Bloated Skiing: September 2018

Sept 27, Red Mt. Rossland BC

Decided to ride from our condo up at Red Resort. Good climb up to Red Mt. Tried the black diamond trail off the summit and did't have the cajones to ride it well. Ended up cutting out to some nice blue trails. Ended up being really nice ride. Finished on Paydirt which is a lot of fun!

September 26, Rossland - Ride around town

We have ridden 3 new trail areas so far, even though we have been biking in Rossland a few times, albeit the last time over 10 years ago. We were looking forward to riding the town trails again, and getting tacos at the Rossland Brewery at the finish. Our legs are quite pooped, after yesterdays ride.

The Kootenay Trail Society just finished a couple new trails, one being Blue Elephant, which goes from the ski area down to the reservoir just before town. From our unit, we made our way thru developments to the maintenance shed for the ski area, Red Resort. This gave us a slight descent to the start of the Red Top Trail. We climbed that for a bit, to the intersection of Blue Elephant. We continued climbing slightly on the newly built, but hardened Blue Elephant trail and finished with a descent to the reservoir. Went left on Larry's and immediately left on Moes. At the end of the reservoir, we went left on Drifter and left on Eddie J to start our climb for the day. At the intersection of Monte Christo Road, we went left to climb and left again to descend on Techno Grind.

Stardust was another brand new descending trail that they just finished. We descended that. At its end, we went right, up Upper Milky Way and continuing up North Star to a 4-way intersection of Techno Grind/Kootenay Columbia and North Star. After Kevin spent some time working on Francine's new Eagle 50 tooth drivetrain, we went right onto Techno Grind back out to the start of Stardust. We backtracked a tiny bit on Techno Grind to the start of Full Monte, where we went right.

When we started descending, this was quite a chunky, rocky trail, that had Francine walking too much. Descended this to Coffee Run, where we went right. At the end we went right on a Milky Way Access double track to a fun descent on Lower Milky Way to our low point of the day.

We started our climb back up towards town and the ski area. Went right on Green Door to Rogers to Upper Cemetary to Happy Valley. At the end of Happy Valley trail, we continued climbing the paved roads up to town. Once we hit town, we opted to skip tacos, and just continue the grind up to the ski area to our condo. At the reservoir, we didn't have the legs to climb Blue Elephant, so we took the rail trail, Centennial Trail.

15 miles and 3500 feet of elevation gain.

September 25, Rossland - IMBA Epic Seven Summits Trail

Francine drops down the ridgeline on the Seven Summits Trail

This trip was the highpoint of our trip to Rossland BC. We have ridden our mountain bikes in Rossland on two previous trips, but never had the energy to tackle this burly route. The ride is 22 miles when combined with the exit on Dewdney trail. Total elevation gained on the point to point ride is 4,500 feet. Much of that climbing is above 6,000 feet with a highpoint of 7,200 feet. Thanks to a shuttle from Kootenay Mountain Shuttles we ended up with 6,300 feet of descending on a full mix of mountain singletrack.

We arrived at 7:45am at the Rossland Museum, to join about 7 other bikers signed up for the shuttle. We had a group from Bend and a single guy from Fernie. The single guy was out front, and we didn't see him all day. The other group from Bend, who had been riding for 4 days, ended up behind us, and except for hearing them at the bottom of one of our many climbs, we were basically alone all day.

Did we say POWDER Skiing? It rained tons on Saturday and Sunday, so conditions were supreme. Trail conditions can get quite dusty in interior B.C. We had watched the weather waiting for the right weather to book our trip and we totally nailed perfect conditions. All the switchbacks were solid, dirt was perfectly damp and tacky, and for the first 20 miles or so, we had no dust. Just damp, tacky, perfect dirt.

There are many, many climbs on this 22 miles ride. We were hoping to finish in 7 hours, and finished in 6 hours twenty minutes. For a ridge trail ride, we were in the trees mostly. Our first climb was 2,000 feet, which was quite the warm up.

After 18 miles on Seven Summit Trail, we still had the Dewdney Trail, with 4 miles of descending, 2,281 feet. It kept going down and down. Some parts were somewhat hammered, but overall, they added many sweet sections, that were super fun, and conditions were great.

The day started off cold, even with many frosty sections

Summer heat would be uncomfortable out in the open, but temps were cool for us

Old Glory mountain in the background

Perfect, tacky dirt almost everywhere

September 24, Rossland BC - Larch, Monticola & BS trails

Rest break on Larch Trail

After getting the scoop from the super friendly guy at Revolution Bike shop on where to park, we headed north on Hwy 3B about ten minutes out of town. We drove down Neptune Creek logging road, and parked at Gibbards Trail(road). This saved finishing all the loop by climbing out on the road.

Climbed back out the logging road to the Highway 3B, and made our way up to the Larch Ridge trailhead. Here we descended Larch Ridge trail, passing the top of BS Trail, which we plan to hit on the 2nd loop, and climbed to its end at Monticola. Had a sweet descent on Monticola, to our lowpoint of the day. Crossed the road and climbed C.O. G. to Gibbards, and climbed Gibbards till it spit us out at our car. Here we continued on up, retracing our steps somewhat, but this time, we turned up earlier on an old doubletrack, and took the steeper dirt road up to Larch Ridge trail. We repeated this short section of Larch Ridge to the top of BS Trail. Dropped down BS and called it a day.

Short day. 7 miles and 2000 feet climbing. Keeping legs fresh for tomorrow.

Kevin at the end of Larch Ridge Trail, and start of Monticola descent

Kevin with Red Mt. in the distance

Grinding up Neptune Creek Forest Service Road

September 23, Rossland BC

This morning we got up bright and early and made the drive to Rossland B.C. Normally it takes us forever to get out of the house, but we packed most of the car the night before, and were out of the house by 7am. We made good time, five and half hours, and literally had no one on the road, we only passed one car on the back roads to Rossland.

We were so early, our condo unit at Red Mt. was still not ready. We drove around town and watched the skies open up, as a rain squall passed through the area. Glad we weren't out on our bikes!

We did get checked into our unit and made it out for a quick lap. Checked out Paydirt Trail. Super fun, and with the damp soil was riding great.

Sept 15, Canyon #2, Wenatchee, Wa.

As members of Evergreen Mountain Bike Association, we have been getting updates on new trails getting built all over Washington state. We had heard that approximately 8 new miles of trail were almost complete in Canyon #2 above the town of Wenatchee. We have ridden this area a couple of times, with the highlight being the Stairway to Heaven trail. It's a really well built climbing trail to get you up high. With the addition of the new trail, this area is definitely worth a drive. As we rode through the new singletrack, several people were out working hard on the new trail. Felt a little guilty just riding through.

Sept. 9, 2018 Esmerelda Loop, Teanaway Valley

Good views, Good trail, Great Ride