Bike Park Updates

With just a little over two weeks until the Bike Park opens for the summer and another week on top of that until the second race on the Canada Cup circuit kicks off at Sun Peaks, we caught up with the race organizers as well as a number of integral Sun Peaks staff members for a full walk of the DH race course. Thanks to warm temperatures in early spring followed by heavy rains and persistent wind over the past few weeks, the entire course from top to bottom is free of snow and in phenomenal shape. So good, in fact, we were all itching to hit the trails ourselves in a couple weeks!

Racers will drop into the top of DH under the Elevation chairlift and bomb down nearly 2,000 vertical feet, hitting Holy Rollers and Arm Pump on their way to the finish line. Expect a little bit of everything on this course from brake-burning steeps on upper DH to flowing berms and rollers on Holy Rollers, tight and technical singletrack on Arm Pump and a high speed finish bringing you back to the slopeside patios.

After years of lapping these trails a couple things became abundantly clear; the race course has seen some serious love this spring with exceptional results, and walking DH trails is much tougher than rolling them. Reaching the finish we asked our Risk Management and Safety Programs Director if he had any words to pass on to racers en route to Sun Peaks this July.

“Practice, you’re going to have fun on this course!” 

Have a peek at the photo gallery below for a taste of what the course has in store, displayed in order as we descended the course. Whether you're planning on racing, snapping photos or just hanging out and basking in the energy that a Canada Cup Race promises to deliver, rest assured July 6-7 weekend will be one for the books!

See you on the trails,

Sun Peaks Bike Park Team 

With just 3 weeks to go before opening day in the Sun Peaks Bike Park, we headed up the mountain to check on our trail crew and see how the trails are shaping up. We were anxious to ask Kevin, the trail crew boss, about our investment in the Bike Park and what to expect this summer.

"Things are looking really good,” he explained. “We're two weeks ahead of schedule on the lower half of the mountain. It’s looking promising for a good opening weekend and hopefully the warm weather continues to cooperate with us." 

With the countdown on, Kevin said he’s looking forward to the upcoming projects. 

“It'll be good to see the machines at work soon,” he said. “There's a lot I want to get done."

Preliminary work has been focused on the lower mountain including trails like Root Dog, Biker Cross, and Steam Shovel, however today we caught up with the boys on Insanity One. The entire line below 4 Road is getting a rework and the trail looks amazing! The infamous 'Twisted Sister' feature will still remain open but the newer 'racer style' route around was getting some love today, and will see some machine work in the coming weeks.

Insanity One is one of that trails that will see significant machine time this spring and into the riding season. We'll also have machines on Smooth Smoothie and Home Run doing substantial work, as well as various other locations within the park as needed.

With the Canada Cup coming to Sun Peaks on July 6 and 7 major work has been done to DH, Holy Rollers, and Arm Pump to make the race course more challenging and of course, more fun. The upper section of DH is still covered in snow but we ventured in below 4 Road and were pleasantly surprised by what we found. Kevin and the team have been hard at work on steeper berms, drops and other features. The trail is going to look great for opening day!

Next on the race course was Holy Rollers. The crew heard last summer's BC Cup racers loud and clear, and have made this section more technical with some tighter turns and drops. We headed below the creek crossing for a closer look and had a blast scrubbing the new lines on our Enduro bikes.

After heading down Holy Rollers, the trail crew had directed us towards Arm Pump. Once again, we were met with great trail conditions. Race day is going to be more exciting than ever and we can't wait to zip on the number plates and hear those beeps. For more information on the Canada Cup, click here.

Two weeks from now we'll be bringing you another trail update featuring the rest of the park, including the progress on re-opening Sugar and Sweet One as the bug kill carnage continues to be cleaned up. Summer 2013 is going to see the most significant investment in the Bike Park in over 5 years, it's no doubt going to be a stellar season up here!

See you on the trails,

Sun Peaks Bike Park Team 

The snow has been quickly melting from Mt. Tod and we're excited to announce some huge plans for improvement in the Bike Park this summer!

Some serious love will be given to Smooth Smoothie, Home Run, Insanity One and Big Rock Ride. In addition to the regular maintenance and small improvements that our guests are used to seeing each year, some major work is slated to improve trail flow and, in turn, trail integrity and sustainability (i.e. less brake bumps thanks to less braking needed). The result will be trails that are easier on your bike, body, and all around more fun to ride!

Sugar and Sweet One will also be returning this summer with significant improvements after being decommissioned last year. After many years of accumulated bug kill and dead fall we were forced to close these signature trails for safety reasons. Trust us we missed them as much as you did, and they'll be back with a vengeance this summer!

With the return of the Canada Cup to the Sun Peaks Bike Park this July, more work will be happening on DH and Arm Pump to ensure that racers are met with the best course possible July 6-7. Operating a Park at 1850 metres comes with its challenges and as always we're at the mercy of Mother Nature, all trail work is subject to weather and snow melt. We'll keep you updated as trail work progresses through the spring and summer months, in the meantime enjoy those shuttle laps and we hope to see you on opening day, Friday June 28. LET'S RIDE!

Until then, here's a little something to get you excited for this summer!

Sun Peaks Bike Park 2013 TEASER from Sun Peaks Resort TV on Vimeo.