The guys at Coronet Peak are doing some work on a new Grand Slalom course out by the T Bar and as a result the middle section of the Coronet Peak mountain bike XC trail will be closed for 6 to 8 weeks starting from Monday (Jan 23). The closed portion will be the areas immediately above and below the top of the T Bar which unfortunately means the trail will not really be ride-able. The good news is that they intend on fully re-instating the trail when the work is complete. Coronet Peak will be doing all required work themselves and club has offered to assist if they want any advice from our expert trail masters.
Please respect the closure as Coronet Peak are very aware of the popularity of mountain biking in the area and the club would like to work closely with them in the near future to open some more great trails on the hill. It may be difficult to do this if they are unhappy with the local mountain bike community!
A quick overview of the mountain bike trail conditions here in Queenstown:
Wynyard freestyle park = New Trick booter… repacked landers on Mini Dream and all features in EXCELLENT condition. Big dream is being ridden by some crazy kids kicking round from NZ National DH – so that must be all good. I HEARD: New wooden features are on the cards! Some old dumb ones will be pulled down. Good good.
Skyline Gondola accessed Downhill/All mountain = Just had a cheeky bit of mid summer rain YES! Trails are running fast. Some slight damage to favorite trails due to amazingly dry/sunny month and loose packed ground getting shredded by mad cats. Easier lines are immaculate! Big lines are BURLY. Everyone is HAPPPPY.
Dirt Park = Great condition. All open and ready for advanced riders to get there madness on. With the access road being in really good shape for all vehicles – Get your mum to run shuttle driver… She’ll love it.
Remarkables DH = Same as dirt park… the lines are nice and tidy all open. Buuuuuut the ROAD IS SKETCHY! (Mum don’t bring your Corolla).
7 Mile XC/Freeride = All trails open. Maintenance crews will be going in shortly for weed spraying but it is pretty clean lines. Bit loose from being dry in places. All wood/north shore features are happiness and joy!
Moonlight trail = Get it done. It is super gnarly and techhy (29ers for the single track will be sooo happy!) So be ready for some offs on the top bit. Definitely clip in if you have the option as the clearance between some of the ankle high rocks are leeetle and narrow.
Frankton Track = Clear and easy biking for all bikers (Except roadies because they have skinny tyres.)
Macetown = Going there this weekend. Watch this space.
Jardines Park = From what I heard last night (secret meeting), It’s good as gold for alllllllll riders.
Gorge Road = Dirt jump heaven. There is a couple of locals who religiously keep it to a ridiculously high standard. Red Bull have an event there soon! (Close in timing to Farm Jam)
That is everything I have ridden in the last two weeks… so yep, get amongst it all yeah!
Urrrrm that is all. Queenstown. Get here.
Resident Queenstown mountain bike auteur Jon Bokrantz has just released his latest episode of Jon Television over on Vimeo. The focus this episode is the recently held first round of the NZ downhill mountain bike champs on the Remarks grass track. It’s a top quality production that has really captured the action – check it out!
(newsletter readers may need to click on the title above to view the video on the website)
Jon Television S02E03 – MTBNZ DH #1 from Jon Bokrantz on Vimeo.
Last spring the Queenstown mountain bike club surveyed its members to find out where to target the clubs resources and time. The QMTBC was originally formed to build new trails and gain access to existing trails and this remains the primary focus.
As reported in the original survey results, respondents said that they wanted to see the Queenstown mountain bike club:
So here is the latest on what we are doing:
Creating more cross country singletrack
As reported in an earlier news report we have plans for 75km of new mtb trails that link and extend the current trail network. While a lot is still in the pipeline, the club has started building a new trail into and out of 7 Mile from the town end carpark. This trail will provide a more rideable alternative to the steep, loose track from the carpark to the lake.
Linked to this will be a new trail that will climb through the trees beside 7 Mile creek to provide an off road alternative to riding up to Moke Lake. This trail has already been scoped out in conjunction with DOC (including archaeologists) and we are just awaiting final approval before starting to build it.
The rest of the 75km network that is on DOC land is awaiting final approval of the ongoing managment agreement with the QMTBC.
Advocating more access to existing trails
Club president Tom Hey has been working closely with DOC towards opening up some prime trails in the region that are currently only available to walkers. We can’t go into too much detail at this delicate stage of the process but rest assured that if it comes off it will be a significant addition to mountain bike riding in the Wakatipu area!
Maintaining momentum in building new downhill trails and 7 mile trails
The QMTBC supported a recent push to re-open a couple of downhill trails in the Queenstown Bike Park. These trails had been closed for a couple of years but were local favorites and a few club members put in some volunteer effort into helping Skyline to re-open them.
Out at 7 mile, approval has been obtained from DOC to build a new trail linking Bliss and Loop 7. This is a low-key build of a hand-built rustic nature that will provide a link to enable much needed bigger loops to be ridden. As well as a great challenging XC ride there will be a few optional AM style drops and rock ramps to challenge the more adventurous rider.
Maintaining the existing trail network
Much work has been done maintaining the existing trail infrastructure. We have had a major re-vamp of the Wynyard downhill trail and a significant upgrade of the gorge rd jump park – both projects that were initiated and funded by the QMTBC and our members contributions.
We have also run some post-winter trail maintenance sessions at 7 Mile to tickle up the tracks a bit for summer. Without a regular once over the trails soon get overgrown and rutted out.
A regular weekday evening for trail building sessions
We have been running a Wednesday night trail building session since October out at 7 Mile to build the new track into the area from the town end carpark. This has been very effective and we are now well over halfway to completing the track.
If you want to help simply turn up at 6pm on any Wednesday at the 7 Mile carpark and get stuck in!
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