[Closed] Portal Trail Moab - Insane!

Easy to see why people have died riding it..

[img] [/img]

Edit: I bet matey was chuffed with the guy leaving his bike across the trail.

Looks awesome!

When are we going?

I recall taking the 'get off and push' option many times on that and other trails in Moab

Easy to see why people have died riding it.

It's when they have to hop across the other bikes left lying on the trail 😉

At around 1:30 I had visions of me & bike cartwheeling off down a canyon. God knows what state I'd be in actually [s]riding[/s] walking it.

Little bit of poop came out.

Interesting looking trail.

Wouldn't even walk that - sorry.

My wife and children laugh at me on castles, tall buildings etc.

bet you cant watch that vid without clenching 😯

I started watching that and thought to myself 'yeah, I could ride that' shortly followed by 'I would have died there, actually', 'and there', 'and ther... 😯

No

Dont mind if i miss that one out for the big ST day out.

[i]"parp"[/i] ... 😯

Its the exposure that does it isnt it?

In itself not a massively tech trail but add THAT drop & my word do things change...

Fair play to you for riding that..

A good pic showing the drop I think..

[img] [/img]

Pfft. You could get a bus through there*

Looks just like my ride to work down here in Kent**

[*A very, very tiny bus. For ants]

[**If I was on crack, maybe]

😯

doesn't look as scary as that one from the other week, could be the camera angle tho.

Im still waiting for my nuts to come back down after watching that, hats off to the rider

I noticed in that pic up there that they're even walking the bikes on the left of them 😀
not normal for most folks I would think

It doesn't feel as exposed as that pic shows when you're [strike]doing[/strike] walking it though

Reminds me of Angel's Landing in Zion. As a teenager I took the trail up there, but no f-ing way now!

As a teenager I took the trail up there, but no f-ing way now!

I read that as trials (as in ride a bike over there) and nearly shat myself!

Heh, I did mean to say "walked" but couldn't be bothered editing it 🙂 I couldn't watch a video of someone riding that!

I actually felt my balls go back up inside me watching that 😀

Jeeziz! I kept inadvertantly pushing back into my chair and trying to yank non-existent handlebars!

4 years of doing the Megavalanche and I don't think I've quite been as scared as watching that video.

Parts of the Mega have bits where you have a massive drop, but NOTHING quite like that...

There used to be a section with a rope to aid walking on the Mega but it was removed for the 2004 race. I have a picture somewhere I think but can't find it.
Wasn't anywhere near as bad as those but you'd role a long way down the hill to the road and THEN fall off a cliff. It was easier to ride than walk.

Not a chance in hell getting me along stuff with the exposure of the Portal Trail.

Without trying to sound like too much of an @rse or posting a typical STW reply, but the Portal Rim isnt as exposed as that video makes it look, there is a section where a couple of guys rode off the edge into the Colorado in low cloud, but it's mostly OK. I'm certainly not a riding god, but I'm ok with exposure and rode 99% of it. That guy needs to be congratulated for making a bike video that makes things look steeper and nastier than they really are, rather than the other way around.

Great video though, and trail, makes me want to go back to Utah.

Having only watched it once and not in HD, and also its a video, so not real life and Im sat in front of a computer and so on .. it doesnt look thaaat bad. Granted there is a lot of exposure but the trail doesnt look overly narrow nor are are loads of massively commital bits where you cant stop on a whim/moments notice?
Nor is it like you couldnt steer yourself into the mountainside?
Ill watch it again

If I was there with a bike then maybe my thoughts might be rocked a bit, but as I saw it I think Id give it a go, though maybe Id unclip at least one foot for at least some of it ..

looks great! a few bits where you could make a very wrong turn though. and that bit at about 2:10 with the big rock was a bit off-putting. As for the bike on the trail, oh dear.

@kit, there's a handrail!

I think the guy who had left his bike across the trail had stopped for a poo - I think I would have! 😯

Also, I'd like to know what the yellow signpost says - maybe an advert for a local psychiatrist ?

the bike track looks good, it looks like alot fun. But sod that drop, i wouldnt ride parts of that as i hate heights. As for the video kit posted, that is the only video like that which has actually scared me.its going to give me nightmares i think.

maybe Id unclip at least one foot for at least some of it ..

Bad idea.

Why not take at least one hand off the bars while your at it?
Maybe cover your eyes with it.

TBH I'd imagined the Portal Trail to be much worse than that. After watching the video I'd go to ride it - and probably bottle a couple of bits - but from reading descriptions of the trail, I'd imagined suicidal hike-a-bike for most of it. Sections of Rockstacker and the Jackson Trail have fatal fall potential, but aren't so hyped.

Next time I'm in Moab, the Portal Trail is likely to be on the list.

jebus, my stomach is doing cartwheels here, I would die on that trail.

Sorry but I'm in the 'not that bad' camp. It's nowhere near that Spineology video that's been on here before. As above I reckon I'd bottle a few bits but most of it would be ok. Bits of the Mega track freaked me out at first but you get used to it.

There is something about the almost fisheye lens on these cameras that makes the edges look like they fall away steeper than they really do.

As a trail, no it's not that bad, as a vertigo inducing suicide run, stuff that. Not all of it mind, but a good 1/4 or 1/3 of that video would have me freezing up with intense fear! I guess if you've the stomach for it fair do's, not for me though.

Have been to Moab 3 times, I'd say that helmet cam video is a very "real" insight into what the Portal is like. For the most part it's perfectly safe to ride and no different to loads of Moab trails, but in the middle area there are a couple of slighty more tricky obstacles which wouldn't be much if it wasn't for the fact that there most definately is a high risk of death should you slip / fall / make a mistake. Personally I walk the section with the real exposure. I've no doubt I could ride it all, but it's a little different when you are actually there..
The best section is actually the tech downhill section after the Portal anyway 🙂

If you've not been to Moab all I can say is go, it's awesome.

I think the guy who had left his bike across the trail had stopped for a poo

I'd have it coming out both ends. It may not be massively technical, but those rocky step-up bits would have me panicking with a drop like that off to the side.

Hats off to all of you saying they have ridden (or would ride) it, but that tips the risk/reward balance a bit too far for my liking.

im with the latter part of the thread - yes its all rideable looking at it from the helmet cam (videos dont always show true reflection of gradient, so those drops could be alot worse than the video shows, or not)....its the fact it has a huge deadly drop to the left, one false move, or one slide out or landing wrong and your basically dead are'nt you?!?!

i suppose that in itself makes it a frightening experience if not massively techy, you'd certainly have to have your brain working at full capacity and concentrate to the max....

i ride a few ridges, nothing like that sort of drop, but very similar in terms as its a sudden drop off into a river, or just a rocky cliff face, either way canyon or not id still seriously injure myself if i did go off, the stuff round by me is slippy roots and slippy rocks mixed with wet slippy/slidy mud....as i said its no where a drop like that but its the same narrow (probably narrower) singletrack..

fair play riding it like that though, hes not exactly taking his time on it..nice vid.