Sell your snowboard. Buy a mountain bke.

[Allee]

Interesting that MTB tourism is booming in Canada as well, I can only imagine that e-bikes have a lot to do with that. 

https://www.wired.co.uk/article/ski-adaptations-climate-change-paganella-italy?lid=poajx3beuhpk

[ShortcutToMoncton]

Hopefully this is a good thing for everyone. I’d be curious about any long term erosion issues but many hills have been doing both for decades so that’s likely not a huge problem. 
 

I went biking at Windham this summer and have never been there in the winter. So that’s pretty cool. 

[philw]

Well I have skied (not snowboarded: we hadn't invented them at that time) there. It's a very small ski resort by EU standards, but there's nothing wrong with that. Popular with school groups back in the day because it was small and cheap.

But "sweating the asset" - making use of the lift infrastructure all year around - seems like an obvious idea and I'm not sure why it took so long. Some places also have "Sommerrodelbahn" - mountain scale luge tracks formed from half-round metal pipes which have been around a while. Downhill Bikes... with hindsight at least, it seems like an obvious thing to do.

[CB Utah]

It has been fascinating for me to concurrently have been part of both mountain biking and snowboarding in Colorado from the mid 80’s and onward, with some large gaps of time.  We used to attach our freestyle boards to day packs and ride the service roads up to the melting half pipe in the summer.  Other days, we’d either pedal to the top or use the lift to haul bikes and travel across the mountain.   In the mid to late 80’s, I naively thought every resort provided bike hauling services for those not able or willing to hill climb.  I say whatever tool or method people use to have fun outdoors in any season, I’m all for it.  I’m just glad to see them out enjoying the outdoors whether on an e-bike, 35 pound gravity bike, or feather weight cross country bike.  (Or electric unicycles)

[st_lupo]

It seems like a no-brainer that ski areas can benefit from providing summer activities, but based on what I've experienced from our local hill, it needs to include investment in infrastructure.  If you are going to encourage mtb, you need to provide a maintained bike park/trail-network.  Local "natural" trails don't sustain heavy traffic served by chairlifts.

 

There has been a lot of investment in Norway for the development of flow-trail networks.  The initial investment comes from lots of different sources, but the maintenance is usually funded by local shuttle services and chair lift operators.  There seems to be a huge market for bike parks/maintained flow trails and despite quite a bit of trail building, it hasn't become saturated yet.  Trysil has been a model for how to do this:  a well maintained (and free) bike park (Gullia) that is pedal access only with green/blue/red/black/double-black trails, an expanding network of lift-accessed trails, and some really good local trails that don't get overused because they aren't promoted by the lift operators.  It is difficult to state how big this is, but the resort area is nearly as alive in the summer as it is in the winter.

 

 

 

[Allee]

I'm really surprised that Nakiska, the closest hill to Calgary, hasn't jumped on this bandwagon. As far as I can tell, the resort sits idle all summer - there's no hiking access or biking trails there, despite it being located in a high traffic summer activity area. Calgary is a big city with a huge MTB population, but the nearest lift accessed riding is three hours away at either Fernie or Kicking Horse. The Banff hills have summer gondola access and Sunshine's gets to some great hiking, and Lake Louise is busier in the summer than the winter - but RCR seems content to let Nakiska sit empty for months at a time. Maybe they need a few more bad snow years to convince them.

Edited October 1, 2023 by Allee

[ShortcutToMoncton]

I agree on Nakiska! But I’m sure the math must be fairly easy to work out, so it has to all come down to money. 

[Rob Stevens]

Nakiska’s lease doesn’t allow summer use. 

[slabber]

On 9/30/2023 at 8:12 PM, Allee said:

I'm really surprised that Nakiska, the closest hill to Calgary, hasn't jumped on this bandwagon. As far as I can tell, the resort sits idle all summer - there's no hiking access or biking trails there, despite it being located in a high traffic summer activity area. Calgary is a big city with a huge MTB population, but the nearest lift accessed riding is three hours away at either Fernie or Kicking Horse. The Banff hills have summer gondola access and Sunshine's gets to some great hiking, and Lake Louise is busier in the summer than the winter - but RCR seems content to let Nakiska sit empty for months at a time. Maybe they need a few more bad snow years to convince them.

Does COP no longer have lift access?  

There's tons of hiking in Kananaskis Country, as well as mountain biking.  Some of my all time favorite trails are in K-Country - alpine ridgetop singletrack with great descents. 

When I first lived in Lake Louise, they had gondola access for mountain bikes, in the original gondolas (2 person).  Had to fit the bike in upright.  I think they only allowed it for a couple of years. 

As Rob mentioned, the lease/permits for the resorts inside the park boundaries won't allow for the amount and range of traffic the bikes would generate given the areas being prime habitat for grizzly etc.  

[Allee]

So that's why. I always wondered.