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Last weekend we spent a day riding Squaw Valley's new Mountain Bike park.
With 2000' feet of vertical and some seriously rugged terrain there is a ton of potential here. At this time, however it is mostly unrealized.
First, there is only one DH trail at this time. True, it does split into two separate lines for a short while but the majority of the hill (90%) has only a single trail.
While there were some fun sections on the hill most of it felt rushed and unfinished. There were far too many random awkward corners, and very little flow. There were a couple of places that did work well and left you grinning but they passed all to quickly. I would have liked the trails to allow you to carry more speed, it seems they were designed to slow you down rather than encourage momentum.
Squaw has only had a short while to build trails as this is a new endeavor starting this summer. Give the short amount of build time I can understand why so much of the trail feels rushed and half finished.
IMO Squaw is risking alienating their future patrons by opening the park before it is ready and still charging full price for lift tickets. At nearly $40 per lift ticket they need to offer far more than what is currently available. The majority of riders we spoke with felt they paid too much and would not be returning any time soon. Several guys left after one run and headed for Northstar. I would say for $20 it might be worth checking out for a day.
Squaw also will need to work on improving lift access, the tram is not an efficient way to transport riders up the hill. It runs every 20 minutes and can be quite crowded. This could lead to long delays at bottom of the hill depending on how busy the resort is.
There were maybe a dozen riders on the hill while we were there, this helped keep the line moving briskly. I have heard that they are planning on changing this for next year, running a high speed quad with bike racks.
After spending a day riding at Squaw we were disappointed in what they have to offer now, but hopeful that they will invest the time and money to realize their potential.
Squaw could be world class, but they have a very long way to go to get there.
I shot some pov cam footage and edited a clip trying to show what Squaw has to offer. I used a bar mount that gives a good perspective, but unfortunately suffers from too much cam movement for quality video.
With 2000' feet of vertical and some seriously rugged terrain there is a ton of potential here. At this time, however it is mostly unrealized.
First, there is only one DH trail at this time. True, it does split into two separate lines for a short while but the majority of the hill (90%) has only a single trail.
While there were some fun sections on the hill most of it felt rushed and unfinished. There were far too many random awkward corners, and very little flow. There were a couple of places that did work well and left you grinning but they passed all to quickly. I would have liked the trails to allow you to carry more speed, it seems they were designed to slow you down rather than encourage momentum.
Squaw has only had a short while to build trails as this is a new endeavor starting this summer. Give the short amount of build time I can understand why so much of the trail feels rushed and half finished.
IMO Squaw is risking alienating their future patrons by opening the park before it is ready and still charging full price for lift tickets. At nearly $40 per lift ticket they need to offer far more than what is currently available. The majority of riders we spoke with felt they paid too much and would not be returning any time soon. Several guys left after one run and headed for Northstar. I would say for $20 it might be worth checking out for a day.
Squaw also will need to work on improving lift access, the tram is not an efficient way to transport riders up the hill. It runs every 20 minutes and can be quite crowded. This could lead to long delays at bottom of the hill depending on how busy the resort is.
There were maybe a dozen riders on the hill while we were there, this helped keep the line moving briskly. I have heard that they are planning on changing this for next year, running a high speed quad with bike racks.
After spending a day riding at Squaw we were disappointed in what they have to offer now, but hopeful that they will invest the time and money to realize their potential.
Squaw could be world class, but they have a very long way to go to get there.
I shot some pov cam footage and edited a clip trying to show what Squaw has to offer. I used a bar mount that gives a good perspective, but unfortunately suffers from too much cam movement for quality video.
