Mt. Baldy
- Thread starter MrWolf
- Start date
with some work that place would be balls, i'm planning on sunday.
The trails are too steep, too loose, to narrow, and all around too jacked up for most riders. One guy who's been working their for 25 years is trying to convince management to open the upper chair, if that happens the place will be totally different, some more relaxed trails could be built on the ski run (legally) and socal lift riding will be back. But until then, new people will continue go, crash, and ask for their money back. lol
If Baldy was free or like 5 bucks it would be worth it.
Personally I don't think we're going to see lift assisted DH in So Cal again until someone gives the USFS a whole butt load of money.
When I was part of a small group that tried to build trails at Baldy we found the management to be VERY welcoming and open minded. The brick wall we ran into was the USFS.
At some point during that fiasco someone said that we should have just built the trails without the USFS's knowledge. I disagreed then but am rethinking that opinion these days.
I kind of heard differently about that. But I've only gotten one side of the story and I'm not going to talk about it on a forum.
Anyways there are certain areas of the mountain that Baldy owns and trails can be built. Not too many, but enough.
The main problem holding back Baldy is no one is really driving the horse. No one takes initiative, no one cares, or believes any money can be made with mountain bikers. If someone would show them differently they would start to change, but they're not going to invest anything to find out.
The only way to really show them would be to do a race, do it one land they're allowed to ride on (what's considered a fire road on the upper mountain would make a killer course.) ...Promote it right, get a large crowd of people paying $45 per entry, and actually make the mountain some money. That would be a start.
My expierence with them happened in 2006. Things may have changed but back then they were really open to building bike trails.
Myself and another who were part of three people spearheading the effort were "squeezed out" by NCRider/Conrad who claimed to have been hired by Baldy as their bike park manager type guy. He posted some updates about the biology reports and such but then just dissapeared. Personally I got fed up with the whole thing and washed my hands of the whole affair.
If you read some of the posts we made back then you can see that we were pretty enthusiastic and actually did alot of work towards our goals. Being told that my efforts were no longer needed was a slap in the face so I never looked back at the project. I would love to know what happened to Conrad and his effort though.
Believe me, I know that Baldy could turn a tidy profit from a bike park. We had tons of data collected from bike parks around the nation, and it all showed that profit was to be had. Shoot, we had major bike companies, magazines and retail chains offering us money and goods to help the effort. And while the Baldy management was very welcoming and enthusiastic, they did have a very hands off approach.
If you have any info about what is going on there please PM me and let me know. I won't post anything publicly, but would love to have my curiosity sated.
While I am very skeptical abuot any good DH happening at Baldy or anywhere else in So Cal, I would absolutely be in line to help, pay, and ride if it did happen.
The lady that sold me my pass said that Baldy is located in a "no build" zone and can't build trails per the USFS, which makes absolutely no sense. Just another bureaucratic cluster**** where people who make their livings off our taxes are paid not to think or give a **** about the people who pay their goddamn salaries.
Can you guys give me the skinny on riding Mt. Baldy? I have never been and I'm always down to try something new, good riding or bad.
I understand only the Chair #1 is up and running, whats some of the recommend routes?
and should I bring a DH dedicated or XC bike?
Thanks.
I understand only the Chair #1 is up and running, whats some of the recommend routes?
and should I bring a DH dedicated or XC bike?
Thanks.
If people are saying the trails are too steep and riders are crashing, I'd bring a DH bike....