[rav400]

A buddy and I are planning a DH trip to Colorado, flying in and out of Denver. I was wondering if any monkeys in the rocky mountain state could give some incite on the lift access bike parks, or even some shuttle runs. Currently on our radar are:

Granby Ranch
Trestle
Keystone
Steamboat
Snowmass
Crested Butte

Possibly in that order. I'd say we definitely want to check out Keystone and Snowmass because of the verticals. The others we could ride or not. What are some takes on these places? Any others spots suitable for DH bikes we should look into?

 

[6thElement]

Did a trip like that last summer from the East coast, hitting Granby, Trestle and Keystone.

Trestle and Keystone were great, Granby needed some more trails and less sand imo.

 

[rav400]

That's what I thought by looking at the Granby map. Crested Butte also does not have very many trails. We may skip those two for extra rest days or to ride the other places more than once.

 

[6thElement]

It's worth a couple of days riding each at Keystone and Winter Park.

 

[SylentK]

You may want to post in the MTBR/FrontRange forum for more info.

Are you bringing your big DH bikes? Or something you can pedal? You should be looking into doing some hi-altitude shuttles if you can. (ie Monarch Crest, on your way to Crested Butte)

My thoughts:

Skip Granby Ranch

Give Vail a try

Steamboat is kinda far away from every other place. Not a whole lotta trails unless you have a trail bike. But beautiful area fo sho and don't forget the Strawberry Park hot springs.

Snomass - Not sure. AFAIK they don't have many trails there either (CALL to confirm what lift(s) are running and trails will be open!) and its kinda far away. Look into doing the Government Trail. Shuttle it from Snowmass to Aspen. Crosses over Buttermilk (where X-games in winter is held). Mostly down. Sweet.

Telluride - Free gondola. The DH track is legit. Fun flowy trails. The most expensive and arguably beautiful town in CO. Kinda far. ToHellURide (where they got Telluride) is apt.

Crested Butte - Def worth it.

Hope that helps

edit: Oh yeah, WP the Warrior Princess. Worth it.

Keysone is def worth it. Spend 2 days there if you've never been. Polar opposite of WP. Key actually has hard trails and jumps/features that you should probably look at first.

 

[rideit]

http://www.telluride.com/telluride-history

 

[Nick]

How long is the trip?

Unfortunately, I have to agree to skip Granby this year.

Keystone and Trestle are good fun. Trestle more flow, Keystone more gnar. BUT, there is ample lodging smack in between the two spots so it's easy.

Vail is close as well, and though not as heavily ridden any more there are still super fun trails there. (hint: especially if you know where to look)

If you're only here a week, those three spots could fill the time nicely. CB is supposed to be good too but it is a few hours further away.

 

[cecil]

I did trestle, keystone, granby, and pikes peak in Colorado Springs

I would also say skip granby and do pikes

 

[mtg]

edit: Oh yeah, WP the Warrior Princess. Worth it.

Hell has frozen over. ^^

I agree with Sylent K and will add:

As he said, if you're bringing a trail bike, some of the places like Steamboat and Crested Butte rank higher. They have a couple good DH trails, and tons of great trail riding. And, Steamboat in particular lacks quantity of DH trails, but their quality is high. You can also float down the river in an inner tube at the end of the day for a couple miles straight to a riverside bar. Win.

Everybody says Keystone brings the gnar, which I won't disagree with, but I've recently brought a few out-of-state friends there with little to no DH experience, and they still had a blast on the blue trails. I would describe it as a "natural terrain bike park" where the easier trails are like descending a long alpine singletrack route, which is pretty cool.

 

[SylentK]

Hell has frozen over. ^^

HA! I said worth it....for them!

 

[rav400]

Thanks for the info everyone. We are taking DH bikes with us (M6 and Legend). I'd like to take trail bikes too, but that would have be a separate trip. We'll be in Colorado for 8 days, flying from the east coast. The current plan (which will probably change depending on how we fell) is to skip granby and ride Trestle and Keystone for two days each. We both have the mtbparks pass which get us one free day at Snowmass, Steamboat and Crusted Butte, so since those lift passes are essentially already paid for, we'll probably check out those three. We both typically ride any type of trail, from jump lines to gnarly rocky chutes. I do enjoy technical, rocky lines (ie, Plattekill) and flowing jump trails (ie, the new stuff at Snowshoe).

 

[SylentK]

Nice. You will definitely see a LOT of CO!

A quick tip on the lifts at the resorts out here. They shut down for lightning. And must remain shut down for at least 30 minutes after the last recorded flash (something like that). It doesn't even have to be raining or even heard. If the radar picks it up it's shut down time. They will actually run lifts while its raining. And that can be some of the best riding IMO. Sandy dirt actually gets tacky! But don't bring any mud tires. Totally not worth it. Actually I have a brand new set of wet screams I'll sell you to take back to the east coast rox.

Oh so it up in the high country (and even in Denver) it is almost like clockwork that it will rain on you everyday. But it's not bad. Here's what to do: Check the weather report and break it down by time of day. This'll give you a rough estimate of how long you have until it might start raining. The normal is 30% chance of showers/t-storms starting around 2-3pm. Mornings are usually CO Bluebird mornings (no clouds, all sun, bright blue sky). And 30% usually means it might/probably rain around 2-3pm. Just not much. If you see over 60% chance, its def gonna rain, just for how long and how much is unknown. Make sense?

Season is almost over, when you guys coming out?

 

[rav400]

Thanks for the heads up on the weather. That's one thing I wasn't too sure on. I'll definitely take my rain jacket with me. We'll be there the last week of August, so pretty much the end of weekday lift riding. If the lift needs to shut down for lightening, will they get everyone off of it first? Also, any idea what temperatures to expect?

 

[Wetbed0]

Temps? Between 80 degrees and snow, in one day. It's really all over. Most likely 60's and 70's during the middle of the day. 30's and 40's at night.

 

[Nick]

^^^ yes, they'll let you off the lift first if there is lightning in the area.

Temps could vary GREATLY but normally are really nice and mild by late August up in the mountains.
It could be 70s and sunny, it could snow overnight. It's the weather so it's anyone's guess.

 

[mtg]

Don't forget to use sunscreen either (if you're as chalky as I am). When it's sunny, and you're on the lift, any exposed skin will get roasted at that altitude.

It sounds like you have a good plan. Next, avoid I70 Eastbound from the mountains to Denver on Sundays. It's more fun to have your leg gnawed off by a mountain lion that sit in that bull****.

 

[JustMtnB44]

I'm the guy going with rav400 on this trip. Help me decide which bike to bring, Banshee Legend or Turner Highline? Leaning towards Legend as it's better all around especially if steep, rocky, or high speeds. The Highline has a very slight advantage at jumps & features. What is the ratio of natural DH to groomed jumpy trails at Keystone and Winter Park?

 

[SylentK]

Without knowing much about either bike, I'd say whichever is in better condition and will take a week's worth of pounding

 

[Nick]

What is the ratio of natural DH to groomed jumpy trails at Keystone and Winter Park?

70% natural / 30% groomed, between those two spots.
WP has a bunch of 'park' trails including a solid jump trail, but their main DH race course trail is legit and not a groomer.
Keystone is almost all natural and fairly steep/fast/rocky with some (bad) jumps and a few quality fun stunts in the mix.

If both are in good shape I'd bring the Banshee.

 

[JustMtnB44]

Thanks after watching a few videos and riding the two bikes back to back last Saturday I'm definitely going with the Legend.

 

[JustMtnB44]

This was a fun trip. We ended up riding two days at Winter Park, one day at Steamboat, two days at Keystone, and one day at Snowmass.

Winter Park was fun and a good way to warm up to high elevation, because it's not too difficult. In some ways, I kinda liked the automatic nature of many of the jumps and features. I barely had to use my brakes on most trails, which was good because the elevation change must have moved some air bubbles around and I need to have the rear one bled at the shop at the bottom.

Steamboat doesn't have many trails, but the ones they do have were really fun. I would absolutely recommend it for a day trip if you haven't been. The blue trail is flowy with lots of jumps, many optional. The Rawhide black trail is more techy and steep than I was expecting up top, and has jumps and features mixed in as well. There is a jump and mini slopestyle trail at the bottom which also fun. The trails are really long and tiring.

Keystone was the most techy and difficult place for sure. Lots of rocks, lots of surprise jumps with little speed coming into them. Not automatic at all like WP. I liked it as a change of pace. Having some old school freeride features (the corkscrew, etc) is always enjoyable. It rained a bit so we didn't get to re-ride as many trails as I would have liked, because we wanted to ride everything once first.

Snowmass doesn't have many trails either. The blue trail from the top has good views, but isn't all that fun. The black trail Valhalla is very fun and jumpy and long. There is a new blue trail on the lower mountain that was just opened and looks promising, but was a bit muddy when we rode it.

We didn't make it to Crested Butte; one day it rained a lot so we didn't ride. We drove from Keystone to Aspen via Independence Pass instead. We did hit Strawberry Park Hot Springs after Steamboat, that was perfect after riding.

Both of our bikes took the week's worth of pounding with basically no issues, so no complaints there.

The only riding pictures we took, at Steamboat:

Me

rav400

 

[Full Trucker]

Looks like a good trip, glad ya'll had fun.

#winning