Stevens Pass Bike Park Opening Day 7/6/12

When the Stevens Pass Bike Park opened late last summer, I was living out of state but still stoked to hear my home mountain opened lift accessed downhill trails. Since moving back to Washington earlier this winter, I’ve been anxiously awaiting for the snow to melt since Stevens closed for winter operations and today was finally the day for the Bike Park to open! Props to the hardworking Stevens team and crew to get it up and running despite the abundance of snow this season.

It was an easy drive up Hwy 2 to get in some lift accessed riding this morning. Once I hit the unloaded my bike and got my ticket, I followed the clearly marked signs to get to the lift.

Riding a new Bike Park is a good thing, it definitely pushes your riding to ride different dirt, trails and timing. I knew there were two trails open so I figured I would stick to the blue Rock Crusher (more difficult) trail for the day to get used to the design of the Bike Park here. I usually never push my luck on the first day of wherever I’m riding because I’d rather have my first day lead to my second, third, fourth and so on…than end it right there.

After warming up to Rock Crusher, I felt a lot more comfortable on it. Throughout the trails are table top jumps, berms, lots of bridges and a mixture of really dry loose dirt or gravel to muddy or more tacky spots. It definitely kept you on your toes.

I was expecting lines for the Bike Park but I arrived right at the opening time and found that there were a good amount of riders but evenly spread out through the day. By afternoon, more riders were showing up the trails were picking up pace but still no wait at the lift line. By the time I left in early afternoon, the parking lot was filling up.

I was riding alone today since most of my friends haven’t caught the downhill bug like I have. I don’t mind riding alone but it was nice having conversations on the chairlifts with other riders throughout the day. Everyone was really excited for the trails to open so soon in the season and get a taste for them. Because I was riding alone, I managed to stop more often to get photos of other riders on the trails throughout the day.

Earlier this morning, I thought of Chris Rudolph and how I better get rad for him today like he would have done. After riding today, it was a good feeling to know that Chris left his mark on something rad that others will ride for years to come and Stevens has done a fine job to make it happen. I’m also pretty stoked that there is a Bike Park closer to where I live and I don’t need a passport to ride there. Can’t wait to see more trails open up and continue to progress my mountain biking here in Washington.