Trail Report: Friday, July 10

The dusty days of summer are upon us. Our trails are drying out quickly with the dry, hot weather this past week. There's a smattering of rain in the forecast, but I don't expect it will be enough to make a difference. If I could make a conditions chart with steepness on the X-axis and forest cover on the Y-axis, the driest trails are those that are both steep and most exposed to the sun - think parts of Super Happy Fun, Iron Lotus, and Redneck's Revenge. The best dirt will be found on mellower, forested trails like Black Forest and Sloe Grin. Of course, you also have to consider popularity on the Z-axis as our most ridden trails definitely get blown out faster. That said, we're not quite there yet and the valley riding is still in fine condition.

Our trail crew started the week removing a bunch of blowdown on Macpherson. Thank you to everyone who reported the downed trees so we could get after them quickly. On Frisby, they did more brushing, cut out some trees, and fixed up that nasty corner/step-up at around the 4.3km mark. They also filled in some holes where the trail was eroding. The work will make for a smoother ride on the way up, while also preserving some tech for the way down.

The crew has been chasing the snowline, but they haven't gotten that high yet. The first photo was taken on Tuesday, July 7, roughly halfway to the first high point. There were a lot of snow piles like that, but they should melt out quickly. Still, the alpine remains largely inaccessible. Frisby officially opens on Wednesday, July 15, so we'll provide a further update on Tuesday to let the keeners know what to expect on opening day.

Looking ahead, they'll be spending a couple more days on Frisby before heading back to the valley to do more brushing, bridge repairs and replacements, and some other fun projects. While the dry soil isn't conducive to major trail work, there is still lots for them to do.

Have a great weekend.