Big Trail Building Part 2
Powerslave Nears Completion
Words by Riley McIntosh.
Date: 2008-10-27
For Part One click here.
The top of “Powerslave,” is at an elevation of 7200’ and downtown Nelson sits at about 1700’. It’s a long way in between. It’s getting kind of silly how much singletrack there is from the top to the bottom. The very last piece of dirt you ride before hitting pavement is on a trail called ‘Bedframe.’ From there it’s a downhill coast to Main Street. If you’re a real trail madman you can actually keep going, onto “Skier’s Right,” for a last kick but then (gasp) you have to pedal flat highway for a whopping 1 km.
Riley's been feeling a little loamly.
I didn’t work on the trail at all for about 5 weeks because I had to go to work. But I’ve been back for a while now and have been making some progress.
My brother had to go back to the Island for grade 12, so I’m on my own now. My friend Lee helped whenever he could during the summer, and my girlfriend came up a couple times. Lately a friend named Elora has been helping me out and the last three days she drove the quad back down to the house letting me ride all the way out. We are nearing the top but still have a good bit to go. I can’t wait to ride the 1km long alpine descent from the summit!
Tools of the trade.
From where we have been working the ride is still pretty huge, even though it’s not from the top. It starts with a 1000’ vertical descent through the sub-alpine, a little climb on an old mining road, a cruisy low angle 1.3 kilometer ridge ride, a sharp descent, and then a 5 minute climb to the summit of Morning Mountain. From there a big view is an indicator of elevation. 4400’ of descending awaits. I’d say the first five minutes of descending is my favourite. There are steep sections that lead into side hill berms that send you on a nice flat traverse at high speed before the next berm shoots you across the hill again in the opposite direction. 
Anyone up for a curvy skinny ride?
Another thing I’ve really been noticing lately is how many different viewpoints there are along the trail. At the summit you have a 360-degree view, with a huge expanse of the Bonnington Mountains all around you. At many different points you can see in different directions. It’s nice to get a Hawk’s view at The Valhallas, the Slocan Valley, Whitewater Ski Hill, Kokanee Glacier, and of course Kootenay Lake and Nelson itself.
Another stunning Kootenays view.
From where Elora left me the last few days it takes about 40 minutes to reach the old cabin pictured in Part 1. From there you eventually descend into an old growth forest that drops you down to the main access road. From there you pedal along the road for about half a K to an awesome new trail, “Illuminati.” This trail was built by Sacred Ride Bike Shop owner Mark Holt, and Baldface Ski Guide Heath Lockhurst. It’s got roman-esque side hill, all lined with rocks, and more of a deciduous forest that is super beautiful right now with the leaves all turning yellow. 
An early dusting means building season will soon be done.
The main objective I have now (after Elora and I reach the peak) to finish the trail completely is to build a connector from where my old growth trail, “Bear Den,” spits out, over to the top of the “Illuminati.” It’s a good distance, probably 2 kilometers, through huge timber at first and then descending into a Kootenay mix forest of Cedar, Hemlock, and farther down Aspen, Cottonwood, Larch, Birch, and Alder. 
This is not Elora (as I initially thought) this is Riley's GF.
I really want to finish it by first snowfall. If I do then Nelson locals will have worked together to build a complete new trail from the top of Toad Mountain to downtown in 1 season.
The other new trail that completes the descent is called “Skier’s Right,” and was built by local Ski Patroller Mark Talbot in April. It’s a really fast trail with Moab like slick rock, parralleling the classic Nelson trail “Pulmonary.” 
Woodwork to keep the speed up.
Lots of what has been built already needs maintenance, which is kind of annoying. I would definitely say that trail builders in the Kootenays do not do the kind of upkeep that occurs on the shore, with all the armoring and whatnot. But 2 main factors help our trails: not nearly as much traffic and not that much rain. But I see a need in the Nelson area for people to volunteer their time to work on drainage and armoring on local trails. Nelson is a small community but it’s amazing how many dedicated riders we have. I bet the number of locals who ride 2-4 times per week is a couple hundred.
Riley at work.
My plan with ‘Bear Den’ is to make it kind of like a personal statement section of trail. What I mean by that is over time I want to make it as perfect, flowy, and as well built as I can. That trail got tons of traffic over the summer and let me tell you, it’s shit right now compared to what it was like the first couple months. It’s got mud holes, roots, blown corners; tons of problems. I’m going to make a hobby of getting that one section of trail as good as I can. My plan is to fix the mud holes with perpendicular cedar drainage boxes a la ‘Le Shore,’ and build more curving bridges over problem spots to increase flow and help maintain speed. I also want to build some dirt berms. It would be super sick to build a roller coaster that could be either rolled or doubled up, as well….but I guess I’m starting to put the cart before the horse.
It’s been fun to keep working away at this project and I’ve sure built up respect for all the builders out there making awesome new trails for everyone to enjoy, because it’s a ton of work. Sometimes I get that “why don’t I just go riding instead of building’ kind of feeling, but the bottom line is that when Elora heads out of sight on the quad and I’m left up there with 5,000 odd feet of descending waiting to usher me right to the main street of the town I love, everything is cherry. 
And then a ride to the bottom...
I was thinking it would be crazy to have an enduro downhill race or super downhill or whatever those are called, from the top all the way to baker street downtown Nelson…
Look for more riding photos in the conclusion, Part 3. We’ll see if I get 'er done before we have to shut things down for winter.
Place your bets on whether you think Riley will connect all the dots before he's snowed out - here.
Stumble this!
Tweet this!
