Took a spin out to Hillend today, rode / carried up the top past the ski centre. Nice ride, bracing on the tops though.

Is there, or was there a DH run round that spot? I’ve heard riders say they used to be able to take the chair lifts up the slope with their bikes – where they just riding down any old trail, or was there a purpose built track? Wondered where it was, if it can still be seen.

There was at one time, from what I gather; am sure someone with more lengthy local historical knowledge will enlighten us!

There was a purpose built track. We raced there in 2000 I think.

Yeah, it ran adjacent to the ski slope. It was very short(50 secs or so), not that technical. Carry on up to top of hill and ride along tops, down by shooting range, over 3 peaks. its a good days riding

I know they used to uplift bikers and there were hooks for your bike wheel on the chairlifts but im not sure if the newer chairs have them. As for the track- ive never seen it but im at Hillend boarding all the time so I’ll try and find out more.

There was a wee track next to the ski slope, open briefly in late 90s. Basically more like a one-person dual track. Apparently it was unsustainable as it pretty much went straight down the hill and wasn’t built very well so eroded really badly and would have cost too much to maintain. I think Emma Guy has told me about racing there (though could be making that up) and there used to be some stuff on Interweb about it but can’t find anything.

Please don’t ride over the peaks. There are loads of paths that don’t go over the tops. Not responsible in terms of the access code and specific advice published for the Pentland hills park states
“The paths over the hilltops are not recommended for cycling because they are very vulnerable to erosion and the vegetation takes a long time to re-establish.”

Its a very popular area and there are serious erosion problems. Please act responsibly.

Yeah you used to be able to get uplift there and there were 2 tracks (well more like 2 top sections, 1 bottom section). First time I rode a full sus was there, one of the first speshy FSRs, dual crown 100mm judys 🙂

Went up a few times, I always thought they stopped it because the uplift system was rubbish. They had to stop the chair to load each pair of bikes on.

You can see roughly where the old track went if you look on the hill. Look to your left going up the chair.

If the paths over the tops are being eroded, they need to stop ALL access – or would you suggest some sort of rota system for all the walkers?

You can still see parts of where it went on google:

The “hard” top section.
http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=2580184

The easy one:
http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=2580187

Some more of it:
http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=2580191

Ahh, them were the days. I remember an awful crash into the gorse, and someone on a (cool at the time, full sus!) RTS folding their front wheel in half on the first corner in the race.

Apparently it was unsustainable as it pretty much went straight down the hill and wasn’t built very well so eroded really badly and would have cost too much to maintain

I’m sure there would be enough mountainbikers in Edinburgh to get some people together to build better trails for not much money if we publicised it properly. It would have to be legit though or we would be wasting our time. It seem a perfect location- it has an uplift (even if you had to cycle up a bit after the chairlift to make it a bit longer), it is in cycleable distance from the center of edinburgh, also it would be a great end to a cycle in the Pentlands. Ill see if I can find out a bit more about this.

You can still see parts of where it went on google:

The “hard” top section.
http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=2580184

The easy one:
http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=2580187

Some more of it:
http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=2580191

Ahh, them were the days. I remember an awful crash into the gorse, and someone on a (cool at the time, full sus!) RTS folding their front wheel in half on the first corner in the race. Thanks IA – spot on! Might take a look at it next time I’m out that way.

Druidh – you and I have debated the erosion many times. No doubt in my mind that on that terrain the bikes cause more erosion per person than walkers. the guidance from the parks people is not restrictive – merely asking that you keep off the tops.

Technically because your weight is spread over a far greater area on a bike, the mass would be far less compared to a walker, therefore biking would cause less erosion. Anyway, these trails have been made by walkers in the first place, not bikes. On comparison, we generate a much lower percentage of numbers over the peaks compared to walkers. Druidh is right, lets not penalise us bikers, if they have erosion issues, generate a ban on everyone (bit hard because of the law). Lets not make us easy victims of issues caused by other groups. Simple, i’ll take that into account (thats honestly), but if i feel like doing them i will unless personally stopped

Sorry? but your weight is spread over a smaller area? have you seen how big your contact area on your tyres is? I would be hard pushed to believe that that is equal never mind bigger than the contact area of a pair of shoes, also ignoring the fact that in wet conditions you’re going to spin the wheels and thus dig the ground more… and also that walkers would be hard presed to follow in one anothers footprints exactly yet bikrs are likely to follow the same route. I think a cycle is going to be more destructive on an exposed mud track like ontop of the hills.

How many walkers does it take to generate the same amount of erosion as a bike then? 2? 20? 200? Let’s Be generous and say it’s the latter. Are you suggesting that the paths should be monitored and that we should only allow 199 more walkers along them? What then, a total ban on access?

The pentlands are a bog most of the time. There are / always has been more walkers up there for many more years than MTB. They started the erosion, now we are being punished for it.

We’re an easy target.

If there is a puddle I’ll blast thru it.
Walkers on the other hand will walk round them, thus widening the track at already vulnerable points.

There is no doubt that MTB’s have caused erosion in some areas of the Pentlands but the stuff over the tops is badly eroded due to walkers not MTB’s. As for “and also that walkers would be hard presed to follow in one anothers footprints exactly “ you need to see some of the walker kicked in steps up the Kips, down Turnhouse or indeed coming off Caerketton at Hillend. Also some of the paths over the tops have been surfaced so no problem with erosion there.

Oh and I can remember Emma Guy racing at Hillend so your not making it up StuN.

There’s a DH track over near the Bonaly Car park, but I hear it’s a push all the way up for a nice but short DH.

I had my first trip in an ambulance thanks to the doubles on the Hillend course (they weren’t very big but I cocked them up badly).

Some photos of the Bonaly stuff over here: