bit samey 🙂

It looks like a drain to me- but enlighten us to where and what it is.

is it not fort will red? (asking genuinely)

looks a bit like new red at fort bill!!!

**** me you wouldn't want to get that one wrong 😯

looks like the new Sustrans route down Haldon hill 😉

Pppft I could manual the lot of that and I am not entirely 100% I even know what "to manual" means.

I want me some of that anyway

Ditto for a nose wheely – isnt it something you do when you go over the bars?

ps does look nice..

Assuming that is the Fort Will red, which looked awesome in the video I saw of it, do we know how many injuries there have been.

I think the general opinion was that it could well catch people unawares and was maybe more difficult than some people would be expecting?

But yeah, I'd love to ride it some time assuming a mid week date with no kids hassling me out of the way.

Nose wheely of there indeed.. new red at Fort Bill, the folks at Nevis Range just went up with a helichopper and a camera… I do find long bits of wood work a bit tedious but i can feel my palms sweating just looking at it

reminds me of 'look at the penalty for failure'

It's kind of cool… But the boardwalk is all really just there to get you between the good bits. They've done some work to make it interesting but it's still just a means to an end, Nevis Red's all about the rocks.

I wonder how many here are relishing the option to ride up this rather than down … on a cx bike 🙂

I want to ride that 😀

It is brilliant, brilliant fun… I'm hoping to get back up early next season after the lifts reopen, maybe we should do a STW weekend there… Easy to get to, the Caledonian Sleeper runs from London to Fort William via Edinburgh and everywhere else inbetween…

I rode it last weekend, that exposed bit of boardwalk is quite fun because of the exposure factor, you find yourself riding as far away from the edge as possible, sweaty palms!
Too much boardwalk on the route in general I reckon, it becomes monotonous, some bits must be near half a mile long and it's all the same width, some Kona Darkside like bits would be good! The last half of the route where it gets a bit steeper and rockier is the best bit.

We only rode it once all weekend, stayed on the DH track the rest of the time, which is probably a fair reflection of how much fun each trail is, we were on DH bikes tho, might be better on a lighter bike.

It doesn't strike you that, looking at the pics above, they have built a woden trail to move you off a perfectly good rugged mountainside? True, there is a steep drop but with our shiney new all mountain bikes couldn't we get excited about something other than a 2 foot wide wooden pavement?

Any pics of the rocks Northwind?

That would be graded Double Black if it were a few miles from Wrexham…!!!

Confuzzed.. u certainly are.. given the fight to get planning to build the dh track over conservation grade mountain.. if they had tried to excavate another route across they would never have got the go ahead from Scottish Heritage / Nature who would have obstructed planning consent probably.. in conservation terms wood work like that is a very temporary arrangement that when finished with the traces vanish with little action..

liking the idea of the caledonia sleeper from London… Tempting, in a kind of 'won't really happen' way… 🙂

confuzzed: that boardwalk is there because you cannot ride properly on the moor, as it is a bog. that is the reason why the dh track is raised.

I face planted off the boardwalk there just under two weeks ago… went up in one of the rainest days of that week (thursday) and it was a poor week anyway for weather! Thankfully its all bog around the woodwork, so its a soft landing. I guess thats why its there… keep you off the bog! We managed a few runs and it seemed like myself and the brother in law had it to ourselves for the day! We didnt see another person on the red that day.

I think the general opinion was that it could well catch people unawares and was maybe more difficult than some people would be expecting?

Yeah I would say its more black than red.

I wonder how many here are relishing the option to ride up this rather than down … on a cx bike

No chance, its steeper than it looks… I had trouble walking back up a section to check the brother in law was ok!

It doesn't strike you that, looking at the pics above, they have built a woden trail to move you off a perfectly good rugged mountainside? True, there is a steep drop but with our shiney new all mountain bikes couldn't we get excited about something other than a 2 foot wide wooden pavement?

Nah its to keep you off the bog, it gets more fun after that!

The last half of the route where it gets a bit steeper and rockier is the best bit.

I fully agree with that!

I have some videos on my flickr of me riding a section but I look like a tool so I wont post them… if you find them enjoy 😉

Its really good fun and well worth the drive from Glasgow and the cash for the gondola in my mind. Its *not* worth hiring bikes from the bike hire at the nevis range though, the guy was rude and unhelpful to my brother in law, he got a generic full suss effort (something middle range XC from Marin) that cost £50 for the day and needed the grips cable tied on as they kept coming off, forks were in needed of pumping up and the rear wheel hub was so loose / bearings so worn that the back wheel was scary to watch from behind! The lad at the counter was clearly pissed off that we disturbed his day by hiring a bike from him!

As for what bike to take I was happy with my Rockhopper (hard tail) but thankful for the silly big 205mm rotor on the front and 180 out back!

David.

Doesn't actually answer my question though.

Here is a mountain. We can't use the land for what we want so heres a trail bolted to the mountain which will leave little eco footprint (commendable) but looks like…

If you came off the woodwork how long would it be before you stopped bouncing it looks a long way down

Yeah, not surprised you didn't enjoy it much on a DH bike really, it's not a downhill trail… Do it on a hardtail 😉

The reason for all the boardwalk is that the whole mountainside is a deep peat bog, so there's huge sections they can't lay conventional trail over. It's the same with the main DH course in places, the woodwork's only there because they have no choice. (also, the peat's now legally protected I think)

I do agree the woodwork section pictured is a little bit dull though, it has little steps and jumps and rocky bits in but it could do with some skinnies, some varied surfaces etc… Log tops instead of planks for some of it, maybe. Options, perhaps, diversions off the main route. You need to carry a lot of speed to make it interesting. Do bear in mind that you're seeing a few hundred metres of a 6.6km descent.

Spaceman, I didn't get much in the way of pics of the rocks, I never wanted to stop when I was in the good bit 😉 But there's loads on the nevis range website. Here's a couple

If you came off the woodwork how long would it be before you stopped bouncing it looks a long way down

You dont bounce you squelch. Then start to sink. 😈 Its really boggy!

Wow looks great!

It's wide, but quite varied…

"If you came off the woodwork how long would it be before you stopped bouncing it looks a long way down"

Well, it's a choice… On the rocky bits, if you fall, you'll be smashed. On the peaty bits, if you fall, you'll be horribly drowned. But, look on the bright side, you'll be perfectly preserved.

you'll be perfectly preserved.

🙂

All this chat about the reason for sticking a wooden boardwalk onto the side of a hill…perfectly legimate reasons, IF there were a shortage of hills in the area to build a proper mountainbike trail on.

"All this chat about the reason for sticking a wooden boardwalk onto the side of a hill…perfectly legimate reasons, IF there were a shortage of hills in the area to build a proper mountainbike trail on."

How many of them have gondola uplifts? 🙄 It's 550m metres of descent with only 20 metres of climb, I think you can forgive it a bit of boardwalk, don't you?

"All this chat about the reason for sticking a wooden boardwalk onto the side of a hill…perfectly legimate reasons, IF there were a shortage of hills in the area to build a proper mountainbike trail on."

Have you checked the geology/ground conditions of the other hills in the area? Are they any different from here? Are they totally peat bog free?

You are both avoiding coming to the conclusion that that is a hellishly dull long stretch of boardwalk.

Dr Do. You came to the conclusion that there are other hills in the area to construct a trail on. That's my point, not if the timber section is exciting or dull.

when i paid for my lift ticket the lady at the counter advised me to not go on the new red northshore because some kid got blown off up there earlier in the morning. of course i headed straight for it 😀

That's my point, not if the timber section is exciting or dull.

Whaddaya reckon then?

I reckon that's it's along piece of timberwork 😆

Never been on it, it's a little bit too far away for me to justify a Sunday ride there 😆

Some people might find it a challenge, some might find it boring. Reading the comments it seems that way.