Vail Commando trail single track, Good stuff?

[Crampedon]

I may ditch the fabulous summer in Maui to take a few weeks off in Vail. Scare some trout and ride the bike up a few hills. Read a bit about this run. Got friends that can drop me off at the top of the pass any and every morning. The route sounds pretty straight forward, and once you get to top of the world a few good options to get back towards Minturn side.

Never ridden the back bowls, ski'd the shit out of it. Like to rip some lines and go down what, sleepy time, then a climb out and down the mile? two elk drainage?

Gonna bring a sweet 29" 5" bike. Anyone ride this regularly? What other rides should I hit in the area? Like to see Eiseman hut area too.

Mahalo....

[Feldybikes]

I've done it once,taking 2 Elk all the way to Minturn. If I were to do it again, I'd probably climb out China Bowl and head down Cougar Ridge (?) or something on the front side. No idea of current conditions, but Bowman's shortcut (I think that's the name of the trail that goes from Shrine Pass to Top of the World) tends to have trees down here and there. Not a big deal.

Meadow Mountain is a good trail in the area (starts just east of Minturn). I don't particularly care for the stuff on the north side of the Vail Valley (e.g. North Trail, Son of Middle Creek)

Stuff further down valley, like in Avon and Eagle, is pretty sweet, too. I'm thinking A10/watertower and Boneyard/East Eagle in particular.

[MakersTeleMark]

Let me know when you are in town and I'll ride with you. I prefer not to do elkelk from the pass, but rather up over china wall after the grand traverse. It's in great shape now. Cougar ridge is riding great as well, but a few big blowdowns way lower down. Game creek is clear and smooth sailing as is whiskey creek.

[Goatski]

Elkelk - ha - is awesome, don' let the joeys tell you otherwise. It's a bit more technical using Commando/Bowmans versus the super-fast option coming from benchmark thru outer mongolia. The bottom is challenging & narrow, but it's one of the only "epics" in the area.

I'll second Meadow Mountain>Whiskey Creek, recommend skipping A10 (brake burner), and throw in Buffehr Loop as another option. Just make sure it's not super-busy (11:00 on a Sat.) when you try to climb Red Sandstone Rd. towards Piney. Also, head east when you hit the North Trail (back towards Red Sandstone) - it's a brake-burning waste to go west into Buffehr.

The Beav has some good riding which can be tied into Paulie's Plunge. You get 700' free from the parking lot shuttle if you want it.

[Goatski]

Elkelk - ha - is awesome, don't let the joeys tell you otherwise. It's a bit more technical using Commando/Bowmans versus the super-fast option coming from Benchmark thru Outer Mongolia. The trail below Chair 21 is challenging & narrow, but it's one of the only "epics" in the area.

I'll second Meadow Mountain>Whiskey Creek, recommend skipping A10 (brake burner), and throw in Buffehr Loop as another suggestion. Just make sure it's not super-busy (11:00 on a Sat.) when you try to climb Red Sandstone Rd. towards Piney. Also, head east when you come down to the North Trail (back towards Red Sandstone) - it's a brake-burning waste to go west into Buffehr.

The Beav has some good riding which can be tied into Paulie's Plunge. You get 700' free from the parking lot shuttle if you want it.

[Crampedon]

Let me know when you are in town and I'll ride with you. I prefer not to do elkelk from the pass, but rather up over china wall after the grand traverse. It's in great shape now. Cougar ridge is riding great as well, but a few big blowdowns way lower down. Game creek is clear and smooth sailing as is whiskey creek.

After last winter I have about had it with Cougars, talk about big blowdowns!

How do you get over to China wall? Lift ride up, then ride up past wildwood, PHQ, then down the hill over to elk elk, up past the platter line, over towards 22? I would like to see all that with grass on it.

Does the turn off of Shrine pass road take you on ridges to the top above mushroom? I am looking at dates and tickets and bike options in the next few days.

[MakersTeleMark]

I ride from minturn to vail, to chair 10, midvail, gondie, grand traverse, keep on the ridge, hike a bike over china wall to benchmark, hit the elkelk connector, then down the drainage to the trailhead and back into town.

Bowman's/Top of the world is a bitch of an up from shrine pass.

I have a buddy who, with a lift ticket, rode elkelk, cougar ridge, and game creek in one day. Quite the trifecta, even with a gondi ride.

Plenty of other shorter rides in the general area too. I took stupendous man on a ride last year while he was in town for a conference on the N. Side that he really really liked. We didn't see a soul, just each other's grins.

[zartagen]

I've been thinking about riding up there, too. Does anyone know how the trails are looking right now? I heard there was still snow up there for the vail half marathon.

[MakersTeleMark]

A couple patches of snow on Bowmans up to top of the world. The rest is clean, but super lush. Very narrow tire wide singletrack with vegetation hiding rocks, etc. next to the trail on the sides. Expect to stack it a couple of times should you veer off the lightly beaten path.