[Closed] How hard is the Fort Willaim DH track

Never ridden it, but walked up it a few times and watched the pros go down it. IMO you'd be able to ride it all, at what speed though is the question!

Some of the jumps i'd miss out though 😆

A lot rougher and steeper than the Pleney

There is a red run as well- plenty of vids on youtube

I would say, hard

I did it having also done french alps and it really surprised me, came off every run i did on the hire bike (bighit) and it isnt very forgiving terrain. Nothing like the motorway french DH tracks. There is the red one up there now which i fancy a run at but i would want to do the main dh track only after a very good warm up

Have fun! 🙂

You'll be fine. i used to race it on a 7" bullitt with one of those dead-wood feeling 5th element shocks. And i am poo.

6" bikes ok then

Jeez, what trails cant be ridden on a 6" travel bike, the 4x track there is pretty rough in places, with jumps, and it's ridden on hard tails.

Having said that, I reckon I'd struggle over at least one section of rock garden at the top and the slippery stuff in the trees. Plus I'm rubbish at table tops and wouldnt like the drops at the end of the motorway. Oh, and it would take me more than 4 minutes...

Think we will just stick to the Nevis Red and Witchs trail!

Rode it (slowly) last summer on a wet and windy day on a Cannondale Prophet. Managed to ride it all but it's much steeper and rougher than it looks on videos! Only place I nearly lost it was on the cattle grid.

Enjoyed the red too, but the wind made it hard work. After 2 runs on the DH and 3 on the red my arms and hands were hurting.

I raced it a couple of times in its original incarnation on a 6" Patriot with 5" forks, posted mid pack times as well. You'll be fine on a six inch bike, fit some nice fat tyres if you want a bit of extra leeway (I was running 2.65 IRC Kujos at the time, now there was a MAN'S tyre! 😀 )

Take your time down it for a couple of runs. Stop and have a look at the trickier sections so you can pick out the correct lines. Then just try and relax and enjoy it! It is rough in places, but only really punishing (imo) when you're trying to do full runs

not technically that hard, just long and brutal. arm pump like nothing I've had before. that was on an old SX with pikes. took three days of acclimatisation before I could do a full run without a break.

has changed a bit since I last went though.

IRC Kujos

Best. Tyre. Ever.

Best. Tyre. Ever.

pfft, only if you don't count the IRC Missile!

Its a pretty tough trail, the bike wont be the limiting factor ,a mate went down it on his spesh hardrock hardtail.

Theres a couple of drops that you cant roll (so I walked those), and its steeper than you think.

Theres a couple of drops that you cant roll

really? As far I can picture anything that isn't rollable has a ladder down it or a line around

A lot rougher and steeper than the Pleney

It isn't steeper. It has less of a vertical drop, and the track is a lot longer. It's not that steep at all compared to some.

It is rougher though, not very hard, just physical.

Theres a couple of drops that you cant roll

really? As far I can picture anything that isn't rollable has a ladder down it or a line around

There was a rocky drop somewhere at the top, and the final drop/jumo into the finish area. I couldnt see any way around them without getting off and walking, but I could've been mistaken.

I rode it in the summer, and it isn't too bad, everything has an escape bit, even the drops on the bottom if you go down the sides are flat. The first rock garden you come to at the top is the real eye opener but once your over that, it's just hanging on.

I found, and my some of my friends, that the red trail was harder, due it's extra length, more punishing on the hands and body but not much technically hard either. When riding on the boardwalk the drops to the side are somewhat big considering it's less than 1m wide.

No problem on 6" burly all mountain bikes and you can roll all of it if you know where, just take your time on the first run or two and stop to look at anything you're unsure of. Remember it's not due to open until the 8th of May, it always seems to open late and close quite early.
Otherwise there's the Witches Trail/Ten under the Ben some old tracks from previous routes that are good, challenging and less groomed. Then there's always the Tour de Ben Nevis, Ciaran Path plus Laggan Wolf Tracks not too far away.

You'll be fine. I'm relatively rubbish and I still managed it - 5" Enduro with 5.5" Pikes. All rollable, and there's a chicken run on the final jump if you're not carrying enough speed into it.

Its a World cup DH track,thats how hard it is. Pleney isn`t.

We're going 26th may so hopefully weather will be pleasant , we're thinking of getting lift pass for 2 days is it worth it if we don't ride the DH course?

but then again Ft.Bill /= Champery /= Canberra in terms of how hard they are

Aye, everything on it rolls- I tested this theory on my first run- though tbh some of it is easier to drop/jump! (there's a couple of bits where you're arguably not riding the trail if you take the easy line, like hip replacement frinstance)

I'd call myself an average, maybe a little above average rider... certainly not great, nor brave. My first full run down it was a bit sphincter twitching and also included a nice rest halfway down to let my arms recover. As downhill trails go, tbh it's not that hard though some of it is intimidating, and it's physically demanding. I reckon Golspie's black is technically harder, frinstance.

What I'd suggest is, do the red a few times, check it out from the lifts- you can see most of the harder parts- and then just see how you feel. I love the red, absolutely love it, but I don't think I could do 2 full days on it without getting a bit bored.

Oh and the waymarked 10 Under the Ben route sucks balls frankly- there's some excellent riding on it but you can fold it into a lap of the witches trails. Which IMO are great- maybe too much nasty climbing but the descents have a bit of class and character that most red routes lack.

Mmmmm could do a day at fort bill then a day at Laggan Wolftrax

It looks too scary for me after watching the world cup this year,
however do they ride down there is beyond me 😯

Ah. Well to be fair, when I do it, it looks a bit different to when they do it

I did it on a BMX

Doh- meant to add, you can cross over from the red route onto the worldcup route at the wallride, then ride down through the forest and motorway, just to dip your toes in.

I did it on a tandem. but that was back in 2001 so not relevant to today's track. we bottled the jump at the bottom. quite scary hauling it round the bends at the top and seeing Boxxers twist.

We're going 26th may so hopefully weather will be pleasant , we're thinking of getting lift pass for 2 days is it worth it if we don't ride the DH course?

I might be wrong, but I think that's the date of 10 Under the Ben. That may interfere with the course (not sure about that one - worth checking though if you're travelling far). It will mean that there'll be about 1000 riders in the car park from 8am or so in the morning and the cafe etc. will be more crowded than you might expect.

You'll definitely be ok, the course isn't impossible, just relentlessly difficult and tiring.

Couple of years ago me and a mate were up on full on DH bikes and bumped into one of the guys from the shop who had "popped" up to see what the conditions were like, he was on a xc hardtail with 100mm fork and 160mm discs. When I mentioned something about our "big" bikes, he misunderstood and said about his own xc hardtail, "aye, its not ideal, its a bit big for me at a 21" frame size" 😯

Doh- meant to add, you can cross over from the red route onto the worldcup route at the wallride, then ride down through the forest and motorway, just to dip your toes in.

As someone above says, everything's rollable if you know which part to aim for. Until last summer there was one rocky part underneath the gondola near the top that didn't have a easy rollable option (as far as remember from spectating), but they filled a bit in and made a rolling option. There's another couple of steep rocky bits around there that don't look rollable but definately are.

I'd only ridden the WC track once before last summer, but then spent 5 full days there last summer. Started off on a Lapierre Spicy (160 front/rear air shocks) but loved it so much I bought a 2nd hand Glory DH for my final day 😀

My suggestion would be start with a single day pass and ride the red DH track - it's fairly tricky in places itself. Then if you're not completely burst get another pass the next day and go scare yourself on the WC. It starts to get easier/smoother the quicker you go, and you'll be suprised what a 6" (or so) bike can handle...

Couple of years ago me and a mate were up on full on DH bikes and bumped into one of the guys from the shop who had "popped" up to see what the conditions were like, he was on a xc hardtail with 100mm fork and 160mm discs. When I mentioned something about our "big" bikes, he misunderstood and said about his own xc hardtail, "aye, its not ideal, its a bit big for me at a 21" frame size"

The most out of his depth looking person I've seen up there recently was actually the guy sweeping the track at the end of the day 😯 Kinda felt like we had to wait to make sure he made it down ok.....

Hope that wasn't me 😆

Your bike is more than good enough. So was mine but I still bottled a couple of steeper sections.

Question is, are your arms?

I did 3 Red runs with the WC finish, then gave the WC a try. My arms were already knackered!

As suggested, do the red one day, its superb. Then do the WC the next day.
Take all day, check out all the sections one at a time then build it up.

I only saw two people riding it fast all day.. Oh, and those rocks are a lot bigger once your off the gondola!

The bikes are Butchers with 36s, a Coilair, Norco 6, Covert

Did it on my old Heckler with 130mm forks quite a few times back in the day. Perfectly doable, but I've also done it on one of the rental BigHits and that was better!

Used to do it occasionally on a bullit when I lived in Scotland (left in 2004, so not ridden it for a while). I never managed a day there without breaking something, normally a rear rim. It is brutal. Lots of fun though, and you'll get down on those bikes.

Rode it on a hardtail with 100mm fork, got about halfway down without too much drama - thankfully I got a flat before I could progress into the scary woods bit. Red run is far better, and Laggan, Golspie are better still.

Hmmm if i had to ride this extreme course i would want a downhill bike what is capable of the duty at hand.i would be very careful trying it on anything other than that!
as its a world cup course! hence the need for full on amour,

fairhurst, smaller bikes are absolutely fine on it, and there's no [i]need [/i]for full on armour- I've raced it on my regular everyday full suss (160mm front, 100mm of air-sprung rear) and I've ridden it on the same bike with just my regular pads and openface helmet.

Not that it's neccesarily a good [i]idea[/i] 😉 Fullface is definately smarter, and full body armour wouldn't go amiss- certainly happier in that kit than not myself.

Jojo of this parish showing it who's boss on an Alpine...

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