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Grand Targhee Resort |
Alta, WY, United States |
wyoming |wydaho |trip report picks |tgr trip report picks |tetons |targhee |mtbparks pass |mtbparks |mtb |mountain bike |idaho |grand targhee |freeride |downhill |dh |by don stefanovich |bike parks |bike park |bike
A stop along Grand Targhee's Rock Garden Trail during a tour with the trail crew. Lance Canfield photo
ALTA, WY — We were standing with our bikes beside a giant yellow excavator on a big flat square of dirt. In front of us, it looked like something had been taking massive bites out of the green hillside, exposing piles of rock and dark, loamy soil—jackpot, especially in the notoriously rocky Teton region.
"It's about three feet of topsoil," said Harlan Hottenstein. "Here, that's like striking gold."
It's a trailbuilder's blessing.
Behind us, a wide, flat ribbon of soil wrapped around a stand of pines, forming a step down and another large table before that, the dirt still soft and fresh.
Harlan Hottenstein checks in with his trail crew during Rock Garden construction. Don Stefanovich photo
It's not often that one gets rare fresh tracks on a trail that's not only not finished, but never been ridden—perhaps the closest two-wheeled equivalent to finding a hidden stash on a powder day during the winter. During an opening weekend tour of Grand Targhee Bike Park with the trail crew a few weeks ago, we got to do just that.
And now, little more than a month later, Rock Garden is fully open as the premier black-diamond downhill trail at Grand Targhee Resort.
The trail crew puts finishing touches on a new section near the base area before first chair on opening day. Don Stefanovich photo
The trail—the first to drop rider's right from the top of the Dreamcatcher lift—descends more than 1,800 feet over two miles with 12 jumps and features, making it the steepest and one of the most challenging at Grand Targhee.
It's been the pet project of Hottenstein, head trail builder at Grand Targhee, for most of 2015, and light spring snowpack allowed him and his crew to work feverishly in preparing for opening weekend.
Nick Dunn, 13, of Driggs, ID, snags first chair on opening day. Don Stefanovich photo
Hottenstein, known throughout the region for his work consulting, designing and building trails over the past two decades—especially on the famed Teton Pass where he was one of the founding Teton Freedom Riders—was brought on four years ago to help take Grand Targhee's bike park to the next level.
He moved to the mountains in the early '90s when he fell in love with skiing and snowboarding. He cut his teeth trailbuilding as a mountain biker in the summer when he realized that non-purpose built trails just weren't cutting it.
Marketing Director Ken Rider points out significant updates on the 2015 trail map. Don Stefanovich photo
"Essentially, we were trying to create the thrill of powder skiing year round," Hottenstein said of his earliest inspiration for building downhill trails.
His handiwork on the mountain is already evident on the flow trails Bullwinkle, Otter Slide and Chutes N Ladders, wide-open high-speed runs where massive sweeping berms and sculpted jumps compliment the trails that established the resort as a downhill destination. The classic Targhee experience is raw and technical, loose scratched in singletrack and jutting rocks.
Bryon and Gary of Grand Targhee's Habitat bike shop charge a high-speed section of Bullwinkle. Don Stefanovich photo
Those trails are etched into the mountain beneath what has to be one of the most scenic mountain backdrops in the world. From the lift, to reach every trail but the brand-new Rock Garden, you drop in beneath a rustic ski patrol shack into the Grand Traverse—one of the oldest bike trails on the mountain.
Overhead, the Tetons thrust into the sky like massive stone turrets of some otherworldly kingdom, late season snow still clinging to their craggy walls, while you carve arcing high-speed turns into the hillside and alpine meadows exploding with wildflowers blur into Technicolor tracers.
Lance Canfield drops into the Grand Traverse. Photo by Don Stefanovich
One would be forgiven for mistaking their surroundings for a remote location high in the Alps, or perhaps the best kind of lucid dream.
READ THE FULL STORY AT MTBPARKS.COM
by Don Stefanovich
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MTBparks is North America’s most comprehensive guide to mountain-bike parks. MTBparks helps riders discover new bike parks and plan their next adventure, whether it's a weekend at a nearby destination or an epic road-trip across the continent.