TonyJ profile

Does that PDF Map or the Darkforks membership get me directions straight to your cornholio, or are there more hoops (hahaha) that i will need to jump through, to get me to finish....

Deniz, I agree 100%. 

The second issue becomes, if the trail entrance and exit are just going to get blown out and people are braiding the trail that you built, when do you give up on maintaining the trail at all. 

I don't think I could abandon a trail that I built, but I sure as hell would permenantly close them.

Let me know when you need a hand with moving the massive fallen trees. I have access to a bunch of comealongs to move stuff like that.

I have nailed stuff together in the past, this lasts longer than just blocking with smaller trees, but the end result is always the same with these people.

Justin,

Just use common sense. Don't post your note at the top of the trail, leave it somewhere further down the trail, put it in a zip loc bag so it doesn't get soaked. Most of us conscientious trail users/builders pick up garbage or things left behind on the trails. If you have left a note for the builder, it will be left for the builder to pick up.

It's not really as hard as your making it out to be. I always say, when you find a new trail, enjoy it and keep it to yourself. If you find a new trail that is above your head, leave it alone, it's not yours to alter so you can ride it, when you are ready for it, it will still be there for you.

If you come across a trail with no sign at the entrance and doesn't appear on Trailforks, then assume it is unsanctioned.

Walk in and don't uncover the Entrance or Exit. Let the builder do that if it is a sanctioned trail.

ALL sanctioned trails will have trail signs and or will appear on Trailforks.

These are pretty good simple rules to follow if you are unsure.

Thanks for this. The ENTRANCE AND EXIT rules are the most important to me, the entrance is covered for a reason, so it the exit, if you can't walk 50 yards to get in and out, then don't ride the trail. I am constantly covering entrances and exits of other peoples trails, even if I am just riding past to somewhere else. This is extremely frustrating for me and spoils my mood during a ride, then my friends have to listen to me rant for the next 10 minutes, so I spoil their mood as well.

The other one is, respect the builder if they closed the trail in the winter, this is done so the trail lasts longer than a year or two. It takes a lot of work to close and re-open the trail, respect the work that goes into this.

AH, holly, the bain of my existence. 

Everybody should feel free to pull holly out (by the roots) whenever they find it in the forest. That would be a great help to any and all trail builders.

The real question is, when you ride, does it sound like somebody banging a bear bell inside a tin can?

If not, then it's not a proper Norco Shore......

As a vendor that sold them product over the years, then for the last 10 years did repairs for MEC, I can speak to the mismanagement of processes. Having them ship an $80 wholesale item back and forth across the country ($80 in shipping) for a $20 repair, makes no sense. Giving members warranty on items past the warranty period, that they could not verify was purchased from MEC, is well, just stupid.

As for the vendor dealings, they had no clue what they were doing in so many categories. They purchased from us, an item that does not work without a specific battery (only available from us), we told them that they only ordered enough batteries for 1/4 of the items, they said no, its fine, we know what we're doing. All they had to do was purchase the items as a prepacked set, but no, they were smarter than that somehow.

Most of the people I dealt with over the years, on the purchasing side, that were good at their jobs, left in the last 5 years (saw the writing on the wall). A bunch of the long term floor staff were culled about 3 or 4 years ago (they made too much money), but they were the staff that knew what they were doing.

In my opinion, MEC haven't been a Co-Op in about 15 years, probably longer if you look at their practices closely. They certainly weren't following their Mission Statement, when they started selling Bikes and Alpine Ski Gear, products readily available everywhere.

Cooper is right, if you don't have the patience to wait for a permit to come through, you will never have the follow through to maintain a trail that you have built.

Best choice for people like this, is to get involved with maintaining existing trails, either through your local trail advocacy group, or hook up with some builders. If you find the right group and work with them, then you might have the opportunity to help build a new trail, offer some input into the trail design..... 

There are very few new trails being built each season, so to think that you can just rock up thinking it's your turn, well, that would be delusional.

I have responded as well, in question 6 comment I put the following, not specific to mtn biking. "I do not believe there should be any manufactured "gravel pathways" above the planning area. This terrain should remain as close to natural as it now is."

Idle and Chris2 can you please delete your comments, as the it has the original comment quoted in it.

Thanks for the update Dave, I will get the survey done.

Just don't slip, or drill in the wrong spot, or forget to put on some sort of stop mechanism. ETC ETC ETC............

For $50 to have a shop guarantee the work, how f'n cheap can you be.  You can but a mounting drill bit about $30, then you need the right glue, then you have the chance of getting it crooked (thus the binding jig). None of this matters if you are just doing touring crap or tele stuff, the equipment (boot and binding) are so likeley to be inacurate, that you can go ahead and drill wherever and be fine. If you are mounting alpine, where you are trying to ski at speed on groomed surfaces, one crooked toe piece will make you ski suck.

I have free mounted or paper jig mounted hundreds of skis over the years. All I will say, if you are confident and have some experience (like some of the people above), you will have some success. If you are unsure and don't know all the tricks, you are more likely to screw you new equipment up and it will end up costing you more than the $50 in the end.

Oh yeah, the reason the retail shops are charging so much more to install your bindings  (upards of $50), is because you either bought all your stuff on-line, or you got your Salomon/Atomic deal through your Arcteryx job. The cheap binding intallation was based on the retailer selling you the equipment to start with, they don't need your $30 for a binding install if it is not based on them making at least a little profit off of the piece of equipment they sold you (ski, boot, binding).

And for the how hard is it, well it's not hard for somebody with some knowledge and experience, but if you have knowledge and experience, are you willing to work for $15 an hour doing seasonal work (4-5 months a year). 

Every shop in Vancouver is looking for qualified and experienced ski/binding techs in October, none of them can find anybody, so it is managers/owners/lead sales people that end up doing the work. These are the people who can make the business more money doing their job on the sales floor, in the office, etc...

Sorry for the rant, but people wanted to know why the prices have gone up for this work and I have some personal knowledge of the reason and I just couldn't stop.

I understand the removal of the teater, anything that moves requires 10 times the maintenance.

Looking at the picture of the skinny, I think it is probably more difficult than the teater, not a complaint, just an observation.

That said, awesome to see some sweet woodwork.

If you are riding in snow, go to flat pedals, my winter riding boots clump up with ice on the sole, making it very difficult to clip in and hard to clean when you are freezing your ass off.

Syncros,

Been on a big Cranberries musical kick for the last few months. Which ended up with me wondering, does the trail name had a reference to the song Salvation, by the Cranberries.

When I have the opportunity to name a trail, my refernces usually come back the music, the other thing that I have a passion for. I know other people reference family and/or loved ones.

Just a question that popped into my head while listening to Delores and the Cranberries.

That double teeter was on Oil Can, there was a ton of wood work on that trail, just like Upper. 

It was scary looking, but not hard to ride after the first try.

Good to see you're back out there.

Such a good trail you built and with just a little love it will be back to it's original full glory.

But it does look like you have something even bigger in mind.

The way that bike looks, it should never go near dirt or dust, way too sexy.