The wait to ride your favorite downhill biking trails is almost over. Gone are the days where your only option to ride fun trails meant subjecting yourself to lung-busting climbs. The Steamboat Bike Park will open for lift-serviced downhill mountain biking, along with the resort’s Bike Park Trails. With more than 2,000 vertical feet of riding available and miles of single track, there are truly great riding options for each level of biker. Riders can choose from a myriad of trail options ranging from meandering green trails, flow oriented blue trails, as well as technical black and double black diamond trails with rock gardens, drops, jumps and more. In order to be able to access these trails, guests must have either previously purchased a Bike Park Season Pass or daily lift ticket. A link to this page can be found below. Steamboat is truly an awesome place to both begin and progress as a mountain biker.

As the summer season truly gets underway and the mountain starts to melt out, our expansive trail system emerges from under the snow. Currently the trails are very sensitive to erosion and damage from ruts and holes. To learn about how snowy and muddy conditions affect the early season summer experience, we sat down with Bike Park Manager, Jon Feiges.

“Soft, muddy trails are very sensitive to erosion”

-Jon Feiges

Q: What kind of trails are out there?

A: “Mountain Roads- The roads tend to be the first available places for people to recreate. They get plowed and most have graveled surfaces and drainage that dry first. Hikers and biker, and other non-motorized users, can access these trails but need to understand that these are roads used by mountain employees and that large vehicular traffic can be encountered at any time.

Multi-use Trails – Multi directional trails are trails built in cooperation with the USFS and maintained by the resort for all users. These trails are not closed unless there is construction hazards or wildlife closures. We ask users to not to travel on these trails when they are muddy or wet to reduce erosion and damage.

Bike Park Trails- Downhill Directional trails built and maintained by the resort. These trails are reserved for downhill bike park traffic only and require paid Steamboat Bike Park access. To minimize potential for accidents, always stay aware of your surroundings, and stay on the trail.

Q: Why stay off muddy trails?

A: “Soft, muddy trails are very sensitive to erosion. Ruts from bike tires give the water channels to flow and erode the trail. Post holes in the mud dry and leave a rough trail surface. These both degrade the trails and create extra work for trail crews to fix and maintain.”

Q: Why are bike park trails closed?

A: “Outside of operational hours the Bike Park Trials are always closed. During the preseason Bike Park Trail crew can be out at any time working on trails. Riding these trails before the season can damage them and makes the trail crew waste a lot of time closing and guarding the trails while they work. This put both the workers and the riders at risk.”

Until the Bike Park opens, the downhill only trails will remain closed to the public so that trail crews can finish their builds and also allow for the trails to dry out. In the meantime, there are a number of other trails that a currently open to recreate on, so saddle up and ride, and practice trail etiquette by riding only on trails where you are not leaving tracks behind. We can’t wait for an amazing year of riding in the Bike Park, and the wait is nearly over!