking to find better trail access and start reconstruction. The Playground holds heaps of promise, it’ll be a challenging run into the trails below with its steep sections and built up stunts.
After making our way out of The Playground we hooked up with The Den. The Den is a personal favourite of mine; if you ride it from the beginning it starts out with a hundred foot long, wide, log ride and is the perfect trail for those of us with less than pro rider skills. Other than a few small hits on the way down, there aren’t any stunts to speak of on The Den, but it’s the perfect trail for a warm up or unadulterated quick rip when you’re in the mood. Novice riders appreciate the confidence and skill building short steep sections and ridable hits, while the more experienced can rip down against the clock or each other.
Before the original exit of The Den we regrouped at a clearing to the left side, where the newly constructed Lesbians Only starts off. Derek and crew completed Lesbians Only in a few short weeks, which is surprising considering the build quality of this short section showpiece. From beginning to end it’s all about riding skinnies, the start is a climb to the top of a stump followed by a sixty foot long traverse six feet high tapering off to ground level. The elevation reprieve is brief however, after a meandering path for a few hundred feet, all on skinnies, you have to do a sharp right turn and set up for the “Muff Dive”, an eight foot long three inch wide skinny ending in an eight foot drop to clean transition. Jay was the only one craving a pass at the Muff Dive and after my failed picture attempt on his first run, he cleaned it up a second time when my flash finally agreed to fire.
Jay's kung-fu balancing skills.
You enter the trail as though it were a mouth, because ten feet or so in you drop down a rock face that makes it seem as though you are heading down the oesophagus and into the steep rolling digestive tract of the trail. It immediately demands your attention, at the bottom of the rock face you make a hard left requiring some fairly rapid changes in balance to get your direction right for the two gaps ahead.
Jay rides the bent tree.
Much of Vedder Mountain is composed of steeps leading up to more open sections of gradual descent, and after the gaps Wifebeater opens up and leads into some sweet multiple lines. The vertical lets off and the rider is presented with the option of keeping to the left and hitting a Mt. Fromme style “Air Supply” section or staying right and trying to balance out on another well made skinny routine, thanks to the ample supply of Red Cedar left lying on the ground by loggers of years passed.
Throughout there is just the right amount of vertical loss to keep the flow going, and you need it, as Wifebeater develops further down the trail you come up on a step-up which runs out along a platform to a drop, around a series of bends and over a bent tree that Derek laboriously dragged up the trail and firmly planted in the ground to act as an arched skinny, and just when you thought you were free from danger you come face to face with another skinny ride ending in an eight foot drop.
Derek nails drop on Hidden Pleasures.
This trail does take skill to ride, because just like the moody rotgut rye swillin’ doublewide trailer trash red neck that would wear the shirt, Wifebeater can, when you get out of line, smack you around good.
All the way along Wifebeater runs with an amazing continuity that’s purely fluid, it’s not simply a trail built around stunts, the stunts are incorporated into the trail where they fit and this makes for, as Radek put it that day, “Probably the best trail that I have ridden in terms of stunts that you can hit with flow”. We spent most of the day sessioning Wifebeater without even noticing the time pass, so we decided to finish up the day on “Hidden Pleasures”.
Radek clears the gap on the big squish V10.
Hidden Pleasures is located about half way down Vedder Mountain, and after watching Derek exit the last stunt on Wifebeater, an uphill three-inch wide skinny to five foot drop, we bombed down the service road and entered the trail.
From the entrance of Hidden Pleasures there’s a drop and bend to the left where, after a couple of small drops and gaps, you have the option of continuing on or turning right down “Speed Run”. Speed Run is a super bermed up snaky bobsled like run, which has been carved into the hillside over the years by the dirt bikers that frequent the mountain. Instead of taking this we chose to stay on the recently finished Hidden Pleasures.
Jay rides out the 4 inch wide skinny drop while Pinkbike's Ben watches on
The start off of the newer section of Hidden Pleasures begins with two drops side by side, one about six feet and the other about eight feet, to a steep tranny. From here the trail descends rapidly down hill and bends to the right and you hit a series of doubles. Most of this trail has been here for quite some time, only recently having been cleaned up and completed. What is new is the aptly coined “911 Drop”.
As you ride down Hidden Pleasures after the gap section you encounter the 911 Drop at the start of a bend towards the exit of the trail. The run-in starts off the hill and slopes gently down a eight inch platform about twenty feet long leading to a the ten foot high drop to tranny about fifteen feet out that curves back to join the rest of the trail. Before today it had never been ridden, the tranny had been put in two years ago and allowed to settle and compact, and the rest of the structure had been completed a few weeks before. Jay had eyed it up previously and had the intention of hitting it once wire mesh had been fixed to the platform. Today though, he changed his mind, and after he carefully scoped out the drop, he rode it out with confidence, making it look all too easy.
Because we spent so much time on Wifebeater, and Ben had to get home to Portland, we had to call it a day without riding any of the other trails on Vedder, namely Dilemma and Femur.
Dilemma is another one of my favourites, it features a few stunts and has some bedrock based steep sections, and just about any skill level can ride the trail. Femur is fairly easy to ride as well, that is if you choose not to ride the skinnies, hit the step-up or nail the creek gap. Dilemma and Femur spit you out at the shuttle parking lot, and if you choose to climb up instead of drive, both the trails are just a short pedal away.
Jay does the inaugural 911 drop on Hidden Pleasures
Chilliwack and Vedder Mountain are just an hour drive east from Vancouver on the Trans-Canada and not far from the I-5 corridor through Sumas Washington. For out of town riders there are plenty of accommodations available, at hotels, motels and campgrounds both provincial and private, especially near Cultus Lake, a good place for a post ride cool down swim at the bottom of Vedder Mountain.
For directions to Vedder and other riding in the Chilliwack area or to get broken bike parts fixed, stop in at Pedalsport or Jacks Cycle 1-45725 Thomas Rd., in town. For other broken parts, visit Chilliwack General Hospital, 45600 Menholm Rd., Chilliwack.
Check out Mapquest for directions to Chilliwack.
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