WINTER PARK MOUNTAIN BIKING - PART 2:  TRESTLE AND GRANBY LIFT SERVED

WARM DAYS, COOL NIGHTS, HOT TRAILS. NOT SO WINTERY WINTER PARK.

Granby Ranch - Winter Park CO August 2016 from Lee Lau on Vimeo.

TRESTLE BIKE PARK

Trestle Bike Park is the lift accessed Downhill Mountain Bike Park in Winter Park Resort. Accessed by three lifts Trestle offers 40 miles of trails. 14 trails are dedicated “downhill” while the remainder are “Enduro style”. Bottom line is that there are options to suit all preferences.

Lines start early to get your rental gear.  The rental fleet is beautifully maintained and the staff very fast at moving the line along - Lee Lau photo

Trail Map with current and future lifts and trails - Lee Lau photo

Warm up on Double Jeopardy - Lee Lau photo

Trestle’s season runs from June to September with exact dates being condition-dependent. They open promptly at 9:00am if you need to rent one of their demo bikes from their impressive and immaculately maintained fleet which includes Trek Sessions, Transition TR500, Enduro FSR Evo, Specialized Demo’s, Intense Uzzi’s, Scott Gambler, Norco Aurum or Giant Glory’s. You can even get a deal if you book online! You can also book for half a day as we did so we could do some pedalling in the afternoon. With their reasonable day ticket rates of $44.00 we were surprised it wasn’t busier what with it being a bluebird weekend day of riding. Check out their website for daily deals and other events going on – there’s really too much to discuss here.

Doug on Double Jeopardy - Lee Lau photo

No Quarter to Eskimo Lift – Mid mountain lift with no line on a blue-bird weekend - Lee Lau photo

Doug on the Rainmaker Jump Trail - Lee Lau photo

Trestle Bike park was also home to the 2016 Colorado Freeride Festival (previously Crankworx Colorado), so you know they aren’t afraid of pushing the limit. Also for 2016 they are expanding their terrain with three new trails that opened up in the fall; a black flow trail – Upper Boulevard, and two blue flow trails – Spicy Chicken and Dyno Bones. The 10.2 mile Backside Trestle trail (built by Gravity Logic) should open next year to offer even more downhill terrain.

The Boulevard – Techy trail - Lee Lau photo

No Quarter – Flow Jump Trail - Lee Lau photo

Ride back to the Village- Lee Lau photo

Winter Park Resort’s base area was built by Intrawest so it has that Whistler feel. It’s a smaller walking village with a cool main meeting area where they have festivities happening on weekends. The Chili Fest was happening when we were there. 

Band playing during the Chili Fest in the Village - Sharon Bader photo

Lunch at Vertical Bistro - Sharon Bader photo

GRANBY RANCH

Thirty minutes, or 20 miles north of Winter Park is Granby Ranch. Formerly known as Sol Vista, Granby is a privately run 5500 acre resort that partners with the Headwaters Trails Alliance to create community trail connections. Granby’s community participation also involves general social good as it also donates to the Grand Foundation to improve the quality of living in the Grand County area.

Granby Ranch came to be when private investors purchased five ranches with the intention of building a ski resort in the 1960′s. In 1995 the Ranch was purchased by a Brazilian family. Since then they have expanded their ski terrain, built a golf course, and developed a lift assisted mountain bike park with adjoining XC trails and some dedicated gravity trails.

Greg Mazu’s company has been involved with developing trails in the DH and XC network through his company Singletrack Trails. With 36 trails accessible by the lift, 14 of them are considered dh – oriented trails. Granby illustrates the diversity of Winter Park area riding all in a discrete geographical location.

The Lodge - Sharon Bader photo

One of the mountains - Sharon Bader photo

Excellent rental fleet selection! – Intense and Devinci’s - Lee Lau photo

Pivot Mach6′s, 429Trails - Lee Lau photo

Granby is well mapped and signed. There is no charge to ride the trails and the public is welcome to use the area by bike, or on foot. The only charge is to use the chairlift which has reasonable prices – for example a one lift ride to access higher trails is $ 10. A whole day ticket to do laps is $ 26.

Trail access to many of the surrounding communities is also integrated – for example through publicly maintained trails to houses via Route 85/87 junction. We were told that biking visits spike mainly in the weekend but on the weekday when we rode we say very few people.

Trail map - Lee Lau photo

Coloradooooo broooooo - Lee Lau photo

Sidewinder Trail 

Vista Ridge - Lee Lau photo

Down the Fraser back to Granby - Lee Lau photo

Fraser Canyon! - Lee Lau photo

and back to the Granby base - Lee Lau photo

Had a snack on the Patio before checking out the more dh-oriented trails with Kevin, Greg, Sharon and Barb  Lee Lau photo

The biggest group using Granby appears to be wedding parties who enjoy the views from atop accessible via the chairlift. Base elevation of Granby is “only” 8202 ft. The chairlift takes you up 1,000 feet which doesn’t seem like a lot but it does put you above the surrounding flats and gives you amazing views to the surrounding continental divide and below to the Fraser drainage.   While there are downhill trails per se, the primary usage of the chairlift appears to be more trail-bike oriented.  That's fine since the trails are well built and maintained.

Strawberry Jam - Lee Lau photo

Strawberry Jam is a nice flowy trail built by Singletrack Trails. Perfect for our trail-oriented Treks - Lee Lau photo

Little Hip in Silky Johnson - Lee Lau photo

Maps

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Stats XC Stats DH Stats

WHERE TO EAT

As we were travelling light we decided to eat out for breakfast and dinner. The options in town are plentiful! Our first day we ate at Carvers, a nice little place on the main strip. Breakfast was huge and tasty.

Another breakfast option is at the  Rise and Shine bakery which we thought was mediocre at best - Lee Lau photo

Good servings, I would not recommend adding extra Avocado to your meal, they just spread a bit on the bread for $1.00. The servings are big enough! - Lee Lau photo

We had Dinner at Deno’s. It’s a popular place on the highway strip and deservedly so. Really good value for money at happy hour.which enough for dinner! - Lee Lau photo

Another breakfast option is at Randi’s Grill and Pub. They are expanding to breakfast and THEY know had to add Avocados! - Lee Lau photo

Apres-ride we usually ended up at Hideaway Park Brewery, which is at the cusp of very well-received trend of enthusiastic skilled small scale breweries. - Lee Lau photo

Sharon, Kevin and Greg outside their natural habitat - Lee Lau photo

Apres Beer at Hideaway Brewery – This time we were able to drink our beer at Hideway Park where they had a band and many people enjoying the music and Open Carry. Kevin, Andrew Brumenschenkel – the BrewMaster, Greg and Sharon. - Lee Lau photo

Conveniently located next Hideaway is Fraser Valley Hot Dog – a perfect complement to beer. - Lee Lau photo

About The Author

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stash member Lee Lau

Professional Recreationalist. I ski mainly in the Coast Mountains of British Columbia in the Whistler/Pemberton area. I often travel to the Selkirks, the Monashees and to other touring destinations. http://instagram.com/sharon_and_lee