I don’t know whats more entertaining at the minute watching the helicopter or riding the track!!!

Is that some sort of Huey – based helicopter? Want.
Also, what is going on up there? Some sort of building I assume?

The helicoptor is flying in material for the link that is being built between Lee and Crag Quarry.

what a job

Apparently the cost of the helicopter was all factored into the fixed priced tender the trail builders submitted and their bid still came out as the best value.

Out of all the possible ways of getting stone to where we needed it helicopter was the best option cost and environmental impact wise. Drops the stone pretty much exactly where you want it and a very fast turnaround time and no mess to clear up afterwards.

Route should be finished by the end of the month think 2km pump line on the way down its going to be lots of fun!

tonyl legend .thanks to all for yet more good riding to come.

is there and up and down route and if not, how will head on collisions be avoided?

[not trying to be a smart arse here – well done for building it and I will def be a regular user]

the helicopter was certainly busy on Saturday, it never stopped while we were there, doing a load about every 5/10 minutes.

Collisions will be best avoided by a combination of looking where you are going and being in control! If you have problems with either I can recomend a session with Ed Oxley of Great Rock fame.

tony, what heli company is it?
been speaking with a few recently for work

Spent a while watching them working the other week, I couldn’t stay on my bike the wind was so strong, but it didn’t seem to bother them!

the track is fairly wide. you should be able to pass at speed. It doesn’t look too steep from what I saw so there shouldn’t be anyone weaving when climbing.

The junction with RMR is split into two. One heading towards Cragg, the other towards Rochdale.

Wow. Can’t wait. Thank you 🙂

Awesome stuff – still haven’t managed to check it out yet but I will asap.

Possibly a daft question but whats it like in winter, frost etc?

Cool pic, Can’t wait for the link to open. Going to make for some great riding. Massive thanks to Tony and everyone involved.

Possibly a daft question but whats it like in winter, frost etc?

The helicopter?
They use antifreeze and have to de-ice the windscreen with a credit card

Why a credit card? Why not a Debit/solo?

ace…so where this Rooley mooor rd splits : (one going rochdale ,one going cragg quarry… is there a sign post at this point (hopefully for us to head to cragg quarry (lol) i wouldnt want to head to boring Rochdale now wud i ! heeheee.
cant wait head on over to cragg…

Dont be ridiculous, use a CD case, a lot quicker to scrap off the ice due to the larger surface area.

The windscreen is a perspex-compound? I really wouldn’t.

Wow – when I saw the helicopter the other weekend, I thought it might be laying stones for the link, but I assumed it would just be for a day!

Having spent some money on being rescued by helicopter in the Alps, I can only assume that helicopters are cheaper in calderdale.

Looking forward to riding it.

Surely doing Crag first then dropping down to Lee is the way to do it.
That way, you can do the road link in the downhill direction too.

Not too unusal to use a chopper to do this. There was even one bringing materials up for the Witton Weavers Way footpath in the Lost Kingdom of Darwen recently.

Just to clear this up they are helicoptering stone in to an old stone quarry?

Lost Kingdom of Darwen

Shhh, it got lost for a reason you know.

the helicopter will likely cost about £1200 an hour, is capable of lifting a tonne of rock at a time and probably has a turnaround time of about 8 minutes depending on where its getting stone to and from
So assuming 5 hours of flying time a day (to allow for refueling, weather delays etc) it will shift 37-38tonnes of stone a day at a cost of around £160 a tonne, or £6k per day

Not cheap this trail building lark is it!!

Just to clear this up they are helicoptering stone in to an old stone quarry?

Its being helicoptered onto the moors where the path is. Not sure where its coming from, but the journey time isn’t long for the helicopter, so I’m guessing the working quarry thats nearby?

If I remember rightly though, lots of the surfacing at Lee Quarry was brought in from else where, as the cost of the machines needed to turn the rock already up there into the right grade for use on the trails was too high.

As I said earlier the company building the trail put the costs into their tender submission and were still deemed to be the best overall submission. It’s pretty difficult to get vehicles of any description to where they’re working without either building an access road (which they did for the wind turbines) or using tracked dumpers, both of which will massively impinge on the relatively natural nature of the area (given that’s effectively all an ex industrial landscape).

As for the stone, there’s probably no extraction licence valid for taking stone out of Lee quarry, plus it’ll not be ideal for trail building, crushed limestone makes a good surface for trails, crushed grtistone tends to be too sandy and washes away (certainly did at Gisburn). Finally there’s still no direct access from the quarry to the trail (except the trail itself) and it’d be a bit difficult extracting stone with mountain bikers all over the pace.

From my previous thread about rucksacks http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/what-is-it-with-these-massive-rucksackcamelbak-things , you could get a few volenteers to take some stone up in their 65 litre rucksacks that they use for popping to the shops with. 😛

I’m going to head up now. will take some pics of the junction with RMR so Elaine Anne doesn’t turn the wrong way and end up in ‘boring’ Rochdale

I won’t have a problem with the 2-way traffic thing cos I’ll be up there at bloody 10pm as per bloody usual.

lol rooleymoor !!!! well i for one wud rather go the right way to the quarry…wouldnt you ! and yup rochdale is still boring (lol) teehee 😉

Its being helicoptered onto the moors where the path is. Not sure where its coming from,

Where on Earth would you find a load of loose stone to link up two quarries?

(-:

helooooo rooleymoor : ahem, did you take any pics then of the path that divides on rooley…wud be happy to see them please.

Stone is coming from Britania quarry which is only about 1km away over the moor no roads, houses, pylons etc to cross or avoid. Turn around time for the copter is very quick and the hoppers can take up to 2 tonnes. Heli flies low on fuel to keep weight down. Not a cheap way of doing things but strange as it seems cheaper than anyother way given the constraints we have to work within. Helicoptor should finish by this weekend. The back again for a day or two once the surface has been shaped etc to fill in any low spots. Also planning on getting a few other muddy patches in the area filled in with stone while it is there.

Sooooo when can we ride it?

end of the month I think plumber……..

Awesome!

Also planning on getting a few other muddy patches in the area filled in with stone while it is there.

The muddy climb past the rocky bit, leading up to the rim of the quarry?
That would be SURF MATT! Oops, sorry.. AWESOME!