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10/11/2008
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Seven Summits
Rossland August 7, 2006
words and photos (unless noted) Lee Lau
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Mountain bikers who still remember cantilever brakes and the oh-so-sexy red Judy
DH as a revolution in suspension technology will remember the trails of Rossland
from the first Kranked movie. Images of riders surfing steep, sandy gnar with
rooster tails of dust and smoke carving down big steep faces seemed so cool. Something
happened after Kranked 1 and 2. "Free-riding" became more about stunts
and forested woods than bikes imitating big-mountain skiers - and Rossland seemed
to drop off the map. Undoubtedly this probably relieved many south Kootenay riders.
Here's Dave, who just moved
from North Vancouver to Rossland, and Sharon heading up the doubletrack.
Still, Rossland and Red Mountain were known to many Lower Mainlanders, particularly
racers who made the trek to this periodic stop in the B.C. Cup circuit, and to
devoted lovers of singletrack who liked loam and the diversity of uncrowded technical
trails. Despite the slow tired death of the B.C. Cup I have returned to Rossland
many times to ride.
The well-signed trailhead
marks the north end of Seven Summits.
Trails in Rossland are, for the most part, maintained and built by the Kootenay
Columbia Trail Society. This was not always the case. Some of the veteran
Rossland builders now no longer build or maintain as the KCTS has become the dominant
trail force in Rossland. Incredibly this small town and its outdoor enthusiasts
have done what other towns and cities many times their size have been unable to
do; they have managed to organize a full time paid trail crew, a marketing budget
and gorgeous well-maintained trails. Let me be clear that these are trails used
by hikers, bikers, and all manner of users. If you want some insight into how
this miracle of progressive thinking can happen (are you listening District
of North Vancouver and West Vancouver??) do not hesitate to call or email
Stewart Spooner of the KCTS at 250 362-5905 or stewspooner@telus.net.
A view from the trail adjacent
to the first summit - Lepsoe.
The Summits trailhead starts at about 1600m. Coming from Rossland the north
trailhead is just before the Nancy Greene summit sign - you've gone too far
if you see that sign. You can park at many places and then proceed to ride doubletrack
about 3km to the start of the singletrack. As the day promised to get hot we
started early.
Click here
for the panoramic of the picture below.
Continuing south along
the ridge past Lepsoe towards Elgood Ridge and Elgood Peak. Photo ~ Dave Diplock.
Click to enlarge.
To add to the superlatives, the Rossland trail network is incredibly accessible.
Most trails can be ridden from your doorstep. This large, complex network is
also diverse - there are freeride trails, shuttle trails, technical xc trails,
rail-grade beginner trails, the list goes on... The network's diversity is rivalled
only by Squamish's trail network in this regard. To top it off in 2005 the KCTS
put in a trail that instantly became a classic. The Seven
Summits trail received designation as an IMBA
epic trail - a designation given to a "must-ride" trail, in that
year. Seven Summits is purpose-built singletrack that builds on and links together
a series of other singletrack and access trails to create 31 kms of bike-width
goodness.
The lookout (below) close to Elgood Mtn made a good spot for a break as we contemplated
Mt Plewman and Old Glory to the south. Click here
for the full panoramic.
The trail continues to the saddle with Old Glory in the background. Photo
~ Dave Diplock
Seven Summits itself traverses the Rossland Range from north to south, this
range itself being an arm of the "mellow" Monashee range. The trail
is so named because it passes in close proximity to (surprise!) seven peaks;
Mt. Lepsoe, Mt. Plewman, Old Glory Mtn., Mt. Kirkup, Grey Mtn., Granite Mtn.
and Record Mtn. The more conventional way to do this ride would be to leave
a car at the southern end of the trail and drive to the northern end. This would
give you a 35km ride covering 1100m of ascending and over 2000m of descending
and most importantly - an unheard of 15 kms of riding on alpine ridgelines.
More views below, this time of Elgood Ridge, as I head to Mt
Plewman. Click
here for the full panoramic.
We skied the slopes in
the background in picture right in winter of 2005. Photo
~ David Diplock
The hard man or woman would ride this trail as a loop from Rossland
and bag all seven summits on the way. I guesstimate that you would be able to
make this a 55km ride, with probably 5km of hiking and 2600m of ascending and
descending. I would highly recommend packing a headlamp and perhaps an IV for
such a trip. Oh and do let me know when you try as I'd like to give that a go
too. Our variation was not quite as gnarcore but a variation on the hard (wo)man
theme as we drove from town to the northern trailhead then rode back to Rossland
from the southern trailhead.
Below - this classic alpine singletrack picture typifies the Seven Summits looking
south to Plewman - Old Glory col. Click here
for the full panoramic.
Classic alpine singletrack.
Photo ~ David Diplock
The Seven Summits is not an easy ride. There's not a lot of downhill in the first
bit. All the climbs are do-able although we were pretty shameless about going
to granny gear as soon as it got steep.
What downhills exist in
the first part of Seven Summits, are sweet
It's a cliché with alpine singletrack rides, but the challenge is in
keeping your eyes on the trail while loving the view.
Dave mach-speed on the
trail.
This view below looks SW. The scramble/hike-a-bike route to Old Glory is via the
south flank. None of my riding partners were too interested in this option as
the temperatures were already hitting 30 degrees.
The view to Old Glory on
the baby - butt smooth ripping singletrack of Seven Summits.
The shot below looks SW to Old Glory from the switchbacks at Plewman - Old
Glory col. Click here
for the full panoramic.
The southern Monashees
are the rounded peaks to the west on picture right.
Climbing from the col to
Plewman Ridge. Photo ~ Sharon Bader
In winter, Plewman is a favourite locals ski touring spot - a short 10 minute
drive from town. The haze from forest fires burning in Northern Idaho make the
peaks to the east look ethereal. Click here
for the full panoramic.
On the first part of Unnecessary
Ridge climbing off Plewman Ridge looking north to the slopes of Mt Plewman.
Photo ~ David Diplock
Below - descending off the first part of Unnecessary Ridge, Dave ignores the exposure
and sends it.
Dave ignoring the exposure.
At this point on the trail you are at the top of Unnecessary Ridge. You can take
the trail heading east back to Highway 3 and then continue with another Rossland
favourite freeride trail - Oasis. Oasis deposits you north of the town of Trail
on the highway to Nelson so you had better arrange a shuttle beforehand. Not too
far from the Plewman junction is another trail heading west to Old Glory.
Sharon descends to the
Plewman junction.
Now we start a nice long 3km descent down Unnecessary Ridge to the intersection
of Seven Summits and the Old Glory trail (heading east - west).
Descending Unnecessary
Ridge Photo ~ David Diplock
The climbing isn't over yet. We start another climb to another ridge line, this
time in mid-day heat. Old Glory is in the background. Shortly thereafter we see
the first other riders of the day. It's a public holiday - one of the busiest
days of the summer - and it's taken us about 4 hours to see any other riders.
These are not the crowded
take-a-number trails of North Vancouver or Whistler.
Another descent brings us to Granite Mtn. close to the ski - hill at Red Mountain.
Here is some prime Rossland ski hill real estate (the Yodel Hut below) built some
time ago. I'm sure there's a story behind this.
Yodel Hut - Rossland
More climbing brings us to the top of Record Ridge. Sometime during this climb,
the character of the trail changes. I have been praising the virtues of the diversity
of the Rossland trails; in this vein Seven Summits changes its character as you
traverse from north to south.
Alpine flower descent off
Record Ridge. Photo ~ Sharon Bader
At the north point, there were hints of coastal rainforest particularly on west-facing
slopes. Plewman, Old Glory and particularly Unnecessary Ridge were classic transitional
sub-alpine forest. The sub-alpine and alpine trails were mostly loamy with some
rocks and duff with more rocks making their appearance as we went further south.
At this point on Record Ridge, on the south facing slopes, there are still wildflowers
(why - when south facing slopes are warmer and presumably the flowers would have
been fried?), the trails become sandier and much rockier and wild-grass, a hint
of sage and brush replaces lupins, paintbrush and pine. It's as if we rode from
Vancouver, to Pemberton, then to the Okanagans all within the space of 35 km!
More descending off Record
Ridge on a series of multiple switchbacks. Photo ~ Sharon Bader
Opening up into more meadows.
Descending to wide-open
singletrack
The view looks into north
Idaho and the rather confusingly named "Northern Selkirks" range to
the south of Rossland
As you break out of the remainder of the pine and fir forest the trail really
opens up into grasslands, reminiscent of Chilcotin downhills.
Dave blasting through the
dry and dust.
More then 600m of the descent over 10km is via the ridgeline from Record Ridge
with the views below. The remaining 400m of descent over 5km is via the Dewdney
trail; fast, dusty and loose but in trees. The view of the mountains hazy in the
shimmer of afternoon heat reminds you that you're still pretty high and have lots
of descending to do.
The grasslands on the south
part of Seven Summits. Photo ~ David Diplock
We ended up riding back to town on Highway 3A where temperatures on the road
were over 40 degrees. A highly necessary stop at the gas station at Seven
Summits Cafe to take in some well needed cold drinks and food gave us some
life. To cap off the day, on the way back to retrieve the car we drove a little
further and had a dip in Nancy Greene Lake - only a few minutes drive past the
north trailhead. A well-deserved end to a classic day of riding in the alpine.
The profile below describes the entire "softcore"
route we did including the climb from the southern trailhead back to town.
We took our time and took lots of pictures but even a fast group would set
aside 4 to 5 hours for the ride. Click here
for more detail.
Route profile - generated
by a Polar Heart Rate Monitor
Note that riding the entire route is a one-day commitment and that there is
very little water on the route - bring lots of water on a hot day. There are
bailout points on various parts of the route notably at the Plewman - Oasis
trails; the Old Glory trails and the Grey Mtn - ski hill exit trails. Consult
your trailmap for these exits. Once you start your descent off Record Ridge
to the south trailhead you are committed and should be self-supported. You won't
find much company on this ride and a unfixable flat tire means a long walk.
If you have time, energy and water consider riding Doukhobor Draw
and Drakes back to town; at least they are in shade. They are often ridden downhill
so watch for traffic coming the other way.
Let me be clear that the Seven Summits is not the end-all be-all
of Rossland Trails. There are many other trails laid out in the KCTS trail
map - there is freeride gnar, loamy singletrack, twisty- turny roller coaster
like traills, trails with stunts, rail-trails all beautifully maintained and
linked in a network that is signed and accessible by multiple user groups.
Useful links for further information on Rossland and places
where where we have actually stayed and eaten are as follows:
A poker ride is planned
annually for the Seven Summits. A non-competitive fun ride, this year's event
takes place on August
the 26th, 2006.
Lee Lau
To comment on this article or to see what others had to say click
here.
Some info from Lee's watch.
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