June 23/09 15:28 pm - Mount Washington Bike Park Opens Saturday

Posted by Editor on 06/23/09
 

Mount Washington opens their Bike Park this Saturday (June 27th) and, for the first time in three years, snow didn’t need to be shoveled off the trails to get it ready for opening day! As a result, this Saturday’s opening promises to be one of the best in recent years.

“We’ve made significant improvements to our Bike Park over the last month,” explains Slopes Supervisor Chuck Perowne. “The dry, warm weather has enabled us to get a head start on the season. We’ve brought in literally truckloads of dirt across the mountain to improve berms and get the jumps dialed in for opening day.”

All of Mount Washington’s 20 trails will be ready for opening day this Saturday with the exception of Scratch and Sniff, which may be closed due to minor infrastructure upgrades. The Bike Park is open daily from 11 am to 7:30 pm from June 27th to September 7th. The hours of operation change on September 8th from noon to 6:30 pm and this continues until the Bike Park’s closing day on September 20th.

Idyllic early season conditions will help showcase some new additions to the Bike Park on Vancouver Island. The latest expert trail Back In Black is a freeride masterpiece featuring perfectly sculpted dirt jumps with flowy lines and burly wooden stunts.

Mount Washington’s long-term plans for the Bike Park include the addition of more entry-level mountain bike trails. The Dirty Marmot, Mount Washington’s newest beginner trail development off the top of the Hawk Chair, opens its first phase on bike park opening day. The DM is a wide open, buffed out, non-intimidating trail for those new to the sport.

In addition to these new trail developments, riders will notice significant improvements right across the park. Wizard and lower MMT received a healthy dose of dirt, which beefed up the berms to increase flow and maintain riding speed. On top of that good news, three new wall rides exist; two gracing the flank of Timewarp and an additional wall was added to the top of the Wizard.

If you’re looking for great bike events to attend this summer, Mount Washington has another strong lineup on offer plus two brand-spanking new events.

The first event is Roots, Rocky, Reggae and it takes place on July 11-12th. Roots, Rocky, Reggae offers Rocky Mountain Bike owners a free day of riding on the Saturday and, regardless of what bike you’re riding, you get a 2 for 1 Bike Park ticket if you’re hanging out with a Rocky rider on the Sunday. Rocky staff will be on hand with demos all weekend long and the godfather of freeriding, Wade Simmons, will also be in attendance. The delicious scent of BBQ and the sweet sounds of reggae will fill the air so mark July 11-12th in your calendars!

The second new event is the Race Face Women’s Weekend on July 18-19th. This weekend offers an enhanced version of the mountain’s Women’s Day Escapes that run every Tuesday. The Race Face weekend includes post-riding wine and cheese tastings. Over a bottle of wine, Mount Washington’s guides will demo Race Face’s latest women’s apparel and the bike techs will perform custom bike fittings and go over essentials for good bike maintenance.

Other highlights of the 2009 event calendar include the Rocky Learn to Ride Week from July 6-10th, BC Cup Provincial XC and DH race on August 1-2nd, the beloved Lucky DH Race Series every Thursday in August, and the Courtenay Toyota Jump Jam, with host Jordie Lunn, on September 13th.

Mount Washington’s Bike Park is supported this season by Rocky Mountain Performance Bikes, whose Flatline Park Edition will be gracing the resort’s rental fleet. The Park is also partnering with Race Face, Dakine, and Maxxis to make 2009 a summer of kick-ass riding on Vancouver Island!

Mount Washington Alpine Resort Bike Park opens Saturday, June 27th. Bike Park Season Passes are on sale at early bird rates until Wednesday, June 24th. To book the buy one night, get the second night free accommodation deal, which runs to July 16th, call Mount Washington Alpine Resort at 1-888-231-1499 toll-free or locally at 250-338-1386. Surf to mountwashington.ca for additional information including the live mountain cam.