[buckoW]

on the Champery track towards the bottom.

It was a couple feet under the surface near the digger in this photo.

The digger driver said it was empty and safe to pick up but I didn't trust him enough to take it home. I find lots of things in the forest while digging but this is my first rocket.

Anyways, here are a couple more shots from the building. The spectator access will be sick for the race, not like last time.

A couple days in the snow sucked

This is much better weather for digging

mini walking digger

The big one

The track is much sicker than 2007. There are a bunch of 10-12 meter senders that get things charging real quick. Should be an awesome race and I can't wait to see those guys attacking such a sick track.

Finally an off topic photo but I was stoked none the less. My brother is on the left and I am on the right. These are the stickers on some of the models from Unity Snowboards. (It is snowing right now so I am starting to change gears into winter mode.)

 

[Racebike]

Jeez, mortar round?

Keep up the good work, walking diggers rule!

 

[buckoW]

Jeez, mortar round?

Keep up the good work, walking diggers rule!

I think so, there is a big military base inside the mountain just behind the big peaks in the nice weather photo. I know they practice by lobbing them over the mountains but it should have landed a couple kilometers farther up the valley. I was surprised to find it that close to town.

 

[frango]

Ben, everytime I see You diggin' in PdS I wanna come back there, again Champery may not be my league but I may always try to... walk it with the bike in my hand

 

[Steve M]

Your posts always make me so freakin jealous!

 

[Pslide]

It wouldn't be an avalanche charge would it?

 

[ilikecake]

No way Ben! Hope you managed to keep it as a souvenir. I found a live 1000lb WWII bomb in Houffalize 2 years ago - Police evacuated the whole town and Army blew it up!

Champery looking good dude!

Any POW yet?

 

[buckoW]

Thanks guys. I would put up more but I haven't had much time lately. My Iphone didn't like digging in the rain so I only have photos from the first part of the project.

On another note, I have been testing lots of extreme head angles and bb heights on the track and I really like a 62° and 63° head angle for this track. It seems crazy but it works so well on the steep stuff. I will have to put up a photo some other time because now I don't have one of the new setup.

No way Ben! Hope you managed to keep it as a souvenir. I found a live 1000lb WWII bomb in Houffalize 2 years ago - Police evacuated the whole town and Army blew it up!

Champery looking good dude!

Any POW yet?

Wow, I was kinda wondering about stuff like that. I know nothing about guns, bombs and rockets so I figured I would ask a friend who is in the mortar side of the military before I bring it home. I hid it in a tree stump until I get my buddy to have a look.

The track is so fun to ride now. I have another couple of jumps to build up to but overall I think it's rad! There are a couple more catch berms and you can carry way more speed now.

We are having a water problem in the same place that you and I had in 2007 on the 4X. We solved the problem and I am curious if people will like it. There are 7 big jumps in a row (10 - 13 meters) where the 4X track used to be. It is like a SX but for DH bikes.

There was lots of snow but the freezing level just went up and now the rain is melting what was starting to look like a sweet base. Talking about snow, here is a pic I took of a friend at the end of last season.

 

[norbar]

What Socked said

 

[buckoW]

What Socked said

You guys just gotta come and ride with me then.

 

[Steve M]

You guys just gotta come and ride with me then.

It's gonna happen one day for sure. Been looking into working visas and whatnot for Switzerland but it's not an easy place to do it, by any means.

 

[norbar]

It's all in the planning phase. I just need to stop being bothered with non biking skills (bofore I'll need an extra pair of wheels on my dh bike ) and I'm there.

 

[chillindrdude]

i'm jealous that you have such an awesome mountain to ride (dirt and snow) in your backyard. unity snowboards are nice rides.

 

[Mudstud]

@ buckoW

Great to see you guys are working hard on both the trail and the access for spectators. The latter was pretty adventurous in 2007, to say the least - well, old man Ernst Schurter made it up the hill to the steep zig-zag-part even with a broken foot, but then again that's Ernst.

Looking forward to see the course in action at the Worldcup.

And, oh yeah: Any highresolution images of the course building available? Would be nice for MB Rider Mag's Swiss news that are due in two weeks, ya know.

Thumbs up for the work done and best wishes for everything that still needs to be done.

 

[buckoW]

Is that Lorens? Yeah, my brother took a bunch of high res pics through out the process. I will get him to send them to you. Can you pm me your email address?

I am hoping no one has a bad taste in their mouths about spectator access and they come watch and find a nice surprise of steps all over the side of the track. It is so much easier to get around on foot now.

 

[Mudstud]

Is that Lorens? Yeah, my brother took a bunch of high res pics through out the process. I will get him to send them to you. Can you pm me your email address?

I am hoping no one has a bad taste in their mouths about spectator access and they come watch and find a nice surprise of steps all over the side of the track. It is so much easier to get around on foot now.

Well, I'll make sure to communicate the fact that spectator's access has been improved a lot compaired to 2007 on the channels I deliver content for.

And yes, I'll send you my mail adress by PM in a few minutes.

 

[Mulestar]

Outstanding work...that mini walking digger looks really interesting. Would be really useful around here.

Glad you didn't get blown up.

 

[-C-]

Looks interesting, how does it compare to the old track? Just as steep? Any reason why you decided to build a new one for this year rather than stick with the 2007 track?

We rode the old track again this year & found it harder than when we originally rode it late 2007! Loads more polished roots had come out making the top section before the fire road pretty hardcore.

Met your brother in the Telecabin as well, he gave us some pointers to some awesome trails, the one under the main lift starting by the house with the red roof was brilliant. Almost untouched

 

[captainspauldin]

Looks awesome. I'd love to get out there and ride some of that, looks like fun.

 

[TGR]

good lord, looks steep...

I can't wait to go back to switzerland...

 

[bizutch]

so does that thing have to mechanically walk all the way to that point on the mountain? Or is there a "brain" that when you move forward, the articulating arms just crawl like a spider and self-level the cockpit? Seriously...how do you even get robodigger to that point on the mountain?

 

[buckoW]

Looks interesting, how does it compare to the old track? Just as steep? Any reason why you decided to build a new one for this year rather than stick with the 2007 track?

We rode the old track again this year & found it harder than when we originally rode it late 2007! Loads more polished roots had come out making the top section before the fire road pretty hardcore.

Met your brother in the Telecabin as well, he gave us some pointers to some awesome trails, the one under the main lift starting by the house with the red roof was brilliant. Almost untouched

No roots were harmed in the rebuild. That is just loose dirt from the digger making it's way down the trail. The roots will come back out in no time. It is still the same track but with more jumps and outside lines to carry more speed and flow but the inside ones are still there. Claudio Calouri was the head shaper this time as well as the first time.

To bizutch

The driver has a lot of buttons and pedals to make it "walk" and a very good driver is needed to take it down such a steep spot. We had to take the little one which doesn't have telescoping legs down the steep and tight top section so as to not cut any trees. We had to cable it in a couple of times. They are very cool machines and perfect for trails but very dangerous to drive.

 

[monkeyfcuker]

Cool thread, thanks for sharing! Can't wait to see this track develop!

 

[caballero]

looks great ... i hope i can be there again, although theres no 4x this time ... maybe i can plan my PDS trip for that week.

stairs for the crowd are a nice feature but climbing was also good fun the last time ...

 

[Arkayne]

I"ve never seen those before, very cool!

 

[Uncle Cliffy]

Lots of win in this thread!

 

[CBJ]

BuckoW should be forced to post weekly.

 

[norbar]

BuckoW should be forced to post weekly.

Untill all of RM moves to Switzerland

 

[BikerBoy28]

throw some Super Swamper Boggers on that machine!!!

 

[buckoW]

Thanks guys. I will try and share the Iphone shots more often. I haven't shown many good photos because there is a potential article or two coming out and I don't want to spoil it. Also, the shots are not mine so that is why I only post up crappy Iphone pics.


It is hard to tell how steep it really is but you can get an idea for how the digger "walks." With the bucket the driver lifts up the front two feet and slowly bends the elbow on the arm of the bucket letting the wheels roll forward. Then he puts the feet back down into the ground and puts the bucket out in front again to repeat the process.

The drivers usually like to pull the dirt towards them and then they move down the trail. You have to get creative as a shaper to not have too many hard angles building with the machinist's pulling technique.

They don't like to, but it is better to get the driver in the center of the radius of a corner and use the length of the arm to make a nice round shape with an even radius. You can see how the grass is disturbed on the left where the machine went down. It is harded for the driver but better for the rider and the shape.

Sometimes it is impossible to get the digger on the inside of the corner because climbing back up the mountain really leaves a mess where going down the damage is easily fixed. I just get him to leave me a bit of loose dirt to smooth out the hard angles and make a nice berm. You can see that here.

I had never seen one of these machines before I moved here and I can't understand how people build trails without them. They are so perfect for trails and make everything a done deal in a small amount of time. Some spots where I work are only by hand so it makes me appreciate these machines even more. Menzi Muck, ftw.

 

[Whoops]

i wish upon a star;

- I was there
- had the skills to ride that track

Awsome stuff.

 

[Mudstud]

Found another nice video of the MenziMuck (the Swiss original) on YouTube:

Enjoy:

Digger's ballet, kind of...

Filmed at the factory, so this is probably a seasoned team rider at the controls.

 

[PepperJester]

You sir are a lucky man. That is one hell of a gig you've got! I can only hope that when I finish school I'll be able to land a job even half as cool as yours.