North Face: The Build Blog

Lovely mild weather, 22 people, and a great atmosphere.

Track building happiness ! I think the gang benched about 35m of this trail, and cleared most of the random vegetation nearly all of the way to the second switchback !!

I am always amazed to see the progress: some people saw stuff up, others rip out roots, still others attack with grubbers to make a flat bench, and more people build lovely flowy trail on the new foundations. Wow.

This track will get dark quite early, (much like SWIGG & Starfish), due to the canopy and the side of the hill being in shadow. But the first switchback will be in the light (once that barberry goes) and the second is also out in the open, so they will be glowing strangely.

This lowest section of the North Face project has a very different setting to the others, and its personality is becoming obvious already. It is going to be a ripper :D

Great stuff and thank you to the men, women and children who helped out this evening. As always, you have made an important difference!

Photos:

Before this evening..

At 7:15, dinner time...

And going for a walk into the trail just after Pizza Time:

and

and..

and...theres more

and then

Anyway it eventually started to get dark, and the sensible people wandered off...

( except where there was one more Barberry to remove..)

And then Martin sent us all scattering by steaming down the trail into the gloom, becoming the first person to ride it :)

So here is a map showing the new lower track in RED, the part that was pretty much done last night is the yellow part at the beginning, and the yellow dots show the part that is being worked on:

 

 

Anyhow we will be meeting again at the same spot next Tuesday from 5, and if you want to perfect the existing North Face trail from the very top, drop by and say hello on Sunday this coming weekend from 10am.

The main North Face trail is of course ridable now. Except where we might be working !

See you on the side of a hill..

Cheers,

Rob

 

 

Today a thousand or so riders took part in the Karapoti near Upper Hutt.

Good on them for having a go.

Today a bunch of people dug some dirt on the North Face trail.

Good on them for trail building !!

 

We worked around the switchback numero 6, with Zac especially applying his skills at clobbering lots of solid rock with a pick for many hours.

The track heading into the corner looked a bit tight, so we widened that, and the track below looked a bit…tight, so we widened that too.

Heads were scratched and extra swerves and rollers were added heading into the corner, and then, strangely enough, heads were scratched and extra swerves and rollers were added on the way out.

 

We then got keen and headed down the trail tweaking away.

Cambers were adjusted for cornering goodness  (i,e, rocks smashed with picks) banks cut back for better visibility and a few stumps flung over the side. A tightening radius corner was strictly disciplined.

 

Lots of women and men rode down the track today, and it was nice to see them all smiling.

A shame they did not come back later to test what we had been doing, but there is always tomorrow, or next week. Or next year. This trail is going to be around for a very long time!.

 

The whole track is ridable with care for intermediate riders - look out for the very soft edges and sharp stumps- and enjoy the ride!!

 

Next weekend, Sunday is the day, and we start from the very top, making the existing track even better, metre by metre. Almost impossible I know, however building 1700 m of trail in 14 weeks shows what people can do if they are keen!

 

Today's selection of happy snaps from the old box camera: 

 

Widening the run into switchback 6.....

 

 

Widening the run out of the corner:

 

 

Track building can be so very tiring:

 

 

And some test riding shots...

 

Josh riding on switchback #6

 

 

Martin on the way out...

 

 

The lads line up for a bit of a blast...no straight lines through here !!

 

 

Josh on what will be a tabletop, heading towards the switchback:

 

 

 

Meanwhile next Tuesday night’s session is only 150m up the 4wd track off Allington road, on a NEW piece of trail. That starts at 5 and goes until dark, please see   this information

Yep, the Tuesday nights have been fantastic, and with only 4 to go, and the light fading, we have a NEW VENUE for the last 4 weeks !

Have a read  by going directly to  This Page 

Cheers

Rob

 

Don Macleod this morning rode the 1700m of North Face trail, end to end non stop.

Initial looking about for this trail was done on October, 2008.

Pilot tracking started in earnest in March, 2009. And 25 or so sessions later…..

The track was given the green light on September 25, 2009.

Work parties started on 15 October 2009, the forecast was for snow..

Since then we have had about 35 work parties and built 14 switchbacks and benched about 1700m of swoopy flowy singletrack.

A very very impressive effort indeed.

***** A huge thankyou to all of those who have helped out  :)

Next up, making it as good as it can be.

And, working on the lower section…

 

Last night 8 people arrived to conquer Switchback 6, or at least make a start on it.

The weather forecast had been forbidding all week: showers heading to rain etc. This was only modified to a chance of showers at 4pm.. That and the low cloud kept many people in front of their televisions. In the end it was warm, and did not rain at all.

The corner itself is taking shape, and it will be pretty challenging to make into a thing of beauty. Due to the local terrain (i.e. very bloody steep) it has quite a drop of about 2 metres, and there are the usual huge lumps of rock.

Large chunks of the nearby trail was also widened, and a spot made for a seat.

So great progress was made, well done everybody !

We will be back there next Saturday, however the Tuesday after may well be at a new bit of the trail, 900m closer to home, and far easier to get to and from in these days of diminishing evening light ..

I shall keep you posted.

See you on the side of a hill !

 

 

 

 

A tenacious gang made about 60m of trail through some pretty tough ground today, an awesome effort indeed!

The run from switchback 5 to 6 is on a very steep side slope, some of the steepest in the whole trail. And at no extra cost it did include a fair amount of rock.

 

The usual menu was devoured:

Ripping gorse and barberry out of the ground,

Smashing rock with picks,

Lopping pestiferous vegetation near the trail and beyond,

and benching a trail of curvy swoopy excellence with grubbers.

 

Just another normal North Face dig day, except that for the first time, the end of the beginning is in sight !

 

Next up we have only 20 m to bench to the switchback: the ground is all cleared and waiting. The switchback itself will be a challenge: situated on that steep side slope, with big surface rocks.

But we have seen far far worse before and overcome it, so very very soon the whole trail will be ridable.

 

The view from switchback 6 at about 11am:

 

 

And a few hours later:

 

 

In the late afternoon I was called to a photo opportunity: the last stump in the middle of the trail was to be removed. Fittingly, it was both gorse AND barberry:

 

 

 

And bye bye stump!!

 

 

So now for thre inevitable map: only the yellow and dotted bit to go before the trail is ridable:

 

 

 

 

 

It will still need heaps of fettling before it is finished, but riding, walking or running the trail will only help pack it down .

 

Next up, weather permitting, is Tuesday evening, which could be a historic occasion!

 

Cheers.

The North face was approved to be built as IMBA  "Intermediate" standard.

So what does this mean?

It means if you find Lazy Fern tricky, this trail will be very challenging.

If you find Ridgeline Vertigo and Trickle Falls Ok, this trail will not (and should not) have the anything like same technical challenge.

This is the difference between diffcult+extreme tracks, and intermediate, and easy ones..

The track itself is currently very like Sally Alley to ride. So what end of intermediate should it be built to?

Many people would automatically build a trail to be as tough as they could-  however this does minimise the number of riders who can happily ride it. If we do that, we are not really building a trail to cater for as many intermediate riders as we can.  Given that this is (and will be) the only intermeduiate way down from the top, I dont think we can fairly build it to be as tough as possible in technical difficulty.

However if we built an intermediate trail that is not as tough technically as can be under that standard, the more skilled riders will not have the technical challenge that they are looking for.

To ensure this trail is also enjoyed my the more skilled riders, I think we should build as much fun and flow into the trail as we can, and the more skilled riders will challenge themselves by riding it faster.

In this way their fun comes from the flow rather than the difficulty, and more riders will enjoy this epic trail.

Cheers!

Rob

This evening a team of about 15 worked their way up to switchback number 6, and began clearing above it. Plenty of gorse stumps lie in wait over the next 90m, and there is the small matter of a switchback placed on a steep hill to dig, (what is a 65% side slope anyway??) but it will happen.

 

The benching below is probably too narrow and too close to the prickles to ride at the moment but widen it we shall  :o)

 

In contrast to when we piloted through this area in late June last year, the views are now quite spectacular with the clearing of The Menace, and there are plans afoot to create a seat from which to gaze into the great beyond.

 

Here are some photos in the downhill direction.

 

Looking towards switchback #6:

 

 

The pink tape marker on Switchback #6:

 

 

The view out of the switchback:

 

 

And a bit further along:

 

 

and then:

 

 

And even further along:

 

 

So we are now approximately here:

 

 

Many thanks to those who made it along this evening, it is quite a walk up and it is getting darker earlier..

 

Next up we will be hacking away from switchback number 5, on SUNDAY this coming weekend… and back again to the lower bit on Tuesday next week.

See you there!

One Mountain bike trail, needs a little work, perfect for those who want to make the place their own special retreat. With a fresh coat of paint it will look like new and be the envy of the whole street!

 

Today two or three regulars could not be there, and the ground was a gorse field, so I thought progress may be steady rather than staggering. I hoped that we would get near the Heebee, which was planned to be the centrepoint of a switchback number 5.

Well we got to that tree and around it, and semi cleared 30m beyond in mostly great weather. The morning breeze had by then died away to an almost balmy late afternoon.

 

Big thanks to those who worked part of the day- fitting in track building where they could .

 Everybody who spends some time on the North face really does make a noticeable difference.

 

With about 145m to go, we should have worked or way right through from the bottom up and the top down in the next 2 weeks, given good weather. . Then all we have to do is make this 1700m as fun to ride as we can, and as it packs down the potential is pretty obvious to anybody who has ridden it !

 

Phil and Josh drag a barberry stump out of the way..

 

 

Zac, Iain and Hugh work their way towards the Heebee and switchback number 5:

 

 

 

Ian clears the run down from the switchback :

 

 

 

The diminishing gap:

 

 

 

 

Next up is Tuesday evening where the trail is pretty clear. Hopefully great things will be created on the way up to switchback number 6. 

 

 

Another mild evening greeted 13 or so trackies as they did their thing up on the side of the hill, high above Karori.

On the uphill side of proceedings there is the pilot track (with enough gorse cut to actually see the ground) and on the downhill direction, a freshly cut benched and groomed work of art with swoopy bends, flowing its way down the hill into the distance. Amazing. There is a real sense of camaraderie and achievement amongst the gang and it is well deserved. We have about about 250m to go before the two ends meet in the middle.

Er correction: Ian tells me there is about 190m to go, allowing for an extension around a well placed tree near Ridgeline, so I have amended the map :-)

We should come close to both switchbacks over the coming Saturday and Tuesday digs, however the bit in the middle is just gorse for Africa (or more accurately, Scotland).

Then we can look at perfecting the trail: perhaps a bit of widening, and I think, a lot of berming of switchbacks :-) :-) And a bit of trail even closer to home...

Here be a map of what there is yet to clear:

And on the way down the hill I stopped and took this:

This coming weekend we will be working on the top section from 10am on Saturday, and then the following Tuesday from the lower end again.

If you have not come along to a track dig day, please drop in and be part of this adventure! There is plenty to do, with lots of friendly assistance, tools, a feed and gloves etc provided.

Cheers!