Trails Update: Oct 8-12, 2018
[heading]Trails Update: Oct 8-12, 2018[/heading]
We ran our last trail night of the season this week. Sadface. It wasn’t for lack of interest; the axial tilt of our planet has made daylight sparse.
The Lower Sproatt armagedon (BC Hydro road re-opening) was at first a huge Bummer, then an inconvenience and finally an opportunity. We’ve been presented with a chance to make the trail better than ever. I tend to obsess over such a challenge and wanted to see if the community would also jump in: there have been 6 volunteer trail events this year on the dessert platter (Lower Sproatt). About 100 folks have chipped in to re-imagine one of the oldest bike routes in Whistler. We’ve replaced the road with 550 metres of bomb proof singletrack! There was certainly some difficult digging... I recall Pat knee-deep in a duff trench; but there were also some wins: Ken rocking-in a dozen or so behemoth rocks to pave the way or finding the two-scoops of sweet gold dirt neatly piled for us by the road construction crew. The biggest win has always been the smiles on riders' faces — surprised by a new section of trail.
So, this week we threw some dirt and then threw a party! Chromag and Coastal Culture brought their crews, BBQs and brews. 30+ builders strong — digging and filling, raking and tamping, nailing and herding the 8 or 9 dogs that also came out to play.
I am excited to continue adding to this great low elevation trail and look forward to building more new sections in the spring...