Silver Star Bike Park

Silver Star Bike Park /
Canada

Abundantly Awesome Silver Star Q&A

(Photo Credit: Matt Butterworth)

(Photo Credit: Tim Fitzgerald)

Q&A: Silver Star Bike Park!!

Who are you and what do you do at Silver Star Bike Park?

My name is Cameron Sorensen, Silver Star's Bike Park Director. I am in charge of all things related to the trails on Silver Star. This includes the hiking trails, DH trails, expansion of the XC / All Mountain trails, the slope-style area, pump tracks, and so much more.   

How long ago was Silver Star Bike Park developed? Who or what was the driving force?

There has been lift-accessed riding on Silver Star since 1994, but the big expansion came in 2005. Thanks to our past General Manager, Michael Sherwood. He believed in the product and gave us all the support we needed. To this current day, we are one of the top Bike Parks in the World. We are expanding every year, building new trails, and heading into new uncharted areas of mountain biking.  

 How many visitors do you get in a weekend/season at the bike park?

We continue to see good growth every year at the bike park, but there still never seems to be a line-up of people waiting to ride the chair lift. Some of the long weekends or special events, like BC Cup DH race weekend, it can get a little congested but mid week you can still roll right on to the lift. The Comet lift is a 6-person high-speed chair lift that can up-load a lot of riders at once. The bike park is huge so the riders spread out easily. We draw mainly Okanagan/Shuswap locals, Calgarians, and Vancouverites but riders come from as far as Europe.

 What is the most popular trail at your bike park?

That is a loaded question!  What is MY favorite trail or the most popular in the park? With over 50KM of dedicated DH trails everyone has their own favorite. I guess it depends if you like Tech DH style trail or flowy berm trails but we have a lot of both. 

(Photo Credit: Matt Butterworth)

Will there be any new trails added this year or will you be re-developing any existing trails?

We are always "re-developing" trails. This is something Silver Star is really well known for. We never sit back on our laurels and leave a trail after it is built.  We are always tweaking the trails making them better.

But yes, we are building lots of new trail this year! We are pushing the very popular Jedi Mind Trick all the way to the top of the list this year.  Finishing Walk the Line, this will be a two-year project. But one of the most exciting things is the expansion with the all-mountain trails this year. Silver Star has approved a 1/4 million dollar budget for the trail crew this year and we will see an additional 25km of all-mountain trails built this year on the resort. Very exciting! 

Describe the predominant “style” of riding at your park? (Natural vs. Manmade, DH/Tech/Steep vs. Flow/Features) Typically, what kind of terrain do you have? (Rocky, Dry-dusty, Tacky, Roots)…

What sets Silver Star apart from most every other bike park is the progressive nature of our trail system. We have multiple trails for every level and style of riding. We try to mimic every trail at every difficulty. So once you feel good on Super Star a Blue Machine built jump / berm trail, you can progress up to Rock Star. It is same style trail just a little harder than Super Star. Then from there you can move up to Pipe Dream. If Single track, roots and features are your thing, start off with LTG, then move up to Double Dog for your North Shore style/feel. Then finally, challenge yourself with steep and technical features on DH and Gnar. This is the style of Park we have tried to maintain and we are quite proud of it.  

(Photo Credit: Matt Butterworth)

 What is the mountain bike scene/culture like at your bike park?

There is a very good vibe at Silver Star. Seems that people drop the attitude "I'm a pro and going to pass you mid air" at the parking lot. I hope we always keep this sense of a good times and respecting the other riders on the trail. We seem to have a much larger percentage of women riding our park than you see elsewhere. I think this has to do with the trail design but also the feeling of fun our park produces.  

 Tell me a little bit about Silver Star’s mountain town. Are there any restaurants or bars that mtb-ers like to spend their time?

The Silver Star Village has a variety of things to do. There are decks to have a beer on at the end of the day, a great little grocery store to get something to cook back up at your condo, grab a quick slice of pizza or get your drink on in the Saloon, after a good day of riding. You'll see a lot of lounging on the lawn in the middle of the village, while people meet up or eat lunch in the sunshine. If we don't have it right in the Village for you, Vernon is only 23km down the hill with all the amenities. 

Tell us about any big events that are happening this summer at the bike park?

Freeride Festival: July 11 -13th 

NW Cup: DH race July 18th-20th

BC Cup & BC Championship: July19th-20th

Norco Enduro Race: Aug 16th

Every weekend in September we are working on a multi lap Endurance XC style race.  

There are many local events through out the summer, Check our Website for current events. 

(Photo Credit: Matt Butterworth)

 Do you have an opening date yet?

1st bonus weekend is June 21st and 22nd and Regular opening on June 26th, with extended play on Wednesday and Fridays, open till 7pm 

 What does the future hold for Silver Star Bike Park?

LOTS, we are not sitting back waiting for the sport to change we are driving that change. New trails, better rentals, different trails than you can find anywhere, an IMBA Epic trail is in the works (Boewulf slated to open late summer 2015) the list just goes on and on.

(Photo Credit: Silver Star)

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