[freshwire]

Since Snowshoe is closed this weekend, I was thinking about checking out 26 west in NC. I'm in Roanoke and it would take about 3.5 hrs to get there.

I didn't hear very kind things about it from a mad 20 something dh'er at the last race at SS...I'm no Greg Minaar, that's for sure, but I've raced SS a few times and can hit most of the drops and jumps up there.

I've bought a season pass to SS for the last 2 years and go at least 8 or 12 times a season...

will 26 West seem pale and insignificant??? It must have SOME cool stuff...over the phone, the guy told me he had step downs, table tops, road gaps...All true???

Thanks in advance for any honest feedback!

 

[drkenan]

I've been there twice in the past week and a half. It's REALLY fun but definitely no SS yet. If you can get past the fact that the runs are short and you can't take your bike on the lift (they get shuttled) then you'll have a good time. They have about 4 total trails plus a terrain park with a step up, table, progression drops, road gap, etc. It's worth the 30 minute drive for me.

You should ask wannabeabonedoc - he came for a visit from VA and loved it. He posted some pics in the South forum IIRC.

 

[freshwire]

Thanks for the feedback! I might go Sunday for the day, and come home Mon. morning....Gotta work Saturday...AAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!!

 

[wannabeabonedoc]

Ok, so here's my take on 26west:
I can't hit the majority of the stuff at snowshoe, and I had a friggin BLAST at 26west. What I liket he most was that on all the jumps (tables, doubles, step-up, step downs, etc) if you wanted to send it, you could. But if you were like me and just wanting to get a little more comfortable with jumps, you could do that too. Everything should be nice and packed in b/c of the recent rains too. It was a dusty sand-fest when I went b/c it hadn't rained in quite a while. Ryan has put a crap-ton of work into that place and it shows. It's very apparent that he loves to jump. Yes there are only a few trails but the way they are built, it's easy to link multiple trails together for a fun ride down. We found a way to link Yo-B -> Easy does it -> park connector. Face-Breaker looked fun, but way beyond my level of riding. One of my favorite lines was to take Park Connector down to the road gap and cut left over to the progression drops, then either hit the step-up back on to park connector (keeping in mind I never actually cleared the step-up) or stay straight and hit the big left handed berm to small step down on to easy-does it. The lift issue was kind of weird, but hey they're doing the best they can. Even with the bikes being shuttled, I got in somewhere b/w 18-20 runs so the lift wasn't an issue...
So, long story short, yeah there are pictures in the south forum but I'm not a very good photog, and there are better pictures to give you an idea of what's there. Is it worth the 3.5 hour drive to get there? YES... b/c it's all interstate. Snowshoe is actually the same distance from blacksburg as 26west is, and it's a much easier drive.
Sorry this is so long but I keep remember more stuff. According to Ryan, 26west may be open as late as November.... you can't beat that...
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