[MinorThreat]

Leaves from Mountain Haus down Jackass to bottom of Chair 5. More info here:

http://www.silvermt.com/PDF/SRS_AGENDA2_2.pdf

Also remember to put Silveroxx on your calendar - - July 19-20. The Endurance Downhill is BACK! (athough doesn't look like it will be 8 hours )

 

[PKPK]

All the entry fees from the race go back to the riders. All the money from each catergory goes back to that category.

 

[Petite Fluer]

How is the riding at Silver Mountain?

 

[MinorThreat]

I like it; the number of trails is growing each year. Some wooden stunts have been added. The jumps in the upper part are not as nicely configured as Whistler's but they work OK.

It's certainly isn't in Whistler's league yet but it will give you a good day of riding. Full run top-to-bottom will give you about a 15+-minute ride.

 

[Petite Fluer]

Nice, I will keep it in mind. Thanks!

 

[trailhacker]

It's certainly isn't in Whistler's league yet but it will give you a good day of riding.

If you mean they haven't turned every trail into another version of A-line then that would be great!

 

[fuzzycatnuts]

I love silvermnt, I could see it getting old, but for 2-3 days a year its great. 9 mile enuro dh is very cool, unique trail for sure, you find yourself going very fast for a very long time. Racing just makes it that much funner. jumps and stunts are a little getto but its about long runs gondola style.

Who's going, I just got those days off so I am going for sure.

 

[Uruk-hai]

I'm going for the weekend and leaving tonight. Doubtful for the race but I'll be riding both days regardless.

 

[4realmr.cosby]

Silver is opening a new part of the Hammer this weekend it has 2 stepdowns, a road gap and 2 tables.

 

[timmy77]

Snow is finally gone for the Monkeys!
Silver Mt. punched in some sweet trail last year and locals continued to fix and update existing and non-mapped terrain. I know of a certain Kellogg resident that rode down Jackass with 20+ lbs of rocks in his backpack to fill the mud holes in the 'frog trees' which is awesome! The Pepsi Can trail is waaay more fun than before and adds at least 3 minutes to your overall top to bottom experience. Way to go! The continuous berms and turns are great (like a roller-coaster) and the views are cool to stop and check out. The latest additions to Alihambra are fun and the exit burm to the fire road makes me laugh out loud every time!
It still seems that Silver is plauged with many of the problems that have been around for awhile but it seems to be the fault of management as the trail crew has always been stoked to be there. I know how hard it can be to carry in 40+ lbs of gear to build trail and appreciate all of the work. One of the biggest problems continues to be trail access on race days as recreational riders on race day still have to intersect and poach the race course to get back to the parking lot. Unfortunately, the volunteer program did not yield many takers last year due to the stringent application guidelines and to find 'perfect trail conditions' involved showing up on a thursday morning after it rained.
The race series was tons of fun for those that participated and it helped solidify Silver Mountain's commitment to producing a quality trail system. The race series is critical to the sucesss of the trail master plan and I hope that people keep showing up despite $4.00+/gal gas as it was always worth it for me.
Last year, I was super ticked off to find the season capped short due to gondola maintenance. Silver Mt's website and staff never said a thing about closing the gondola a full 6-8 weeks ahead of normal operations when I swiped my debit card to the tune of almost $200 to ride for the summer. I brought over 2 DH newbies to ride at Silver last September and found that we made the trip over for no reason as the ticket booths were closed and the gondola was not running (not kewl as we drove 120+ miles for nothing.) I am all for having a safe gondola ride, however charging full season price for a pass during a known 'scheduled maintenance' is BS and I will not be purchasing a pass this year. I have been a pass holder for 5 years now but feel that the mountain has become controlled by Jeld-Wen development and the intetrests of Dave Smith and I can no longer justifly spending money to ride a mountain that has this many quirks.
However, I can go ride at Mt. Spokane without paying a dime other than gas and find a similar experience, or I can go ride beacon during the morning before it gets too hot. I still think that anyone that has not checked this place out is a pansy and hope that people come see what is going on, but I can't afford to keep supporting a mountain that charges 'A-line prices' for a backyard operation.
Terrain is fun but not worth dropping $25+ a day for. I will probably ride Silver 2x this year just because I love this place. Normally I would ride this at least 2x per week but just can't see it happening this year.
Please don't let this discourage you from exploring everything this crew and mountain have put together as it is still the BEST and FASTEST riding you will find within a 75 mile radius of Spokompton. I would just strongly advise against buying a season pass as it is just too much scratch when other amazing riding is abundant for free.
For the 2nd year in a row...RANT OVER. Newbs go check it out but vets should go ride what makes them drool!

 

[fuzzycatnuts]

I think its worth 25$ for all day gondola runs, I am sure the overhead is pretty high on operating a gondola, I would take that deal any day. Less expensive than whistler for sure.

I will agree that is kind of a "backyard" operation, but its still really fun.

Sucks they closed early with no warning, I would have been pissed!

I am looking forward to seeing all the new stuff. Is that new trail on the lower part of the mountain done?, the one they started to excavate last year.

 

[MinorThreat]

It's actually up to $30 now (at least that's what I paid Sunday). I have to agree with most everything timmy said. The new/revised trails being cut in are looking super-good. I think some of Sean's influence is starting to show in the much-better configuration of the jumps, berms and such.

I was going to buy a season pass Sunday; but I just cannot justify $180 for as few times as I realistically will get over there this summer. Especially since the major event I'll hit is Silveroxx; and the lift pass will be included with your entry fee(s) - - and there is no discount off the entry fee for season pass holders.

I have to say, though, that Jeld-Wen being in the driver's seat is a good thing - - it's the ONLY reason Silver is what it is today. Their ownership of the whole mountain has meant that trails can be cut in the way they want to, rather than having to cowtow to Forest Service whims and regulation. Besides, I doubt there would even be the summer program at all, flawed though it might be, if it had not been for Jeld-Wen taking over and reinventing Silver Mountain.

Oh, and I took a peek down the new Hammer section: starts off good - - looking forward to what awaits below. And the rebuilt 'rock gardens' on Alhambra (?) are cool: takeoff rocks that you can jump the whole section from. Nice touch.

 

[PKPK]

This should be the best Silveroxx yet. Over $3,000 in swag donated by a variety of sponsors and Big checks for the top riders. Most of the swag will be given out by way of drawings so anyone who competes and is present at the drawing/award ceremony might win some nice swag. Silver Mt has the whole line-up for the festival and the early registration form on silvermt.com...only $80 for all 3 events if you register online and the lift tickets are included. July 19th features a Jam Session DH in the morning and a Super D in the afternoon and a band in the gondola village that evening from 6pm to 9pm. July 20th is the long DH from the top to just short of the bottom. The races will not prevent anyone who is not racing from being able to ride because the trails have been almost totally separated from the top of the mountain to just short of the valley floor. If anyone has any question about Silveroxx 08 or future plans for Silver's MTB program...send them our way. Did I mention that Silveroxx is a sanctioned USA Cycling event this year! Hope to see you at Silver this summer.

 

[Downhillbell]

Wow Is all I can say!
I rode silver 4 times last year and It was ok.
but this year my skills have progressed and the trails have been kept after a bit better. When Two Wheeler Dealer in CDA asked me about racing for them at Silver durring the sunday series and silver roxx, I quickly said yes. After missing the first sunday series due to a family trip, I was stoked to finally race with the team. When I found out that the race was going to be chainless I was less than happy, as my big advantage on the Dh course is that I pedal like crazy and am always going as fast as possible. But the race turned out ok and I got 3ed in sport class. But I was so stoked on riding that I decided to skip the awards ceramony and go take one more lap... thats how much fun I have been having riding their latly. I am getting a year round pass there as my mom drives to work from CDA to the Pinehurst post office that is a 5 min dive from the base of the gondola. so I am very pleased witht the trails that are going up at silver and how they are being maintained.

So after all that, I have a question,
How hard is it to race all three races?
I know that I want to do the jam session and the long DH race but if I could do the super D too then I would.

 

[MinorThreat]

^^ You should be fine - - you'll have at least two hours to rest up/hydrate/eat lunch before the Super-D start.

Good that you've got a convenient way to get there regularly.


Hey PK! - - BRING BACK THE 8-HOUR ENDURANCE DOWNHILL, will ya?

 

[Downhillbell]

Sweet!!!
thank you MinorThreat
I hope that the Super D doesnt have to many climbs as I only will have a DH bike to ride on. but I am a 15 year old kid so I have energy storage that some of you old guys dont
I am really excited for this this year as this will be the first Silver Roxx that i have ever been to let alond raced in.

 

[ridewillysshop]

We actually have closer to $5500 in swag right now and we are getting more by the day.

 

[PKPK]

We might be able to work the 8 hour endurance race in on a weekend in Sept at Silver if we had enough people interested.

 

[Downhillbell]

We might be able to work the 8 hour endurance race in on a weekend in Sept at Silver if we had enough people interested.

I'm in!!!:biggrin:

 

[MinorThreat]

I was never so tired in my life; my legs kept cramping up on my last run - -to the point where I couldn't pedal sometimes.

The winner (can't remember his name) did 12 runs; four of us did 11 so that got us on the podium. All of us were solos and beat the relay teams

It was a torturous blast!