We’re just one day away from the great gravity grab, when ALL of our lift-served mountain bike trails finally open to the public.

Our trail crews have been working hard to prep the slopes despite this year’s late-season snowpack, but riders will find a few unusual features not normally seen in mid-July.

Our tireless Marketing Director, Jared, is always looking out for our visitors best interests. He previewed Elk Trail the hard way yesterday (pedaling uphill) to bring us these photos.

We’ll start toward the top to show you what you’ll find on your way down. Despite the elevation, most of the upper mountain trails are in really wonderful condition, with the exception of a few wet spots.

The first traverse out toward Lakeview is pretty standard, and so is the long traverse back toward the North side.

Once Elk Trail winds into the trees, things get a little trickier.
Slick spots like these are easy enough to avoid without mud-diving.

But there’s one large patch of snow that’s likely to cause an involuntary dismount if you don’t climb off your bike ahead of time. (This was one of our larger Rodeo terrain park features this past Winter.)

There are a couple smaller snowmines over on the North side. (You know, patches of snow that may conceal rocks, logs, hibernating bears, etc.)

But once you hit mid-mountain and pop back out on the main slopes, it should be smooth sailing.

The trails on the lower half of the mountain have had the most time to set up and are nicely packed.

The added bonus is that the surrounding slopes are still incredibly lush and green.

This is the longest we’ve ever had to wait to open our Mountain Bike trails.

But with 20+ miles of single track at our disposal, we’re looking to pack extra thrills into the rest of our summer season.

All of these photos are from Elk Trail because this is the most popular route down the mountain.

The other trails: High Voltage, Zorro, Growler and Black Bear Loop are clear of snow, just like these areas.

Hidden Valley is another story. We are opening it to expert riders tomorrow. BUT, you are likely to find many, many snow mines out there, so please scout your route and use caution if you choose that trail.

See you soon!

– April