Keystone opened Cowboy Up to TNT today. Still no Motorhead or Paid in Full (maybe by the weekend.)
Last year the Keystone trail crew told us there was a 20 foot drop in the makings somewhere, maybe Keystones version of Whistlers GLC drop or something? I didn't see it over the weekend but about 50% of the mountain was closed (you definitely didn't miss anything), people were pretty much stuck on the fire road down to Wild Thing...Ascentrek said:Good thing I didn't go up last weekend. I really want to ride Paid in Full. Any news of them adding more trails this year?
Yeah I was thinking it was about an 18ish footer if you clear the wood, but the trail crew told me it was going to be something new, so it shouldn't be that floater.NORTON said:that wooden ramp sticking out of the trees, the one you see from the lift- you could probably get 20 feet off of that if you really pushed it and landed at the bottom. Hopefully they meant another one tho.
Waiting impatiently for Vail. Keystone is OK but not worth repeated trips until 100% open. I've heard nothing but good news about Winter Park- we'll see if any of it is true.
Building trail takes lots of man-hours of labor. And when you're already pretty much the only game in town, where's the incentive?ladge said:<snip>
I don't understand why Keystone doesn't have the manpower to build these new trails?
I ran into one of the trail builders from silverton mountain (on a lift at whistler of all places - doing some research ), who said that they build a new trail every one or two weeks over the summer. Seems like Keystone/Vail are just sitting on their monopoly of the area. If only silverton was closer......SkaredShtles said:Building trail takes lots of man-hours of labor. And when you're already pretty much the only game in town, where's the incentive?
I'll bet if you see Winter Park get their $hit together then Vail Associates might change their tune.
Unless, of course, DH is such a small contribution to their bottom line that they'll not do *anything* until the DH population reaches some sort of critical mass.
Well - Silverton also has the *distinct* advantage of having most of their bike terrain (if not all) on private land owned by Silverton Mountain.Chutney said:I ran into one of the trail builders from silverton mountain (on a lift at whistler of all places - doing some research ), who said that they build a new trail every one or two weeks over the summer. Seems like Keystone/Vail are just sitting on their monopoly of the area. If only silverton was closer......
Old 9 was unsustainable from the get-go. The first thought that ran through my head when I rode it last year was that it wouldn't last one season. The sad part about that is; what the hell were they thinking when they built it? Do they have morons building trails at vail?EVILTWIN said:no more 'Ol 9 kids.....Im bummed ~Vail says too much erosion.....they still say they have a top-to-bottom run
Mmmm...... I like Vail, but not for DH. neaky:Renegade said:Old 9 was unsustainable from the get-go. The first thought that ran through my head when I rode it last year was that it wouldn't last one season. The sad part about that is; what the hell were they thinking when they built it? Do they have morons building trails at vail?
Vail doesn't want dh biking. They made that clear years ago. They'll just keep one run open just to shut us up.
Uh, they, if you mean vail mountain, never had permission for all those trails. All the trails you're refering to were built illegally, by local riders, without the permission of vail or the forest service. Vail knew of their existence, but they allowed it to go on for a few years, as it "wasn't hurting anyone". Something changed over one winter, and come the next season, vail closed them all down, and threatened riders with fines and punishment should they be caught riding those trails. Even the trail builders were chased down, and threatened with criminal charges. Vail told riders that the forest service was leaning hard on them over illegal trails, and they didn't want to jepoardize their relationship with the forest service, so they shut 'em down. I know that sounds like complete bullsh!t when you look at what raping of the landscape happens in regards to the ski aspect of the vail/ F.S. marraige, but that's the nature of big money relationships. Vail is much more interested in the destination traveler visiting their resort over the summer than a bunch of scrungy, armor clad bikers. Ditto for beaver creek. we just don't rate.biker said:sucks dongoose about old nine line. that was the best trail.. steep and technical. they need to get Radio Flyer and all the other old ones running again. If they had permission once, why not now?
A thought: You need to weigh those dh dollars againts the dollars vail is pulling in from their summer destination travelers. Mom, dad, the three kids staying at a condo in vail, eating in their restaurants, shopping in their stores, partaking in fee activities; I don't know where to begin putting a dollar value on it. But there are lots of mom and dad and the kids doing just so at vail.SylentK said:$10,000 a day just to break even, huh. How many bikers at say $30 per biker does it take to break even? That's 333 and a third bikers. That's a lot. Dh'ing (and big bike ownership/sales) need to ramp up if ski resorts are going to actually take numbers seriously and do something about more trails and features.
Any thoughts?
It happened at Berthoud.Ascentrek said:<snip> Does someone really think that they might 'reclaim' the land and let it all grow back? NO!
Before you read the below, please remember, I'm on your side.Ascentrek said:Okay, I'll go off on my rant:
Why the FVCK would the forest service even care about a few biking trails, illegally or not. Lets get serious; Vail is gawdam eyesore as it is. Lifts, houses, crappy little I-70 town and gobs of resturants all over the dam mountain. Why does the forest service even have to be involved? Does someone really think that they might 'reclaim' the land and let it all grow back? NO! It doesn't take anything to build a second road to the ever popular Central city because Blackcock was taking their revenue! ...and we can't build a simple trail without doing an environmental study?
I'll abide by the "Forest Service" rule for now, but I'm getting fed up with the fact that bike riders can't go places they want to. The dam mountains are littered with idiots as it is, either just let it go, or close all, period.
I'm getting all worked up... I'll stop.