SILVERSTAR 2014 THREAD

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

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. http://www.skisilverstar.comskisilve...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

Cams update PART 3

The key to Silver Star success is the Trail Crew! We are blessed with a core group of guys that love riding bikes, enjoy building trail and most importantly return to Silver Star year after year!

This is the first year in a long time we have lost more than one member on our crew. It was a sad day when Chris Brown and Derek Brosseau told me they would not be returning. I know it was a hard decision for both of them and I wish them all the best in their future endeavors!

With the major expansions planed for Silver Star (see first two posts of the year) there is no way the existing crew could pull it off. As much as I love building trail we needed to bring in some more builders.

I have to say I was impressed with the over whelming amount of resumes I received to join our team! If I could have, I would have a trail crew of 25 strong. Every one of the people that we interviewed would have made a great addition to the team. As it turns out we could only take on 8 new members this year. Now that is a lot! Considering we have been building and maintaining this park with a core group of 5 all these years.

I think and hope these 7 new guys and 1 kick ass girl know what they are in for? The trail crew on Silver Star work HARD. Harder than I sometimes wonder is humanly possible. It is so obvious these guys like their work and I am proud to be among such a good group of trail builders!

Mike Hainault has been with the trail crew since the original expansion in 2005 and on or around the mountain for years previous to that. He took one summer off to finish his business degree but still loves moving dirt too much to get a “real job”. His vital input into every trail on this mountain has been key and keeps me honest. “Thanks Mike!”

Jason Martin joined Silver Star trail crew about 8 years ago. His is an avid biker and heli ski guide (along with Mike) in the winter. Jason has become one of the best Excavator operators anywhere. He has a keen eye for the line and can build a trail from start to finish with the best of them. And once he has that trail built good luck keeping up to him!

Steve Darby took a break from Trail Crew for a couple years. He was a valuable member on the crew for three years before he followed his career into a first responder with BC Ambulance and Silver Star Ski Patrol. When Steve caught wind of the Major Expansion he had to get involved. I think he truly missed building trail and I am pumped to have him back.

Along with me these will be the Trail Bosses and Team leaders heading up the next evolution of the Silver Star Bike Park. With them will be a crew of fresh builders ranging from Graduates from the Capilano University Mountain Bike Operations program to experienced builders from New Zealand. I am very excited where the Silver Star Bike Park is headed and what the trails are going to look like.

See you all on the trails!

The snow is finally starting to melt and the full team is starts today!!! We have had the Crew Leaders out on the trails flagging new lines, digging out snow on the upper trails, putting the bridges back in place and getting ready for another incredible season in the Silver Star Bike Park. Do you remember this video below? This was from a couple years back (2011) and I have a feeling this could be very much like our first bonus weekend, tacky fun dirt with snow tunnels at the top. It is an experience you don’t get to do very often.

With the full crew starting this week we are excited to get cutting some new trail. With the late melt we are couple weeks behind our scheduled plans but I think with how keen some of these new guys are we could make up some serious time! Keep in mind we have been building and maintaining this amazing park with only five guys all these years. Just imagine what the Park is going to look like with 12 guys digging this year! Every year since we extended the bike park to utilize the Comet 6 pack chair, 9 years ago, we have been pushing in new trail without exception. This will continue! In fact I’m pretty sure with this many on Trial Crew you will see a lot of changes this year. Yes, the new XC product is going to pull from these 12 guys but it also means the main DH Park crew will only focus on the fine tuning, expanding and buffing the DH trails. What could be better than that?

Thanks to the reception of our owners we can now build an amazing XC network and still maintain our main focus and core value – our DH trail. For those of you that love the Park as much as we do this is a very good thing!

I will keep you posted on our progress and try to get a few photos of the new builds coming at you this spring. In the meantime get your legs ready, Bonus weekend is only 19 days away (June 21/22)!

LaterCam

I am so stoked for this!!! I don't have a single minute on my DH bike this year…

Looking forward to the XC network. Would be rad to hit a resort with the trail bikes and get out for some mega loops high up in the mountains.

The Bike Park Arsenault!

The Bike Park Arsenault!

A 200 for bike park? Huh.

And what's that silly little orange thing? Couldn't swing em a 27 or somthing?

Booked and will be there for the bonus weekend! Watch for my groms plugging the trail….

I'm coming up for independence day weekend. Hopefully the snow is gone and the trails are buff.

This Park Update is written 6 days before or first bonus weekend June 21st [HTML_REMOVED] 22nd. And I do so with a sense of realism and an optimistic view that Mother Nature will give us some warm weather these next 6 days (having your fingers crossed while writing is difficult). We will be riding our bikes through some snow tunnels on the upper corner of the mountain, there will be some soft wet spots on the trails but mostly there will be buffed smooth trails to ride throughout the park.

The snow pack has been late leaving the resort this year. It has been a double edged sword for trail crew. It has forced us to delay the opening of trails at the top of the mountain back until this final week, but it also has allowed us to build a bunch of fresh trail and make changes on the lower and Village elevations of the mountain. The trails we do have open, keep a keen eye, as you may come around a corner and have a small section of snow to get through before getting back on you pedals. They will be few and far between though. There is just no point in closing a whole trail for a small patch of snow! But please respect the trails that are closed as they are closed for a reason and should all be open for the regular opening June 26th.

The all NEW green trail, Easy Street, from the Village to the bottom of the lift will be completed Monday or Tuesday. This will take away from the scary shale slope you had to ride to get to the lift in the past. Trail Crews feeling with this new trail is it may be a “Dark” Green. Bottom line, there is a lot of elevation to lose before getting to the lift from the Village. We hope this trail will work for the true beginner but also feel we will be going back in to make a few adjustments once the trail is running up to its full trail speed. In the meantime I think we could see some intermediate riders really enjoying this new addition.

The all NEW Chakra (stage 1) XC trail will be completed and ready to ride for this bonus weekend. I know there is a lot of hype and excitement around these new additions of XC trails to the Silver Star Bike Park and this trail will really tie together what we started building on last year. Watch for Stage 2 to be competed in a couple weeks.

Also on the XC side the NEW [HTML_REMOVED] very Exciting Explorer Loop will be finished this week. This is a ½ km green loop for little Johnny or people just getting into the sport. It is right beside the Village and has a little of everything. Ups, downs, swooping corners, mini berms and not too long to burn out those early season legs.

On the flip side the rest of the Green XC network will remain closed for the bonus weekend as it is under water in a few sections as the snow melt is just coming off of Mountain View and Sidewinder.

Blast Off is up in the Air. We are pushing hard to have one of our most popular trails ready for next weekend. If you remember the last couple updates of last year we did a full re-build of the hole trail. Problem is we dug up a couple underground springs and we are waiting for them to dry up. We are confident we will have it open for Regular opening June 26th, as we have worked this trail for years and understand the terrain very well in there. Again it is just a late melt and the water is still moving. Check with the peops in Tickets before Blasting Off out of the Village. If it remains closed, try out the all new East St

There are a couple fresh changes being made to upper Pipe Dream. If you ride the trail you will know the spot. You come around a drop fade-a-way corner and the carpet has blown apart and the bomb holes use up your full suspension before G-ing out into the next berm. One of the only rough spots left on this trail is being rectified this spring!

Other trails that will not make the Bonus Weekend Cut due to snow / wet soft trails are:
Pro Star
PS Walk the Line (cold side of the mountain)
Very top of Double Dog
Very top of Shazam
Lower Shazam is on the fence check with tickets on the weekend, the very upper section of
Top of Dag’s DH. (Basically the first rock feature is still under snow. It happened to be in a bit of a hole and is melted out all around it. Just access the trail off of Down Town / Paradise and it is good to go. Fully buffed for the BC Cup on July 20th)

Some of the wood features in the Park are getting to the end of their life span. This is okay with Trail Crew! This means we get to pull them out and bring them up to the current times with more flow and less “skinny” factor. Double Dog received the first of many of these upgrades already,

The all NEW Silver Shack that was built last fall has had the last of the bridges built this spring. For all you Enduro types out there you’re going to love it! This fresh, soft, loamy trail is good to go. So long as you don’t mind ramming through a couple snow sections. We tested it this weekend and 95% of it rode amazing! With any luck this week the last couple spots will melt. But hey, it’s mountain biking, a little section of snow just adds to it!

Remember this is a Bonus Weekend! We are getting to ride 90% + of the one of the best Bike Parks in the world! And truth be told with all the fresh trail we have pushed in already this spring you actually have more trail to ride than you have come to expect form Silver Star Bike Park! See in a few days!

Later Cam

http://summer.skisilverstar.com/s/mountain-conditions/bike-park-updates

Looking forward to next week. Snow tunnels are wicked to ride through.

weather looks good. strong work lads

Just got down from opening day and the trails are in wicked shape considering the amount of snow the boys had to move!!!….props to the trail crew!!!