Afton Trail Update 2007

[Tower]

Thread for ongoing work at Afton Alps... Comments and suggestions welcome...

New Trail issues as of 5-23-07
-Pine tree line in Meadows is gone!!! Not sure how slalom section will be impacted we may lose the berms... Ugg!!!
-Mowing has begun,
-Each time I ride AA I get a couple new reroutes in mind... Stay tuned.
-Signage is about half complete, still no MNSCS course markings for the 6-10-07 race...


---UPDATED---
Current work remaining-

1) Wood pile stacked on trail after Meadows Chalet, remove wood or reroute the trail... Yeah, a couple cords of wood planted right on the line, I'd say trials section, but the wood is cut too short... SLIGHT REROUTE AROUND WOOD PILE IS SHORT TERM FIX. Not sure how long pile will remain...

2) Bridge Loop rock armored drop, couple rocks need re-planting, eroded sand at base needs to be removed. Also, keep cheater line from allowing cheating... REPAIRED, BUT NOW EROSION IS A CONCERN, can't win...

3) Mid Mtn Crossing, at the base in front of Alps Chalet, erosion repair, S-turn's could use a little work too, still haven't completely nailed the no brake flow through the turns without help from the grass... REPAIRED, FYI... Taz's Bypass boardwalk is in place...

4) Reroute Climb out of Valley View in front of Meadows Chalet, minor reroute to keep the tread from going straight up the hill on the 2 track... Completed, needs tread to pack in and some flags so people figure out the climb lines...

5) Leaf removal needed at- Connector trail to Shady Lane, Deep Wood's Express, & Mtn. Crossing trails. Completed.

Afton Alps Management will be giving us a hand with this list of items...

The Goal is to have these repairs completed by the June 10th MNSCS race on the trails...

Afton Management will be marking the trails for the series race... I believe as of now, the course will be similar to last years races... No Shady Lane or Manhandler climbs, but that is not for sure...

[Tower]

Looks like we are losing the berms in the slalom section to construction... These are the berms in front of the Meadows Chalet... Not sure what the new strategy will be at the moment... It's too bad, this stuff flowed pretty well...

Magic, any suggestions/ ideas? I'd like to leave a pile of dirt to berm off for the summer. Would like to keep from altering the direction of the trail if possible... Don't want to mess up the flow if possible...



New Trail issues as of 5-23-07
-Pine tree line in Meadows is gone!!! Not sure how slalom section will be impacted we may lose the berms... Ugg!!!

[Tower]

Will be kicking off trail work in July to improve on the 24 Hour loop...

More details next week, if interested in getting involved let me know.

[Tower]

Kicked off some minor trail reroutes in the Deep Woods area... Think elimination of lame grass switchback climbs...

No, we are not eliminating the climbs, just moving them in the tree line...

Interested in getting involved improving the 24 Hour course, let me know...

We'll be working this Friday, and maybe Saturday...

[Tower]

Reroutes are in place... One is rough cut, the other is very rough cut... They still need to be finished off/ groomed... These will be granny riding until they are hard packed, but both are short connector sections...

Will be doing more trail work up to the 24 Hour, mostly just maintenace on existing trail.

Will be doing a couple "organized" trail sessions for those interested in getting involved or people that would like to see the 24 Hour course improved...

Tentative Schedule-
July 21st & 22nd... And Aug 4th or 5th...

We may have some weeknight trail session leading up to the race too...


Kicked off some minor trail reroutes in the Deep Woods area... Think elimination of lame grass switchback climbs...

No, we are not eliminating the climbs, just moving them in the tree line...

Interested in getting involved improving the 24 Hour course, let me know...

We'll be working this Friday, and maybe Saturday...

[Tower]

For those interested in getting involved with 24 Hour course improvements we'll be doing trail work this Saturday and Sunday.

Where- Meet at Afton Clubhouse, Saturday I'll be leading, Sunday Porter Million (the Wolfchimp) and John Reents (Afton Mgmnt) will be leading...

Time- 9AM til 1PM (lunch provided courtesy of Afton Alps)

What- Finishing 2 short reroutes and trail maintenance on the Valley View singletrack on Saturday, and maintenance on the Bridge Loop on Sunday.

To Bring- Avoid poison ivy wear pants, work gloves, camelback or bottles. Afton Clubhouse has water to use. Tools- if you've got a favorite shovel and hand pruners that is cool, otherwise Afton has tools needed...

Ride- Gotta ride what you work on, bring a bike...

You can just show up or shoot me a message...

[Tower]

Thanks to my LCR sisters (Stairmaster, FXP3XR, ley Pirate, el Magician, Doug, Porter of Wolfchimp, & Stoenhenge) and Afton Management (John & Paul) for their help last weekend on the trails...

A couple minor reroutes are now official, fixed up some eroded areas best we could (dust and sand don't mold), and Porter anti-dumbed up his pile.

Next official trail day will be August 4th for those interested in getting involved... Gotta set a trap at the Pirates cove...

[timmy]

Next official trail day will be August 4th for those interested in getting involved... Gotta set a trap at the Pirates cove...

Larry, I should be able to make it out to help.

[Tower]

Same drill, different week...

Saturday the 4th- Trail work/ improvements/ 24 Hour Prep

Meet at the clubhouse at 9AM, trail work til noon, then eat, gear up and ride...

We'll be adding a little kidney punch in a section we are now calling the Pirates Cove... My teammate the Pirate hates it so much we are going to make it even more miserable... Just for the Pirate!!!

We'll also be doing some minor bench cutting to improve erosion in the open field between Valley View and Porters Pile...

So if you'd like to get involved in what going on for the 24 come on out...

[steef]

Thanks for the work, guys. My friends and I were the ragtag group of riders out on Saturday.

[Tower]

Thanks to my LCR sisters (Stairmaster, Little Dave, J240, & Why Canada?) for giving me a hand on Saturday...

We were able to compromise on Taz's Bypass to include a portion of the singletrack (but not the entry)... Coming down Mid-Mtn, DO the s-turns, cross the ski slope, you'll see the tape and arrows marching you back up the bunny slope to a cut in to the singletrack... Consider it a little more revenge to the finish line...

Also rerouted the Pirates cove and planted a rock garden so that the climb up meant something more than just more pain...

We'll need to barracade/ tape off a couple of somewhat confusing intersections (Valley View turn, Manhandler turn) prior to the race, and remove a couple deadfall trees that could drop on the trail...

Also thanks to TML for stopping out and giving us his feedback...

[Vert]

Rode Afton yesterday, nice job on the trails guys! I like the new technical switchbacks and the bridge/rock garden over the pipe by the s-turns. Saturday's rain made everything nice and tacky, just about perfect.

[Tower]

Afton maintenance picked the worst time to pull out the bulldozer and start regrading their hills...

The berms behind the meadows chalet are leveled, the trails are gone. Also a section on the climbing part of this slope is gone too...

The dozer decided to use the Manhandler slope to get up and down the hill and now it's churned up enough to really slow you down...

Top of Whistler, large pile of loose dirt now resides where the trench was. Some firming up and grading is needed to make it flow...

A few trees are down and need to be removed.

I think that is enough, at least their ain't too much erosion from the storms... Who said we don't build sustainable trails???

All in all, not good, but it could be worse...

[badandyruh]

Does anyone know if they fixed those two little "bridges" you had to go over? I'm talking about at the top of manhandler, and then again coming down the hill towards the main chalet. They were two sheets of wood going over what appeared to be a new spot for a water line.

[dejorn]

This is an event people look forward to all year and the fist year with new sponsorship from Salsa. I would think it would be in the best interest for Afton to make sure the course is in the best shape possible for the event.

I can personally make due without the burms, but climbing multiple laps up severe washboard slopes will be rediculous. Hopefully they will do something to smooth it out. If I remember right there were a couple sections on whistler last year that had been beaten up by the dozer, but it sounds minor compared to this year.

Keep up the great work Larry, Troy, and all those who have helped out with the trails over the years. I am sure you get something worked out.

[Tower]

I spoke with Afton Management, they are in the process of addressing my concerns with heavy equipment impacts on the existing trails...

The bad news- the 6' high berm along the pine tree line directly behind the meadows chalet is gone. The short term reroute is to just connect sections of the existing trail. Which means a feature-less 180 turn on the graded ski slope. Afton was attempting to pack in/ firm up the graded dirt.

The not so bad news- the other locations (top of Valley View, Manhandler, Whistler) impacted by the heavy equipment should be hard packed by race time. Downed trees and head knockers to be removed by race time. Mowing will be going on tomorrow and Thursday.

The good news- the true MTB singletrack and reroutes we put in this year are in good shape. Build it right and for the most part you don't have to mess with it...

Magic, you going to ride your first Afton lap of the year with me on Wednesday night or what?

[TML]

Larry and crew,

Thanks a ton for checking in out there and being on top of this. I feel for you having to deal with the utter disregard the maintenace crew has for the single track trails. Hopefully they'll patch things up and get things back to fairly good shape.

Thanks!