Squamish Rocks!

Joey drops in for a taste of the North Shore's BoogieMan.

The Chief stands watch over the Squamish Valley in British Columbia, Canada. One of the tallest granite monoliths in North America, it offers superb rock climbing and hiking. The area is speckled with granite slabs, attracting mountain bikers looking for that same precipitous challenge. The trails in Squamish are some of the rowdiest in the country and this is home for the Test of Metal, a 67-km mountain bike race. The Squamish Off-Road Cycling Association hosts the event every year, in addition to maintaining these amazing trails.

On Labor Day weekend, SORCA invited us to teach a trail building school, hoping to mesh long-lasting trail design with the BC riding style. Saturday morning we started with a slide show at the Howe Sound Brewing Company. 30 students from the southern BC area attended including members from SORCA, SIMBS (South Island Mtn Bike Society), Sun Peaks Resort in Kamloops, Sea to Sky Trail Society, Black Tusk Heli-Biking and Cycling BC. Employees from local bike shops Corsa and Tantalus, land managers from the Squamish Ministry of Forests, BC Parks and other trail junkies were also present.

We focused on sustainable trail design through rolling contour layout and discussed fall-line trail remedies. We also pointed out the need to address user's needs for an area, by keeping with the flavor of that particular place. As in the nearby North Shore of Vancouver, an unusual trail flavor was born. These forests are thick, moist and full of deadfall, making typical trail building difficult. North Shore trail builders elevate their trails by linking ladders, ramps and bridges over logging debris. These "pathways in the sky" are known as "stunts" and are often very creative. With proper design and construction, these stunts can actually help to minimize erosion and meet the needs of certain users. The flavor of trails in Squamish satisfy a wide variety of tastes, ranging from entry-level cruises through lush mossy forests, to super advanced stunts and cliff drops. After the slideshow we sampled some of these 31 flavors, on a walking trail assessment of Summer's Eve and Endo.

Don from SORCA showing us how it's done; BC style

That afternoon, Squamish locals took our class for a wild ride, while we planned for Sunday's trail project. Don and Pat from SORCA took us to the Powersmart trail for a look at a re-route selection. Re-route choices were tricky, because of a recent timber cut tangled with deadfall. After hours of searching, we found many attractive control points near the perimeter of the cut. Log bridges, rock faces and steep rolls will all be part of this challenging trail. We linked these features with contour trail sections and subtle grade reversals. This will help to divert water and keep the re-route consistent with Powersmart's technical, free flowing rhythm.

Volunteers from our trail school finished nearly 800 ft of new tread and riders are very excited about the re-route. We feel this new section is a perfect model of sustainable trail design mixed with that advanced BC riding style. Cliff, the president of SORCA even voted that we name the new trail IMBA-smart! As for the ultimate cherry on top, SORCA members took us for a long ride on the best single-track trails in town. When it was time to leave, we could only think one thought: Squamish Rocks!

Thank you,
Joey and Kathy, TCC2.

Future Test of Metal contenders finishing tread work on the new IMBA smart trail in Squamish BC.	During our trail building school, volunteers from Sun Peaks Resort, SORCA, SIMBS, Ministry of Forests, British Columbia Parks, Sea to Sky Trail Society and other trail junkies from the area finished 800 ft of new trail on Powersmart.