Top of the World
Elevation: 2,080m
Posted August 2, 2018.
With July already in the rear view mirror and a little more dust than mud coating our frames and tires these days, it’s safe to say that we’re right in the midst of summer here in Sun Peaks. And what a glorious one it’s been so far! Amazing trail conditions and plenty of exciting new additions to the Bike Park have had this place buzzing over the past couple of months.
Let’s get straight to the good stuff. We know everyone has been anxiously waiting for news about the new Steam Shovel build since it was announced at the start of the season, so we’re super stoked to bring you a first look at the work our Bike Park Coordinator James Jeffries, machine operators Keenan Kovacs and Ron Penney, and the rest of our hardworking Trail Crew have been doing. Riders ripping past on Route 66 have been catching glimpses of perfectly sculpted features adorning the new top section of Steam Shovel for a few weeks now, so we recently dispatched local send master Dylan Sherrard and photographer Reuben Krabbe to sample the goods.
“But when can we hit it?” we hear you ask. Well, how’s your weekend looking? The first section of the new Steam Shovel will be open to ride this Saturday, August 4! We’re excited for everyone to get their tires on the new stuff, but please keep in mind that it’s still fresh. You’ll need to take it easy on the first few laps to get a feel for the trail and your speed dialed in. We could share pretty pictures of the new features all day, but you should probably just get up here and send it.
Steam Shovel is not the only addition in the past couple of weeks, as we also unveiled our new top-to-bottom green trail. This machine made epic flows down the mountain for 9kms of stunning views and has been receiving rave reviews from everyone who rides it. While primarily designed to diversify our terrain offering for new riders at Sun Peaks, the trail is super fun and provides an awesome ride for all ability levels. It’s definitely worth a few laps even if you are usually found on the steeps.
This new green trail also joins up nicely to the end of our lift-access alpine XC trail Altitude, providing a great new way back to the village for those on trail/XC rigs. It has turned that loop into a pretty special couple of hours on the bike! We’re still dialing in a few things with the trail for a full launch in summer 2019, but you can have a sneak peek and poach laps on it for the rest of this summer. Get here!
Waiting at the bottom of the new green trail is yet another recent addition to the Sun Peaks Bike Park: our brand new Bike Skills Park. The skills park contains a selection of mini berm lines and features, located close to the village where groms (and groms at heart!) can fine tune their riding skills. Access to the skills park is via our magic carpet lifts to save the legs of the little ones and is included with a regular bike ticket/pass. Or, you can purchase a stand-alone skills park ticket just for this zone.
With these new additions, the Sun Peaks Bike Park offers an awesome riding experience across the whole spectrum of shredders, from kids (or adults!) just starting out and hitting their first berms in the Bike Skills Park to pros sending it huge on Steam Shovel and charging our signature gnar. We're now one of the best progression parks in the business.
Despite all these big projects the Trail Crew have still found the time to give our existing trails some love. The season kicked off with the lower section of Sugar, Behind Bars, and Zazel Track on the closed list for various reasons, but with bridges being rebuilt and downed trees now cleared, all three are now open. Our lift-access cross country trails, Altitude and Big Rock Ride, were clear of snow and open by mid-July, so alpine riding is in full swing too.
With the chairlift running until 7:00pm daily through to September 3, followed by Bonus Weekends on September 7 to 9 and 14 to 16, there’s still tons of riding left this season in Sun Peaks.
See you on the trails!
- The Sun Peaks Bike Park Team
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