Nevis Range Blog

See the big yellow diggers on the hill ?
Their busy making nice new bits for yer bike !

There’s been a bit of filming going at Nevis recently and as it was a blue skies day yesterday, I took the opportunity to sneak up in the helichopper to take a couple of (hundred) pics.  For the skiers and snowboarders, there’s a shot of the last remaining bit of snow, the hill with no snow (check the gully down the goose) + you can see the new fencing that’s going in right now.  For the bikers, you can see the DH and the Nevis Red XC trails pretty clearly.  And for the climbers, we went over the back and you can see some routes.  Enjoy.  I certainly did

The helicopter drops were a success, the red run has been smoothened out in places and will be smoothed further lower down, to make it a bit easier and flow beter which is awesome.

The heli drops on the downhil track have also gone good some bits have been smoothed out with holes filled in and rocks have been added else where, we also have lots of imported rock and lije to build some new stuff, which will be comencing from tomorow. My self and James also rebuilt the hip jump on the motorway yesterday so it is now a  few meters longer which will hopefully stop the overshooting of it and make it ride a bit nicer and faster.

On another note, the endurance downhill was a success and was enjoyed by all despite the rain and sore arms and sore bikes.

The overall winner was James Shirley. Veteran winner was Alistair Maclennan who was also third overall behind James and Chris Hutchens who took the overall 2nd. Junior winner was James Scott, with local rider Rory Maclennan in 2nd. Female winner was Naomi Williamson, while Jesse Wigman took the hardtail win in an amazing 10th place overall.

Full results can bee found at http://www.nofussevents.co.uk/userfiles/File/resultsv09.xls

Track Closures…

• DH track will be closed on Thursday 30th July due to helicopter work. 

• Red Route will also be closed Thursday 30th July due to helicopter work.

• A 50m section of DH track (from pinball to first big berm) will be closed Tuesday 4th August - Wednesday 5th August for major reconstruction. The rest of the track will be open with a walking diversion around this section.

Gravel is being helicoptered to the Red Route sort a few rock sections and for the four tight corners up the top. Rocks and gravel are  being flowen to the DH track to rebuild a few sections and to iron out some roughness and holes.  Expect some photos of on going work over the next few weeks…

Both red and downhill tracks looking good, red has been busy since the opening, hearing lots of positive reviews! Some (welcome) rain this morning and afternoon will help to pack down the really dry and dusty corners. A successful NPS race at the weekend saw some fast riding on a bone-dry track. Good stuff.

Red Route Open! Perfect weather for the grand opening of Nevis Range Red Route…. Expect a full length helmet cam video before the end of the day.

We’re almost back to normal at Nevis Range after the World Cup. For most folk, it lasts 2, or perhaps 3, days, plus of course the travel time. However, for the organisers, staff here at Nevis, and the volunteers, it seems to last forever! Not that we mind. But this year, there’s a stash of official programmes left over and they’re cluttering up the marketing office! So if you’re up here riding, or just passing, and want a copy, then please ask at Ticket Office and we’ll find you one.

Cheers
Nevis office

The track has held up well after a weekend of world cup racing. The whole track including a section of the world cup woods is open and ready for riding. The Red Route is nearing completion and looking sweet.

If you’ve checked the webcam recently, you’ll realise its at the base station. As you’d expect, there are ‘technical’ reasons why its no longer on the side of the Snowgoose restaurant at the top station … However, its now in the main office and giving an unexpected glimpse into the run up to the World Cup. The site started getting busy last Wednesday when, after holding up the traffic in Fort William, the rather large grandstand lorry trundles onto site … even tho the lorry was pretty huge, its amazing how much well-packed steel it ! Then on Saturday, the No Fuss tent went up - eventually (don’t ask) - for the 10 Under the Ben race, as well as housing for the World Cup podium. Since Monday, the sizzling site has been overrun with tents + lorries, cool dudes n charming dudets, as well as lost packages, confused deliveries … and generally the sort of organised chaos you’d expect with the World Cup. But one thing’s for sure, it will be bigger n better than ever before … this World Cup weekend is not to be missed.
www.fortwilliamworldcup.co.uk

Work started on the downhill ealy April. The Nevis winter skiing & boarding season still underway and snow still on the ground, practically to the car park which sits at only 100m above sea level. Certain areas of the track were heavily damaged by the rain, and washed away by the melting snow. “Probably more damage that we’ve seen for a couple of years - lots of snow and the track is getting older” according to Donald, the longest serving member of the Nevis bike track crew. This year, there’s 4 … Donald (burger n chips), Liam (will work better if fed regularly), Elliot (happiest when behind a machine), and Duncan (the new boy). They’ve been busy ‘fixin stuff … man’ since April.

Work first starts on the foundations, re-shaping the ground, ensuring that the drainage ‘works’ and that the base of the track is solid - and if its not, it gets filled up with rocks of varying random sizes. Next job is to transport the infill material onto the track. By hand, it would take forever. Using the gondola would mean loads dropped some distance away from the track. So a helicpopter gets called in. Even then, it still takes a millitary precisioned operation to schedule the 4 minutes lifts and drops of the fifty 700 kilo bags to ensure the right construction materials arrives on the right place on the track! The team then work, by hand, to spread the material out into the right area, and into the desired shape.

They’ve also been working to change some of the lines thru the rock gardens, as well as re-profiling the take offs and landings on most of the jumps.

The downhill track opens for the 09 season on Saturday 9 May. It’s lookin pretty good.

NEVIS BIKE TRACK TEAM