Stevens Pass Bike Park’s latest path makes for excellent late-summer enjoyable

STEVENS PASS — Washington’s hardest-to-pronounce mountain biking path may additionally be its most enjoyable.

In Norse mythology, Jörmungandr (YOR-mun-gahn-dr) was a serpentlike sea monster born to the trickster god Loki and archenemy of thunder god Thor. The namesake of the most recent path on the Stevens Pass Bike Park suggests it’s not one to take calmly, however seasoned downhill mountain bikers ought to positively think about charming this snake and journey what feels just like the grime equal of a banked slalom course.

Debuted in the midst of final season, Jörmungandr’s first two phases (a 3rd is within the works) are a part of a renaissance on the Stevens Pass Bike Park. First opened in 2011 beneath earlier possession, Vail Resorts mothballed the park in 2021 however introduced it again the following yr by well-liked demand and has invested in new and higher trails ever since.

Coupled with the second iteration of the Summit Mountain Bike Park, which additionally opened in 2022 and has debuted three new trails since, this decade’s fifth season of lift-serviced mountain biking in Washington has seen the outside pursuit come again stronger than ever. From simply three trails that solely went midway down the mountain earlier than really fizzling out on service roads, at this time the Stevens Pass Bike Park boasts almost a dozen top-to-bottom trails and a full slate of jumps, berms, slabs and bridges that supply loads of g-force-inducing, stomach-churning moments for superior riders in search of one thing they’ll’t discover on their neighborhood trails.

While the $71 carry ticket prices greater than pedaling, bike patroller Tony Fortune argues it’s cash effectively spent in the event you’re hoping to hone your technical abilities in brief order. “Because you can get so many laps without pedaling, you can really see progression in one day and even in one hour,” he stated.

Suiting up

One of the perks of summer time at Stevens Pass? Easy parking. The notoriously congested ski space gives a a lot mellower arrival expertise within the hotter months. No reservations are required, nor any threat of satellite tv for pc parking.

If you deliver your personal bike, journey from the lot to the bottom space. Otherwise, head over to the rental store for a full suspension downhill bike ($152 for adults, $110 for youths). Rentals are all-day solely with no hourly or half-day possibility, so plan accordingly and put together to decide to a full day of driving. Prices are 20% cheaper when booked on-line prematurely.

All leases embody knee and elbow pads, gloves and a full-face helmet. Chest protectors are an additional $12. Donning the armor could make you are feeling like a knight heading into battle — it might probably additionally get scorching — however the safety is value it. I’m nonetheless nursing a sore elbow from a crash with out pads over a month in the past, so I used to be grateful to swimsuit up head to toe, figuring out that my day would principally encompass high-risk downhill driving.

The rental store is a well-oiled machine and had me kitted out in minutes. The bike was in good working order, however didn’t include a dropper submit, which permits the rider to regulate their seat peak on the fly. I like dropper posts for sections when I’ve to pedal, however there may be admittedly little or no pedaling at a motorcycle park.

Instead, the Hogsback Express chairlift does the work of getting you and your bike to the highest. Bikes and riders alternate chairs; loading the bike into the cradle takes some observe, however the lifties can help. Once airborne, it’s a bit disorienting to journey a chairlift with nothing strapped to your toes. Distract your self with the view — sure, the majestic Cascades, but additionally eyeballing the paths under you that spend the winter buried in snow till devoted path crews can work their magic.

“What sets Stevens Pass and other bike parks apart from places like Leavenworth or Bellingham are machine-built, wide flow trails versus a hand-built, single-track trail,” stated Fortune, my information for the day. “Because of the machine access, you can’t build trails like this everywhere.”

At the highest, lifties take your bike off the rack for you — then it’s time to decide on your journey.

Trail development: inexperienced to ‘Gandr

Warm up with a inexperienced circle route: Golden Spike to Morooka Motion. You gained’t catch air or have to barter steep, rocky sections on these mellow cruisers. But honest warning, they’re the one “easy” rated trails on the Stevens Pass Bike Park. If you aren’t snug driving blue squares, it’s greatest to observe someplace like Duthie Hill Mountain Bike Park and are available again once you’re prepared, or take a lesson (two-hour intro session: $82).

From there, we peeled out rider’s left from the highest of the carry to Rock Crusher, a nod to the heavy equipment used to construct this path, one of many park’s originals. Rock Crusher is the longest blue sq. stream path — that means a clean driving floor sculpted into berms, rollers and jumps, versus a technical path riddled with roots and rocks and requiring extra cautious line selection.

Halfway down Rock Crusher, you’ll additionally discover a turnoff for Look What I Found, a black diamond with a slab — a rock face lengthy sufficient that the bike rides down the rock, not simply over it. There are a number of of those tougher choices peppered all through the park (see additionally: Duff Step off Golden Spike) that enable for short-but-steep options to the usual trails.

After Rock Crusher, try a blue sq. that begins technical after which goes with the stream in Jörmungandr — and it’s actually the decrease, part two stream part the place the path shines. The berms are packed tight and rise simply sufficient to slingshot the rider round every flip in a swooping movement. Stevens Pass doesn’t have plenty of grime to work with and dries out quick beneath the summer time solar, however there’s sufficient forest cowl to maintain this path a bit tackier than the remainder of the paths, the place, by late July, ruts have been beginning to make an look.

For Fortune, the path represents development not only for the rider however for the Stevens Pass Bike Park itself: “Jörmungandr is the perfect example of these really cool, flowy, machine-built trails.”

P.B.R. with a ginger ale chaser

Jörmungandr is pure Type I Fun, that means you wish to do it once more as quickly because it’s over. The fantastic thing about the bike park, after all, is that you would be able to, till the chairs cease spinning.

But I needed to pattern as a lot of the park as potential on my first day driving right here and couldn’t resist the Type II Fun enticement of black diamond P.B.R. Short for Powered by Rudolph, the path is an homage to former advertising director Chris Rudolph, who died within the 2012 Tunnel Creek avalanche throughout the first winter after the bike park opened. He was one of many bike park’s authentic conceivers and led a crowdfunding marketing campaign that persuaded the then-ownership to rent Whistler, B.C.-based Gravity Logic to design and construct the park.

P.B.R. warns riders on the entrance with a rock drop — in the event you can’t deal with that characteristic, it’s greatest to attempt once more one other time. The light however agency reminder that you’re heading into critical terrain is one in every of many considerate attributes on the bike park, from pullouts so you’ll be able to look ahead to pals with out obstructing the path to ride-arounds the place you’ll be able to keep away from the gnarliest jumps.

But I made a decision I needed to style each final drop of P.B.R., so I dedicated to chugging the entire can, because it have been. The jumps have been greater than Rock Crusher, however nonetheless manageable even for a rider like me who has lengthy since stopped getting air on skis. A day on the bike park was proof optimistic {that a} full-suspension mountain bike absorbs landings much more gracefully than my middle-aged joints.

The actual assessments have been the picket bridges and boardwalks. The first one headed for an abyss — not figuring out if the blind rollover was a large drop or a delicate exit, I parked the bike and walked to the sting to test it out. There’s no disgrace in inspecting a difficult characteristic earlier than driving it, the kind of reconnaissance mission that’s rather a lot simpler at a mountain bike park than at a ski resort, the place retreating uphill isn’t as easy.

Seeing that the boardwalk went cleanly with out huge air, I obtained again within the saddle and popped over, solely to search out myself rapidly driving the wave on one other boardwalk that undulated like a freeway buckling throughout an earthquake. I held on by means of the curler coaster journey after which ping-ponged round a number of extra picket slats that resembled an M.C. Escher portray.

Although I emerged unscathed — not falling is the last word signal of a great day at a mountain bike park, seeing as rock and grime are far much less forgiving than snow — my abdomen was churning. Only whiteouts induce nausea for me on skis, however three hours of fixed downhill biking despatched me straight to the Bull’s Tooth Pub, determined for a ginger ale.

Would I do it once more? Yes, however be aware to self: Pack the Dramamine.

If you go: Stevens Pass Bike Park, Friday-Monday, 10 a.m.-6 p.m. by means of Sept. 27; closed Sept. 18-20 for NW Cup Finals; 93001 U.S. Highway 2, Skykomish; bike park tickets $71 ages 13 and older, $57 ages 7-12, free for six and beneath; 206-812-4510; stevenspass.com.