Quantcast

Visiting California

funkyflea

Chimp
Oct 1, 2007
31
0
Hi,

I will be visiting California in April, might as well check if there is any possibility to ride some dh trails. Coming from Sweden I dont know any places to ride in California so I would appreciate some help finding dh spots/bike parks open for rental and lift accessible trials in California during 4th - 24th of April!

Thanks! :thumb:
 

LukeD

Monkey
Sep 9, 2001
751
2
Massachusetts
Where in CA? If you are going to southern CA, there really aren't any lift accessible trails for DH anymore, especially with rentals. Norcal, there's Northstar, right at Lake Tahoe.
 

funkyflea

Chimp
Oct 1, 2007
31
0
Thanks for the input!

Well starting off in LA, down to San Diego, quick visit to Vegas, Grand Canyon, Yosemite, Montery bay and San Francisco. Will visit Sea Otter Classic for sure! :weee:
 

kidwoo

Artisanal Tweet Curator
Damn dude, my mammoth vids don't even make the cut?

That hurts.


Yeah mammoth is good. They won't be open in April though. But bootleg outside of vegas is definitely worth checking out. There's TONS of good riding outside of the socal civic disaster, as well as santa barbara, san louis obispo, and some fun stuff to mess around on as you get closer to the bay area. You're going to have to ask around though. Have fun looking at the sites in Yosemite. That place is awesome.
 

jonKranked

Detective Dookie
Nov 10, 2005
85,558
24,181
media blackout
You ever even been to mammoth or just basing that off gemini riding trails slowly? :D
been to both mammoth and N*. both great riding. both horribly far apart from one another. [edit]i stand corrected. they are only about 3 1/2 hours apart from each other. They are however, horribly far from socal. [/edit]

we're not talking quality of trails, but the fact that the northeast has more lift access riding over a smaller geographic area.
 
Last edited:

kidwoo

Artisanal Tweet Curator
we're not talking quality of trails,
"we?" Did we start dick swinging? Why wasn't I told!!

The number of west coast bike parks compared to the northeast is a joke. I don't see how anyone could argue otherwise. But the land lease situation applying to most of the ski areas here has a lot to do with that.

I just thought it was funny that HAB, out of nowhere came out with a 'nerf east rulzooorrrzzz!' based on some shltty helmet cam vids. Mammoth has some fun stuff, I don't care where you're from. But yeah the number of mountains on the map out here is silly. I must have misunderstoodededed.
 
Last edited:

gemini2k

Turbo Monkey
Jul 31, 2005
3,526
117
San Francisco
off gemini riding trails slowly? :D
I'd be angry if that weren't 100% true :(

I think it's hard for any east coast resort to compare to mammoth though. From what I've ridden there (very limited) and seen videos of (almost everything?) none of them seem to have the variety of long runs, super fast, super rough, technical steep rock chutes and gardens, big ass freeride features all rolled into a single run (or two). I could be wrong. I do need to do an east coast tour eventually.

But yeah, Northstar, F that place. Went there once last year for the first time in two years. Horribly disappointing. Less features, less trails, and unbelievably blown out. They are really just phoning it in. There are other lift access resorts in Socal though ;). Some of which have trails out of this world.
 
Last edited:

kidwoo

Artisanal Tweet Curator
They are always swinging here. You just have to hop on one.
Its like Hopscotch except with dongs.

Speaking of dongs, having the 500th east/west argument on here makes mine sad and despondent.
I can't even make fun of the east coast because I know better. I drool looking at the number of lift served mountains out there.

So instead, I just make fun of butch.
 

Pegboy

Turbo Monkey
Jan 20, 2003
1,139
27
New Hamp-sha
Don't mind me, just going to drop this off here.

http://www.vitalmtb.com/videos/member/Im-Faster-Than-You,20206/iceman2058,94

Mammoth is awesome, big bear will have lift access starting this summer, baldy will always be baldy.
No sh1t? Re-opened to real "DH" bikes? Can you wear "Storm Trooper" gear?

Seriously though, new ownership? I actually thought BB was pretty fun, especially some of the trails that were not easy to find on the map. There would be a lot of potentian at that place with the right management.

I really can't say that I miss choking down dust all day, but I guess that's what you get when you ride with fast Pakkis and little Indian boys...
 

W4S

Turbo Monkey
Mar 2, 2004
1,282
23
Back in Hell A, b1thces
No sh1t? Re-opened to real "DH" bikes? Can you wear "Storm Trooper" gear?

Seriously though, new ownership? I actually thought BB was pretty fun, especially some of the trails that were not easy to find on the map. There would be a lot of potentian at that place with the right management.

I really can't say that I miss choking down dust all day, but I guess that's what you get when you ride with fast Pakkis and little Indian boys...
yeah Pegboy! same owners, they just realized that they can make money during the summer now, they teamed with Gravity Logic to design the park on the resort for big bikes and apparently it's been approved by the forest service. even still, there's been a bunch of work going at summit over the last several years on the enduro side of the sport, all the trails we used to ride and more. In a couple years Summit should be a destination resort for all styles of mountainbike riding. long live the FRONJ!

LukeD -- Baldy is steep, rocky and raw, insane place to get your balls to grow, gemini2000K's video doesn't nearly do the place justice.
 

gemini2k

Turbo Monkey
Jul 31, 2005
3,526
117
San Francisco
Especially with how slow he's riding.
Christ I probably shouldn't have even posted that. That was a miserable performance down that. I'll have to re-ride it this summer and post a better cam. But it is an amazing, techy, sketchy trail if you know where you're going. Probably the hardest resort trail I've ever seen. Baldy has some trails that are close though.

I dunno about you guys but I've been riding DH bikes at Snow summit since 2009! But that has involved some...sacrifices.
 
Last edited:

HAB

Chelsea from Seattle
Apr 28, 2007
11,580
2,005
Seattle
You ever even been to mammoth or just basing that off gemini riding trails slowly? :D
I lived in SoCal for 4 years, and have ridden Mammoth, so I'm not totally talking out my ass here. :D



I was pretty drunk when I posted that.
 
Last edited:

LukeD

Monkey
Sep 9, 2001
751
2
Massachusetts
still airing down the tires and compressing the fork with an inner tube to get within their "suspension limits"? :rofl:
ya I heard about that and no full faced helmets..or "big" forks, like a boxxer lol At least that's what the guys in the shop I was working at said. Last time I rode there was 2003. The main trails were actually pretty boring, everything off that...the illegal stuff was fun. Which I guess was one of the problems.

I kinda wish I went to Baldy. I hit most other stuff in the area. Laguna, Lake Elsinore, Ted Willy trails etc. I just got sick of hiking.
 

gemini2k

Turbo Monkey
Jul 31, 2005
3,526
117
San Francisco

ya I heard about that and no full faced helmets..or "big" forks, like a boxxer lol At least that's what the guys in the shop I was working at said. Last time I rode there was 2003. The main trails were actually pretty boring, everything off that...the illegal stuff was fun. Which I guess was one of the problems.

I kinda wish I went to Baldy. I hit most other stuff in the area. Laguna, Lake Elsinore, Ted Willy trails etc. I just got sick of hiking.
I was riding with a full face and armor back in 08 on my "trail bike" and hitting everything on my DH bike since 2009. Like I said though, some "sacrifices" and "creativity" were required. And I don't mean with regard to equipment.

Baldy is worthless to go to unless you have someone to show you around. You'll never find the trails otherwise. They are so raw the trailheads don't look like much of anything. You're basically just pointing it down a super steep ridgeline, or a fall line down a double black ski run (yes sustained grades of 15-20%+)
 
Last edited: