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Trail Difficulty Ratings

skatetokil

skatetokil

Turbo Monkey
Jan 2, 2005
2,383
-1
DC/Bluemont VA
So has anybody ever tried to come up with a trail rating system specifically for DH? It seems like my other extreme sports (climbing and whitewater paddling) have fine shades of difficulty that allow people to avoid getting in over their heads and have a good time when they are riding away from home. I've seen some guidebooks that have invented their own systems for conveying difficulty, and of course the resorts have borrowed the ski system (black diamond etc) but I always found that these didn't convey much useful information (Ok, I knew it was hard, but how hard).

Having ridden a variety of places all over both coasts, I think it would also be interesting if the ratings system was comparable so before heading down you could know that x trail at bootleg is easier than y trail at Windrock or whatever.

What factors would you include in the calculation? How would you certify (like climb ratings)? Would you find it useful?
 
dan wask

dan wask

Turbo Monkey
May 11, 2006
1,463
0
B-More Maryland
I rate trails I ride by the o**** system. I count up how many times I find myself going "ohhhh****ttttt" and compare it to other trails.
 
dhkid

dhkid

Turbo Monkey
Mar 10, 2005
3,358
0
Malaysia
i dont have an idea of how to make a system, but somethings you might take into account: some trails can be hard in the sense that they a challenging at any speed, and some begginers can ride but fast riders still find challenging coz the faster your go the hard it is.
 
Zark

Zark

Hey little girl, do you want some candy?
Oct 18, 2001
6,254
7
Reno 911
The pucker factor. It is a direct result of of the gnarliness of the trail to how tight the turd-cutter gets when riding said trail. ;)
Schleyer would rate about a 7 or 8 on my pucker factor.

The skiiing system is what I've seen at most resorts and it seems fine.
 
Monkeybidnezz

Monkeybidnezz

Turbo Monkey
Dec 16, 2003
1,212
0
Pac NW
Tough call, but I think the resort rating would be the most universal. Most of the time I hit trails they are considered very technical in the books, but end up being pretty tame in comparison to the Shore so it's all relative.
 
OGRipper

OGRipper

back alley ripper
Feb 3, 2004
10,652
1,127
NORCAL is the hizzle
It's funny, when I first rode Porcupine Rim I remember lots of signage and warnings from people about how gnarly it is. It's super fun but not exactly death-defying for anyone who rides DH at all.

It's a pretty subjective thing and each place will probably have a different group of people making the call, so the ratings are going to be all over the map. Throw in all the variations in trail style and features, and you've got a tough job. I mean, what's harder, a steep, natural, gnarly rocky DH trail or a shore-style trail with stunts, skinnies and big gaps? I think the ski-style ratings work pretty well to at least give you a sense of what to expect. From there, I try to do a recon run or two before hitting it at full speed.
 
skatetokil

skatetokil

Turbo Monkey
Jan 2, 2005
2,383
-1
DC/Bluemont VA
Yeah, nothing beats good local knowledge and a practice run or 2, but I'm talking more about deciding where its appropriate for someone to ride. Like, as a climber you take a road trip to some notorious 5.13c if you were a 5.10 climber. It would be a waste of time.
 
skatetokil

skatetokil

Turbo Monkey
Jan 2, 2005
2,383
-1
DC/Bluemont VA
To continue from above, p rim may be the most fun i've had on 2 wheels, but it was not a hard trail. There were a couple tricky sections for sure and I'd be impressed with anybody who could ride the double drop into the ravine after 28 miles of dh, but from my perspective it was severely hyped. In terms of both the pucker factor and sheer challenge it was easier than all but the fireroads at snowshoe.
 
frznnomad

frznnomad

Turbo Monkey
Jun 20, 2005
2,226
0
a-town biatches
man here in asheville i have learned to just ignore all the trail ratings. they are so vague and dont seem to describe the trail at all. ive come to the understanding that all the expert (black diamond trails) in WNC is just another term for fun dh run. i mean i have taken begineer riders down these expert trails and didnt have any worries about weather or not they could handle it. yes they are gonna go slower but they were perfectly fine and capable of handling it. i mean a more deffined rating system would be nice but you also have to consider that a trail takes on a different persona with different speeds and skill levels so you cant exactly give a deffinative ranking system like there is in climbing. yes it would be nice but it would be way to challenging and probably impossible.
 
ZHendo

ZHendo

Turbo Monkey
Oct 29, 2006
1,661
147
PNW
bootleg has some pretty screwed up ratings, i went there and rode one of the blacks, i was expecting something mostly doable, but i got to this one spot with a pretty huge drop that required a 90 degree turn mid air to the left and then landing on some exposed rock that was marked with blue spray paint. a little sketchy for my first DH run there on a bike i had never ridden before.
 
big-ted

big-ted

Danced with A, attacked by C, fired by D.
Sep 27, 2005
1,400
47
Vancouver, BC
I dunno. I like the fact that difficulty ratings are kind of open to interpretation. It allows a bit more creativity in the bar over a post-ride beer...

Seriously though, one of the things that bugs me about climbing is how people are always talking in terms of numbers and grades. As someone said, how hard a trail is depends entirely on what you're confident riding. Also, when a trail is something made out of the terrain mother nature provided, it seems wrong to attach such a precise and unromantic numbering systems to them.









I know, I'm such a girl.....
 
BikeMike

BikeMike

Monkey
Feb 24, 2006
784
0
A good friend sometimes uses the International Scale of River Difficulty for trails. Makes sense to me. You expect variability in the ratings, but they give you some idea of the level of commitment required for the trail/river.
 
S

sbabuser

Turbo Monkey
Dec 22, 2004
1,114
55
Golden, CO
What PR has is a great big ol drop to your right and some pretty tech bits to ride over that are what, 1-2' from the edge? It's not a really tough trail, but your margin of error in some spots is pretty narrow.
But then I haven't been on that trail in a few years, maybe it's gotten easier... ;)

I do agree with the ski rating system being pretty open to interpretation, but trying to get all places to adopt one system is gonna be tough. Seems like the ski rating combined w/ some description might be easier. eg: double black, minimum drops of 8'...
Keystone has something like that I think?
 
dhbuilder

dhbuilder

jingoistic xenophobe
Aug 10, 2005
3,040
0
d.h. trails are far more difficult to rate than ski runs.

ski runs are snow covered.
so to that extent, that's a given.
what changes is the pitch and tech involving what's on the terrain.
(trees, rock outcroppings and such.)

with d.h. trails, you throw in the variable of the trail terrain itself.
making a standard darn near impossible.

then throw in length, pitch, the riding skills of the builders.......
the list could be endless.

people ask up here all the time about signage and trail ratings.
i tell them, "they all end up in the parkinglot. and what's tuff for me might be easy for you or visca versa."

to me the fun is in finding out for yourself.
 
N

NORTON

Chimp
Mar 3, 2005
52
1
Littleton CO
ZHendo said:
bootleg has some pretty screwed up ratings, i went there and rode one of the blacks, i was expecting something mostly doable, but i got to this one spot with a pretty huge drop that required a 90 degree turn mid air to the left and then landing on some exposed rock that was marked with blue spray paint. a little sketchy for my first DH run there on a bike i had never ridden before.
Click to expand...
heh I was gonna say the exact opposite! Bootleg is the first place I have ridden where the ratings seem correct. I like how they use multiples (triple black, double blue, etc) to fine tune the ratings. As I rode there I was thinking to myself, "Wow, when they say black diamond, they actually mean it!"

I like the idea of adopting the river/climbing difficulty scale. I'll still ride trails that are way over my skill level, but that way at least I'll know beforehand what I'm getting into :)
 
bizutch

bizutch

Delicate CUSTOM flower
Dec 11, 2001
15,928
24
Over your shoulder whispering
There needs to be a two tier system...1 for pitch, the second for rocks.

You can ride Wolf Laurel all day on something like a 4 diamond rating for pitch and an absolute zero for rocks.

You can ride Seven Springs with a 1 diamond for pitch and a 4 rock rating.
 
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