Official SilverStar Thread

So stoked cant wait!!!!

PART 1

The Mountain Bike season is just around the corner!

Our past GM Michael Sherwood was the driving force to our Bike Park and is a very large part of why we are where we are today. It was his insight into the potential of what our resort could be that led us to this point. And his legacy will live on moving forward.

In the early years of the expansion of the Silver Star Bike Park we looked to the big guys down on the coast to see what was working. Silver Star has been running lift access mountain biking since the early 90’s. But it was not until Whistler brought on the inaugural A-Line trail and showed the world how fun-riding bikes at a resort could be and the true potential. Since then Silver Star has always strived to push the limits to lift access mountain biking and to bring something new to the resort every year.

After our success with the first couple machine built trails we did not sit back and ride that wave, we built another one and another. Re-building the old ones and refining them to making us one of the most beloved mountain bike destinations in the world.

This continues today. We started the newest trail Jedi Mind Trick last summer to rave reviews! By the end of August I believe this trail was seeing close to 70% of all rider traffic on the lower half of the mountain. So with that kind of success it was a no brainer to push the trail all the way to the top. The line has been flagged and the upper portion of the trail is slatted to open late this summer, with the middle section in earl 2015.

This is the kind of stuff that sets Silver Star apart from many of the other places people ride. We are continually pushing our product and what we have to offer. And Jedi is only the tip of the iceberg. The mountain has approved a ¼ million-dollar budget this year to move Silver Star into the next phase of mountain biking at the resort. We are not content to just sit back and only build on the DH side of the Bike Park any more. We see the potential of all the other genres of riding. With the explosion of light weight carbon, 650b, “enduro”, trail riding (whatever you want to call it I call it mountain biking) we are into it! We want to help drive our sport and want to help steer the growth of this amazing life style. Now maybe I am biased or have a vested interest, but here is way. I like to ride my bike a lot and I LOVE building trail. And I want to build trail I want to ride! In the past it seems that the crew and I have very similar styles and people like to ride what we build. So with that being said we feel people are going to love this new phase of development at Silver Star.

What is that direction you ask? More trail! Lots more trail. We already have over 50km of dedicated DH specific trails. This is from Machine built green flow style to uber Gnar tech single track and everything in-between. We are not going to slow down the building in the park; in fact are going to ramp it up. Last year the crew was divided, some in the Park and some of us building these new trails. The next phase of expansion will see more of these XC/all mountain trails while keeping a crew dedicated to the DH trails.

With the start last year we managed to open almost 20km of new trail. This year will see us expand on that with another 15 + km of trail and by 2015 we will have over 100km (DH [HTML_REMOVED] XC) of trail to ride in resort. That was not a typo, yes over 100km of trail! This year you will have a new section of trail to ride every week. So you may want to bring both bikes to Silver Star this year. Start off with little pedal in the morning; get the legs warmed up and then hammer in a bunch of Park laps!

Most of these trails are going to be new school flow built XC trails. Picture a machine built trail with pedaling sections, fast flowing down hills, wide open flats and areas where you are going to test the full range of that new 1 x 11 drive train you got for Christmas.

We will be open a little earlier this year the way the date’s fall with our first bonus weekend on June 21st and 22nd. The lift will then close for a few days and re-open for the rest of the season June 26th,, seven days a weeks with extended play Wednesdays and Fridays. We will keep the XC trails open straight through. Unfortunately we will not be opening the XC network trails any earlier this year due to snow. So get your legs ready for the end of June because it is going to be awesome!

Part 2 coming next week - Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet.

LaterCam

^^^^^
Awwww yeah!

May 7, 2014 - XC Trail update and signage

PART 2

This is the second park update for the season. If you missed the first one please go back and see what we have in store for this summer and the next couple years.

With all this fresh building going on up on the mountain we are also going to be ramping up our signage of these new trails. A lot of the trails we are building are going to double as snowshoe trails on the resort in the winter. So we are going to put in permanent signposts with mini “you are here” or if you’re French “Vous etes ici” on the maps. There may be some off shoots of other trails out there. You may encounter, old game trails, horse trails, Nordic ski tracks. We ask that you stay to the marked Mtb trails. For a couple reasons, one; we don’t want to see you get lost and pulled down to Lumby, missing the better part of your day on a skidder road and two; we don’t want people following your track to Lumby. Not that Lumby is a bad place to visit but you just paid for a trail pass and we want you to use it.

On that note every one please purchase your trail pass. It is only a nominal fee of $5 to ride the XC trail network on Silver Star this year or buy the XC add-on for your season pass for only $20 (XC is included in your DH day ticket). This will help with the cost of all this signage we are putting in, the patrol that are there if you need them, let alone the sheer cost to build all these trails. And if you feel you are going to enjoy the trails all summer up on the mountain, away from the Valley heat, the mountain is only charging $37.50 for an unlimited summer XC pass. I think that is quite reasonable for what we are offering and we hope you all encourage each other on the trails to have a pass so we can continue to build more trail!

We are also going to be changing some of the trail patterns people are used to on the mountain. With all this new building we have put in a dedicated up track (Silver Shack) to take you to the upper section of Paradise . You no longer have to risk life and limb to pedal against traffic coming down Paradise to get to the backside. Please respect this and head out Cross Mountain trail, AKA the paved path. Silver Shack will take you 3.3 km out and around the reservoir with a low-grade steady climb to mid mountain (built last fall). Getting you away from most the DH traffic and then you can continue up Paradise from this point (the best part of Paradise).

There will be a few other trails like this out there this summer that are now one-way traffic. The goal is to cut down on the likely hood of you getting T boned by one of the cross traffic trails. Don’t fret most of these you wont even notice, we are just going to start getting every one that is pedaling through the park out to the new epic trail (Beowulf, more to come on that soon! J) used to the new trail patterns. So again just respect the signage. They will be simple “one way, do not enter” style signage.

All the new trails we are implementing into the XC net work will be Cross Mtn and above. So don’t let yourself get sucked down one of those beautiful down hill tracks. Your XC trail pass wont get you back up the lift. You will be able to ride a couple select trails down with that pass if you get yourself to the top but if your goal is to descend DH trails you should probably be looking at a DH pass.

Those of us that have two bikes and plan on taking in all that Silver Star has to offer; we will be offering a Valet Service for your bike this summer. We all feel a little uneasy leaving our new whip in the parking lot as we hit a few park laps. Roll it into the rental shop; they will store your bike for a nominal fee while you mix it up on your second steed. Pop back into the village swap out bikes and hit the XC network at the end or start of the day.

The calendar is stacked this year! From the BC /North West Cup on July 19th and 20th, to the Free Ride Mountain Bike World Tour Stop on July 11th, 12th [HTML_REMOVED] 13th, and our first Enduro race on August 16. Please check the calendar on the web site. www.skisilverstar.comskisilverstar.com/s/my-activities-and-events/special I will continue doing updates through out the season so you can see what we are working on. But it is going to be a great season. I can’t wait for it to get started!

LaterCam