Bloated Skiing: 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.