Nevis DH Red Route

Sorry if this has been asked before but I can't seem to find anything with the search function.

Is it worth the trip? I was thinking of going up for the weekend and doing the Witchs trail XC first day and then paying the £28 uplift and sessioning the Red route for second day. What is the red route like…technical, easy, flowing etc

Advances search – 1 year – "nevis range red"

the waymarked xc stuff is total pants – about 95% fireroad*.

ignore most of it, follow the signs that point you up the hill, follow your nose for cheeky off-piste stuff…

(*my god it's boring, i mean REALLY REALLY boring, now consider the 8 hour drive in required to get there from anywhere other than glasgow. it's a miracle no one has been murdered over this**)

(**even more so than the £7-to-park-Dalby-'downhill'-track)

Advances search – 1 year – "nevis range red"

Ahhh… now I see. I have been searching everything within the past month. No wonder I find very little. I am pleased to be enlightened, many thanks 😀

You better be quick it closes the 2 wk in sept. I am taking my other half up for a supprise well done thing wk of 3rd. Looks fab – not quite for me yet though would no doubt kill myself!!!!

Whether its worth the trip depends on how far you are travelling!

The Witches XC isn't really like a normal trail centre layout as its designed as a world cup xc course but there are enough sections of trail to peice together a half decent ride. My advice would be to follow the waymarked 10 under the ben course but keep your eyes open for some of the stealthier sections of single track through the trees.

The Nevis Red DH is good. Lots of boardwalk, lots of bare rock and then some big bombholes and berms. The end just kind of spits you out back at the car park or you can detour back onto the xc trails.

Its definitley worth the trip from Glasgow, for you £28 you will probably get in 4-5 runs depending how early you start.

You could always do the Nevis Red on saturday (and do one lap of the witches trail) and head to Laggan on Sunday

Did it last month. It's good fun but don't expect it to be like a XC red, very hard work especially the first time.

You've got to do the Black (Orange?)as well seeing as you're up there..! There's no shame in walking a few of the sections especially on a hard tail.

I thought it was good but the last section of rock is pretty tough, certainly alot tougher than anything laggan red had, but well worth a day out 🙂

When the lift closes can you still get up to the top of Nevis Red by pedaling /pushing etc or is the only way up on the lift?

there is a walking trail up but it's quite a long way to push/carry a bike

Thanks Buzz, I may be up there after the lift closes so it is good to know I have the option.

The other option would be to walk up the trail of course. But I wouldn't

I love the place… Been twice now and I want to get another one in before the end of the season. The red's something else, if you had to ride to the top I'd probably not be so impressed but it's interesting and very challenging in places- it is IMO black, no ifs no buts- but since you can get 8 or 9 runs in without too much bother you end up knowing it like you've ridden there for years, by the end of the day. A very nice bit of trail, You do need to attack the boardwalk with a bit of pace otherwise it's deadly dull though.

The actual DH is also doable on a sensible trail bike, I minced down it once on the Hemlock but ran out of time to do it properly, it's hard work!

The 10UTB posted route isn't great (it's not the actual race route), it has 2 good bits really and miles of boredom (and you can do good bit number one as a loop from the car park, and good bit number 2, Nessie, as a diversion off the Witches)

The Witches red route has some lovely riding in it, yes there's a lot of fireroad bashing but it's a fab descent in places, it has a nice rugged feel to it.

The boardwalk is lethal in the wet so watch yourself…. I was there last week its really hard work physically, look out for the pink paint showing you the lines over the rocks in the middle section. Bottom is nice in the trees with some nice berms etc.

Oh, the bottom bit's open now isn't it. Before you got spat out at the wallride and had to either fireroad down or take the DH through the forest and down the motorway (or take the DH then use the link trail to the Berminator)

Just been today, the red downhill route is definatley a more maroon red than most trail centre reds.
The bottom section of the black downhill is being worked on and there is a diversion.

I always say it's red in the same way coca cola is red