I’ve not managed to book myself on the uplift day this Saturday and my friends have. I read you can buy direct from the driver assuming there is a free space on the bus. Would I be wasting my time to turn up this Saturday and expect to get ferried up to the top fairly easily, just paying a premium for the privalidge?

Hit and miss. It’s not the quickest uplift service in the world (by a long chalk) and sometimes it can be difficult to get on as a day visitor. I have managed 6 in one morning but I’ve also only managed 2 before when 3 vans filled up with the pre-booked and left without me before I wrapped.

They like you to buy a card from the visitor centre and pre-pay (£5/uplift), which is a bit crap but I understand the reasons for it.
The climb isn’t too bad though if needs must.

+1 wrecker

I’ve usually managed to get a space and paid at the center. Some days its been really quiet even with the van booked up.
– worth going and seeing as mentioned before the ride up isn’t too bad.

they’ve now got 7 vans btw

As above hit and miss. Best time to get on the uplift is first thing whilst a lot of uplifters are still faffing / posing in the car park. Last time I did the uplift (on a weekend) me and my mate had the bus to the top to ourselves. After that later in afternoon is a good time as many leave early but youre likely to get a space throughout the day if youre happy to wait. You may not see your mates all day though as you might be out of sync

they’ve now got 7 vans btw

Due to demand, and they will simply book more day passes so I doubt it will change much. I understand that there are limited passing places on the service road but when you have waited for an uplift and you see 3 odd cans waiting halfway up the hill you wonder why. It feels like they are throttling a bit.

Yep, they’ve got a lot to learn from the likes of Antur Stiniog. Fast and efficient and drivers constantly communicating to each other. What I also noticed at Antur was the riders being far more efficient loading the bikes on. I seem to wait forever in the back of the bus at BPW for other riders to stop faffing even if im nearly that last to start loading the bike onto the trailer

Yep, they’ve got a lot to learn from the likes of Antur Stiniog.

Oh God I love that place! Trail wise, it doesn’t offer nearly as much as BPW but it’s a much nicer experience. The uplift service is gobsmackingly good.

creamegg – Member
I seem to wait forever in the back of the bus at BPW for other riders to stop faffing even if im nearly that last to start loading the bike onto the trailer

You can forgive that to an extent; DHers tend to be a lot more familiar with the intricacies of uplifts. It’s what they do – whether they race or just doss about on uplift days.

Maybe I’ll just take to tourer out and meet them for post ride refreshments.

You can forgive that to an extent; DHers tend to be a lot more familiar with the intricacies of uplifts. It’s what they do – whether they race or just doss about on uplift days.

agree to an extent but once you’ve been shown how to load the bike onto the trailer and put the straps on once I can’t see the need for faffing for 10 minutes plus. Its not rocket science, but the mentality of riders at each venue is different I guess

Maybe it’s hard for some of these lycra-weenies-turned-mtbers to lift their bikes more than a couple of reps.

And god forbid people actually tie the straps up properly on the bikes. I swear some people think the bikes are held on by magic then complain it takes the driver ages to re-do all of them.