Wednesday, June 21, 2017

June 21 construction update & MTB instruction

When it's not raining, Trail Source is making great progress on the trails.  "Air Bear" our Blue/Black jump trail is nearly complete. "Joy Ride" with its huge berms, rollers, and roll-able table tops is looking spectacular.  If the weather cooperates, we are still hoping for a mid-July opener.  If we get more thunderstorms and rain....we'll see.  Our lift operations crew has completed the building of the entire upper chairlift platform and have even moved the platform in two giant pieces to the top of Lookout.  Early next week, after the Spartan Race people leave, we plan to start building a small skills area in front of the main chalet.  Finally, today I was able to show our first MTB instructor Griff the trail progress and possible teaching areas.  With the help of people like Griff, we are planning to offer a limited amount of MTB lessons this summer and fall.  Next year, we plan to offer even more lessons.  Our goal is offer a diverse menu of lessons for all ability levels similar to what we offer with ski/snowboard lessons in the winter.  Stay tuned for more updates coming very soon on lessons and MTB park construction efforts.




Monday, June 12, 2017

Chairlift bike carriers arrive | MTB trip up north

Today our brand new Deason Built MTB carriers arrived and they are pictured below.  Click Here to see a youtube video of what these look like while in use.  Our setup will be slightly different but very similar to what you see here.  Also, Tony or Financial Controller and Nate our Mountain Ops. Manager accompanied me this past weekend on a quick 2-day trip where we rode both Spirit Mountain and Detroit Mountain Recreation Area.  If was really fun to ride with these guys and see the other chair-lift served MTB parks in the state.  Both of these operations do a fantastic job and I highly recommend visiting both of them at some point.  We can't wait to become part of the MN downhill bike park family very soon....









Wednesday, June 7, 2017

More Blue Trail Work; Planning the Black trail

Thanks to the great weather lately, work is progressing well on Air Bear the blue/blue+ jump trail. More berms and more jumps have been sculpted in the dirt and they get bigger as you progress down the trail!  The overall landscape in and around this trail is just beautiful inside the canopy of trees and big ferns.  We are blessed to be able to offer our guests another way to use this property  This trail should be nearly complete within a week or so.  Next week, work should continue on Joy Ride the green trail.  This morning we walked the flag line for our first black level trail.  For those of you familiar with Welch Village, this trail will start at the very top of our property and come downhill first through the woods on skier's left of Long Way Home and then at some point travel through the woods on below the #1 quad chair and along the right side of Jon Jon/Sweeny.

More updates coming again soon.  Also be on the lookout for an email from us soon detailing exciting season pass options for both summer and winter!







 

Thursday, June 1, 2017

June 1st MTB Park update

It was a very wet week last week and not much progress was made on trail building efforts.  We received about 8 inches of rain in our area. However, this week has been great so far and the forecast ahead looks even better.  Work is progressing well on the blue jump trail which will be named, "Air Bear".  See our FB page for the name origin.  I rode the top of Air Bear today and it was awesome. It's a trail that you would see out west in the mountains.  Big berms, jumps...and then more berms and jumps.  Once open, I can see this trail becoming the favorite of avid mountain bikers.  Oh yeah, very little peddling and a chairlift waiting for you at the bottom.  The green trail is about 1/2 complete and that trail looks great too so far.  A few of us have been flow testing the first blue and the green as its being built which is really fun.  Stay tuned for more updates in the coming days on more building and....special MTB season pass announcements! Have a great weekend.