Verdugist

So I planned on riding Snow Valley with my 11 yr old and the other weekend we show up and nobody there (it was closed). Had to go to Snow Summit. I just checked the calendar for lift tickets for Snow Valley and they are selling tickets for total 9 days July + Aug. I always wondered how they made any money. My 11 yr old can ride there for $14 entire day, great deal. They didn't do enough work on it in past couple years since Big Bear/Summit bought it. Only added that large wood roller feature in Crazy Horse I think.

Been riding Big Bear since 2019. From LA area, it's less commitment in terms of time compared to Mammoth. Both Snow Valley and Snow Summit have friendly/helpful staff. They do water some very loose areas in Summit but not Valley afaik. Also haven't seen too many (or any?) pavers in corners in Valley and it's way looser there. I've been UTV'd down due to injury and the park patrol response time and evaluation is very good at Snow Summit (in my experience and also in the experience of a friend for whom I was present). I have ridden there 3 times this season so far. I was there last weekend and noticed they fixed a rock area in Party Wave where I had almost crashed previously due to a very poorly placed or dislodged large rock (and possibly due to bad line choice). But immediately after that section this past weekend there is a blind corner with pavers and in the first lap one of the pavers in middle of section was fully dislodged (partially removed?) and then in subsequent laps the adjacent paver was also dislodged. For a blind corner/feature it's dangerous. This past weekend, again in Party Wave, there is what looks like a small gap jump on rider left but you have to clear a massive boulder. This is totally non-standard and unsafe trail design. When does the park management decide to fix these types of problems? Same for the new very poorly designed jump feature in Westridge where riders were recently dodging or hitting the tree? Who designed that section and how was it tested? Why did management ok opening Westridge with that new dangerous section? I didn't ride Westridge this season yet but did they at least think to wrap padding around the tree when riders started hitting the tree at the beginning of the season? You see that tree wrapping everywhere in DH Elite tracks when the trees are in the track. Not sure how this problem was finally addressed. Pros were complaining as well not just amateurs. When you start hearing or experiencing all these problems, you start losing confidence in the trail designers/maintainers/management. Incompetence/negligence. This is not a local/free bike park. In 2022, Whistler did not have any of these problems. There was a large "hole" in a berm in A Line trail but it was filled/fixed the next day. Also, Summit needs to upgrade the bike lifts so they accommodate up to 4 bikes. At Summit they need to open the XC trails on back side of mountain and additionally build a new trail on gravity side. Gets boring after a few runs. Hopefully things will improve soon.

Regarding Canyon customer service. I cracked the Spectral AL 29 frame at the upper and lower shock mounts (aluminum weld joints). Contacted Canyon and they ok'd warranty replacement in 24 hours (replace equivalent frame only or refund in cash value of frame via mailed check which did take ~30 days to receive). I ended up buying a 2022 Spectral CF 8 on discount and still happy and riding it 5400 miles later. A local rider buddy of mine recently cracked carbon frame in BB area of Canyon CFR road bike after 5 yrs 8 months and Canyon warrantied that frame as well. Used to be able to call and talk to a CSR but as of last year or so seems it's online/email communication only. Canyon CSRs are not as knowledgeable as other brands like INTENSE, Specialized, Ibis. INTENSE for years used to have a very responsive human chat widget on their website but as of recently has a single CSR you can talk to but it's one person for multiple continents. Ibis has good customer service but email only. It would be nice if Canyon introduced a demo concept similar to YT Mill, that was awesome (bike demo and drinks were free).