Mountain Bike Reviews Forum banner

DH Biking at Alyeska Cancelled for 2012?

4K views 19 replies 11 participants last post by  mattyrides07 
#1 ·
#4 ·
?

I talked with Burntski on the lift on an epic powder day, and along with mentioning the Chair 4 construction, said they'd be having the bike park rolling. Chair 3, Tram, and if the top 1/2 of the mountain ever melts, laps on 6 is where it will be best.

Whistler Lift Ticket $50
Rental 100
Armor 50
Insurance 25
Hotel 100
Food 50/day

=375/day.

Worth every penny, but not cheaper than Alyeska.
 
#5 ·
I don't rent a bike or gear. And I have found some great prices on condos in the park.

A hotel in Anchorage in the summer is $200 a night easy, plus a rental car.

Anyway, I sure hope everything works out at Alyeska. It's pretty cool seeing a bike park grow from it's begining.
 
#6 ·
I agree

Hopefully they keep that project going. Definitely some unique challenges to overcome. This year, really depending on how long it takes nearly 200 inches of snowpack to melt with the weather we end up with will really determine what can be done there. I'm hoping since Chair 6 is running, they can tram people up and have riders up there while the work is done on 4. Just might not open until mid July, if we are lucky.

I'd love to buy a DH bike. Hopefully I can justify having one up here soon. Maybe next year.
 
#7 · (Edited)
Rode Whistler last year, and it was honestly the least amount of money vs fun factor I have ever experienced.

We had 4 people in our group, rented a condo with garage, went to the grocery when we got there, lift tickets were about 160 for 3-4 days. AK Airlines miles payed for the trip. We split the rental between 4 from Vancouver. I had gear+DH bike with me......

I would say it was an honest 1000 dollar trip for me.....

I picked up more skillz in the 4 days at Whistler than I have in the past 3 years riding here locally, the experience level and confidence gained cant be compared. Especially after the lessons from Pro Riders that we took for a whole day. I went from being scared to run A-Line not making jumps, to clearing everything on the mountain with confidence well into transition. I came back to Alyeska, and everything seemed rather small after that place.

I find the lower half of the mountain is better for me. There is only one section on the upper mountain that I prefer which is the "Fridays" which the mountain needs more of down low where the soil/terrain is more suitable for bigger jumps 20-40ft, large tables, large stepdowns, 5-15ft drops.....etc. Like everyone says it will progress, but ultimately I think the lower mountain needs to be embraced ALOT because the quicker you get on it, the quicker it evolves, the quicker the experience base widens/gets better, the more vendors will support it also. Its a chain reaction that is yet to happen IMOP.

Double edge sword when playing up here, epic winters lead to less than epic summers on the mountain in the summer. I'll just ride my sled into June this year, and pickup mountain biking when the weather allows, and head to Whistler as usual, wouldnt mind trying some parks out west i.e Trestle etc...
 
#12 ·
Double edge sword when playing up here, epic winters lead to less than epic summers on the mountain in the summer. I'll just ride my sled into June this year, and pickup mountain biking when the weather allows, and head to Whistler as usual, wouldnt mind trying some parks out west i.e Trestle etc...
You'll have to fly East to get to trestle! Colorado... out west my eye. :skep:
 
#9 ·
chair one possibilities

Talked to the people at Alyeska and they indicated a possiblity of utilizing chair one for up loading to six and mid mountain take off. As long as six and three are running then it will be all good. Going up chair 4 in the rain sucked anyways!
 
#10 ·
Current plan is as quoted.

"Summer Mtn Bike season is scheduled for Fri-Sun starting July 6th and ending Oct 8th (with a couple of holiday monday's)."

It'll happen once it melts out!:D

That aside, mgmt would rather not use the tram given the muddy mess that results. Hopefully Chair 1 works out...
 
#11 ·
Well......looks like the upper mountain just got hammered with the latest southernly flow of mositure that moved in. Probably slowed down the prospects or riding anything up that way for a while.

67" of new snow in the past 4 days recorded at the top of Chair 6. Almost 5" of rain equivalent.
 
#19 ·
No tram, no chair one?

Is the top of the mountain closed for the season at this point? For the last two weeks, I've been planning on going down to Aly but found out that there isn't access to the top of the mountain and didn't end up going because of it.

Same with a few weeks before that too.

Next weekend is closing weekend - any chance we'll be able to get up to the top one last time???

Please...
 
#20 ·
I called Friday. They said they were planning to open Saturday, but they still weren't open because of all the rain they had. Then Saturday hit and the mountains got dumped on. She said the top was closed though ....

I'm down to go up Friday if you want.

"Dream like you'll live forever, but live like you'll die today."
-James Dean
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top