RED Mountain Resort has contracted renowned bike park build crew Gravity Logic to design and build a dedicated downhill bike park, and the first phase is set to open in 2025. However, it turns out the bike park construction is contentious among local riders.
Publicly-funded trails are being co-opted for a private bike park
The crux of the problem: In 2020, the local mountain bike club — the Kootenay Columbia Trails Society (KCTS) — built the Millennial Trail Expansion on land owned and operated by RED Mountain Resort. The club raised $120,000 of public grant funds to build these new bike park-style trails to meet community demand for this type of riding.
The artfully sculpted jump trails with flowing berms and gorgeous tabletops proved to be popular. So popular, in fact, that “the popularity of those trails made [RED Mountain Resort] reconsider whether or not a bike park was viable. And then they’ve decided, ‘Oh, well, maybe we can actually make a go of this,'” said Stewart Spooner, Operations Manager for KCTS.
“They decided that they were going to then incorporate those trails that we’d built with this grant money, and they were bringing Gravity Logic, and they’re going to expand those trails into a larger network, and then run the lifts and run a bike park.”
Will these trails be accessible to the public?
Despite ongoing negotiations with RED Mountain Resort, KCTS and local Rossland riders are still uncertain if there will be any free access to the Millennial Trail Expansion. But one thing is certain: there will be no free public access to the trails when the bike park is operating.
“RED Mountain hasn’t been fully forthcoming on how that’s all going to work,” said Spooner. “These weren’t ride-the-lift trails. We built a dedicated climbing trail, and people could, whenever they wanted — early in the morning, late at night, after work, whenever they want — they could ride up these trails and ride them to their heart’s content without having to pay.”
“They haven’t actually made it clear whether there’s going to be any public access outside their operating season or their operating times. None of that’s been made clear to the community.”
Divided public opinion
“Those people that feel like they’re losing something, these free trails that were built with public money, they’re pissed,” said Spooner. “Other people are pretty stoked, because RED Mountain’s building a bike park, and they want to see a great bike park. So, you know, there’s a whole range of opinions in the community.”
RED Mountain has pledged $60,000 so KCTS can build more public trails
As a result of the ongoing negotiations, RED Mountain has pledged $60,000 to KCTS so that the club can build more public trails in exchange for the ones that RED is taking over. While some local riders say it isn’t enough, Spooner acknowledges that at least it’s something.
Based on KCTS’s agreement with RED, they must build the trails close to RED Mountain so that they, in some way, still benefit the resort. Thankfully, the most popular public trail network in the region is located between the town of Rossland and RED Mountain. It will soon be home to two new trails built in 2025. Spooner said that this trail network is very popular with riders, hikers, and trail runners alike, and that there’s a need for bike-specific trails.
A bike-specific flow trail
To meet the demand for a free-to-ride flow trail, KCTS will be building a new one in this popular network. “Our goal is to build a dedicated downhill trail through this very popular zone of multi-use trails to make it more fun for us, so we don’t have to keep slowing down for people, and also make it safer for the people that are riding up and that are walking. So this dedicated downhill trail through that really popular zone is probably our main focus.”
It’ll be a downhill flow trail, but the goal is to “pull in as many people as possible,” according to Spooner. “We’re going to try and make it as accessible as possible. So, within the limits of what we can do, we want to make something that doesn’t have any barriers to the lower-end riders, but is hopefully fun for the higher-end riders.”
A black diamond tech trail
While the flow trail won’t be very challenging, KCTS is also planning a gnarly hand-built tech trail to satisfy advanced riders. Many of the trails taken over by RED were “more advanced trails,” so this is an attempt to offset that loss with a public asset. “There’s some space to put in another couple of kilometers of […] slow and technical, rock slabby, steeper, you know, black diamond singletrack riding,” said Spooner.
Each of the new trails will be about two kilometers long.
More trails are in the long-term plan
One flow trail and one tech trail won’t offset the loss of the Millennial Trail Expansion as a public resource, and KCTS plans to continue building more downhill flow trails to meet public demand. Eventually, they hope to build a flow trail in a different trail network that boasts better soil for berms and jumps — but that project is a little ways off.
As for the controversy around the RED Mountain Bike Park, “People love being pretty vocal about the things they’re opinionated about these days,” said Spooner. “We get it from all sides. We’re just trying to negotiate the best thing for the community and build as many good trails as we possibly can.”
“No matter what happens with the bike park, we’re still here, we’re still working, and we’re still building more trails. That’s what we do, and that’s what we’re going to keep doing.”
We’ve reached out to RED Mountain Resort for comment but have not heard back as of press time.
3 Comments
1 hour ago
It's a tricky one for sure.
13 minutes ago
4 minutes ago