[SpeshulEd]

Thought I'd start a new thread since my question is slightly different from others...

I was in Telluride last summer and had an absolute blast riding the backcountry trails but was a bit bored with the limited runs at the bike park and spent limited time there in the afternoon just doing a few laps here and there.

I only have 4 days to ride this trip and want to get the most out of my riding time. It looks like there are only 10 trails at the park - how are they? Worth the $36 lift ticket?

Right now my plan is to spend a day doing Wasatch.

And then another day for Prospect > Magic Meadow > Sunshine > Galloping Goose.

Anything else in the area I should check out?

Thanks for any tips and advice!

 

[AZ Stumpy]

T35 is one of my faves there. It is short and the road ride to get out to it isn't great but once you get there it rips for about 10 minutes. Then you ride back on a gravel road to Galloping Goose and stop at the brewery for about 7 beers. After that you ride back to town to deal with your angry wife because your 2 hour ride took 5 hours.

 

[SpeshulEd]

T35 is one of my faves there. It is short and the road ride to get out to it isn't great but once you get there it rips for about 10 minutes. Then you ride back on a gravel road to Galloping Goose and stop at the brewery for about 7 beers. After that you ride back to town to deal with your angry wife because your 2 hour ride took 5 hours.

Yeah, I think T35 is Sunshine Trail. You start up in the trees and then it dumps you onto a dirt road. It's an awesome ride. Last year I came through the Alta Lakes area which I think is called Magic Meadow now. I made a giant 25 mile loop out of it.

I'll probably spend the first day of my trip at the park, just so I can acclimate to the elevation and not have to worry about climbing so much.

 

[AZmuchacho]

anyone know, is prospect trail part of the bike park? i was there over the july 4th holiday and couldn't get an answer?
If its not party of the park, I',m assuming I can still take the Gondola up for free.

 

[SpeshulEd]

anyone know, is prospect trail part of the bike park? i was there over the july 4th holiday and couldn't get an answer?
If its not party of the park, I',m assuming I can still take the Gondola up for free.

You can get off at the San Sophia station (where Prospect starts up) before 10am and after 6pm for free, however, if you want to ride Prospect between those times, you'll need a $26 XC trail pass.

 

[Spinster]

Telluride trails

You can get off at the San Sophia station (where Prospect starts up) before 10am and after 6pm for free, however, if you want to ride Prospect between those times, you'll need a $26 XC trail pass.

Prospect trail is open now, and a Prospect-Magic Meadows-Sunshine/T35- Galloping Goose ride can be had for free if before 10am or for a $25 XC pass during mid day.

Wasatch trail and Wasatch Connector are still under a lot of snow.. probably August before those open. Most of Wasatch Connector downhill should be rideable by now, but the access will involve crossing some frozen couloirs above treeline that could be sketchy without crampons. Connector requires access from gondola, which requires $25 XC pass. or get off gondola before 10am.

The Bike Park has 2 new trails, but the old trails are thoroughly hammered and no flow. They can still be ridden but bring a couple extra tires..$36 for 2 trails is ridiculous. The new trails offer 1 green run and 1 blue run, both built by Gravity Logic. There should be more trails in the future, but it is hard to justify the pass price for what you get right now.

Crested Butte offers a real bike park experience for around the same price, and around 18 more trails...

Another decent ride near town is the Deep Creek trail. There are a few options for where to access, all involve massive climb. Scenery is beautiful. trailbed is pretty rooty but fun. A long travel 29er works great, or a 27.5 w/ a bigger front fork.

All of the Alta Road trails have been destroyed by the USFS.

East Fork trail from Lizard Head pass is rideable now. The stream crossings were pretty big last week- mid thigh. Still some snow in the high country but you can certainly get away from the 'crowds'.

 

[SpeshulEd]

Prospect trail is open now, and a Prospect-Magic Meadows-Sunshine/T35- Galloping Goose ride can be had for free if before 10am or for a $25 XC pass during mid day.

Wasatch trail and Wasatch Connector are still under a lot of snow.. probably August before those open. Most of Wasatch Connector downhill should be rideable by now, but the access will involve crossing some frozen couloirs above treeline that could be sketchy without crampons. Connector requires access from gondola, which requires $25 XC pass. or get off gondola before 10am.

The Bike Park has 2 new trails, but the old trails are thoroughly hammered and no flow. They can still be ridden but bring a couple extra tires..$36 for 2 trails is ridiculous. The new trails offer 1 green run and 1 blue run, both built by Gravity Logic. There should be more trails in the future, but it is hard to justify the pass price for what you get right now.

Crested Butte offers a real bike park experience for around the same price, and around 18 more trails...

Another decent ride near town is the Deep Creek trail. There are a few options for where to access, all involve massive climb. Scenery is beautiful. trailbed is pretty rooty but fun. A long travel 29er works great, or a 27.5 w/ a bigger front fork.

All of the Alta Road trails have been destroyed by the USFS.

East Fork trail from Lizard Head pass is rideable now. The stream crossings were pretty big last week- mid thigh. Still some snow in the high country but you can certainly get away from the 'crowds'.

Thank you so much for the update.

I'm coming in at the end of the month for the Yeti Tribe gathering (finally got my pass/registered). They offered a discounted rate on the bike park pass, so I just went with that as opposed to paying the day of or failing to get up the mountain before 10am.

The group ride on Saturday covers Prospect > Magic Meadows > Sunshine > Galloping Goose. I enjoyed that route last year when I was there by myself so that should be a good day.

I was trying to organize a Friday ride (8/2) on Wasatch with some friends. It'll just be the Weenie Wasatch loop, going up the access road from San Sophia station and then descending down Wasatch Connect > Wasatch Trail > Bear Creek. Hopefully, it's dried out a little more by then. I get in on the 31st so I'll ask around town to see how the conditions are. Silly to climb all the way up there if it won't be safe to ride down. People are already freaked out by the climb/elevation and I don't want to put anyone's life in danger.

The Prospect loop is fairly short but coming from AZ it's a completely different animal. Worst-case scenario, I do laps of that.

 

[slimat99]

I've rode the park a few times since this was posted. Anyone know if there are plans to build DH trails? The new trails are anything but DH. There's nothing wrong with beginner flow trails, it's just looking like that's all Gravity Logic is building. The original DH trails are in the worst shape I've ever seen. Loose rocks in bad places, eroded sections so bad I'm surprised they aren't worried about lawsuits. The bottom of WC has been closed all season? I rode there yesterday and saw workers for the first time this season. They weren't fixing the DH trails, they looked to be building more flow.

I'm all about supporting DH in Colorado, but I have to agree with Spinster, the park isn't worth paying for. I was excited about what Gravity Logic was going to build, but as of now the local's were doing a much better job of maintaining the park. While it was a never a gnarly DH park, it was a proper DH park. Not sure what to call the new Gravity Logic park? It's not DH that's all I can say. I hate to be negative, but Telluride DH is going down hill and not in the good way. I know DH bikes sales are nearly dead, I know flow sells more lift tickets, it's just sad to see DH trails becoming the neglected minority at lift service trail centers.

 

[SpeshulEd]

I've rode the park a few times since this was posted. Anyone know if there are plans to build DH trails? The new trails are anything but DH. There's nothing wrong with beginner flow trails, it's just looking like that's all Gravity Logic is building. The original DH trails are in the worst shape I've ever seen. Loose rocks in bad places, eroded sections so bad I'm surprised they aren't worried about lawsuits. The bottom of WC has been closed all season? I rode there yesterday and saw workers for the first time this season. They weren't fixing the DH trails, they looked to be building more flow.

I'm all about supporting DH in Colorado, but I have to agree with Spinster, the park isn't worth paying for. I was excited about what Gravity Logic was going to build, but as of now the local's were doing a much better job of maintaining the park. While it was a never a gnarly DH park, it was a proper DH park. Not sure what to call the new Gravity Logic park? It's not DH that's all I can say. I hate to be negative, but Telluride DH is going down hill and not in the good way. I know DH bikes sales are nearly dead, I know flow sells more lift tickets, it's just sad to see DH trails becoming the neglected minority at lift service trail centers.

I believe (totally just guessing here) they're focusing on the easier trails first to bring in the families and beginner riders, doing minimal maintenance on the current trails as they will most likely be reworked into new trails in the future - assuming this since No Brainer was reworked and part of Village trail became Tommy Knocker. I also heard that all the snow hanging around this spring/summer meant that they couldn't get as many trails built as they had hoped.

I only spent a couple of hours in the park on my recent trip and hit almost every trail, with a few extra runs down Tommy Knocker. Personally, I feel like it was a step up from riding last year, the downside was the cost this year and last year it was free. But as long as they're using that money towards building more trails, I won't complain.

Personally, I feel the best riding in Telluride is in the backcountry. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to hit Wasatch this year but the dirt was absolutely amazing on Prospect as well as the Magic Meadows > Sunrise > Galloping Goose loop I do.

 

[Roaming50]

And then another day for Prospect > Magic Meadow > Sunshine > Galloping Goode

I did that a few weeks ago and it was a blast. There is a lot of work going on Magic Meadows at the moment. It's a bit of s bipolar trail. Parts are backcountry and raw and other parts are flowy, jumpy and bermy where it's had new work.

BTW, as of this year the Gondola is free before 10am and after 6pm. If you want to ride it between 10am and 6pm then you need to pay $25 for the cross country trails and $36 for the downhills.

I would get on the Gondola at 7am and go ride the XC trails for the longer back country rides or after 6pm for evening spins down Village/Prospect. Also check out Jurassic (short but sweet) and Keve (not a resort trail) but you can find it on Trailforks.

I'm currently posting my vids from my rides here.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLk72Mtj4h5bLORrrCzJIUHfGEWJFlyuqJ

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