Mother Nature has been good to the trail crew since the last report and that of course makes for some good trail building! Last year if you wanted to ride Hellion you had no choice but to battle Shillelagh for a few hundred feet before getting to your first floater step up. Well not any more. I just came down from the mountain and I think I counted 12 new jump features, a hand full of berms and a new drop we are calling exit 18. Yes exit 18 will be smaller than exit 19 but it fits in this section of trail nicely. For all you hungry riders with a thirst for big drops not to worry as it’s part of the Maiden Voyage makeover plan…more on that later in the season. So to recap we have essentially taken away the very upper section of Hemlock and Shillelagh and replaced with a trail that should make many riders smile. At the end of the new section you have your 3 options; Hellion, Eastern Hemlock, and Shillelagh. By the way a Shillelagh “shi-LAY-lee” is an Irish walking stick or club.
Also new for opening day is a return line off the Sherwood Forest wall ride that ties back next to the start deck. And finally to get ready for opening day, May 7th , the trail crew will be busy buffing out as much of the existing trails as humanly possible.
The foundation walls of the HTC are up. The next task is to run conduits, install wiring, and pour the concrete floor. So far so good and I just got word from Calhoun that our building steel delivery is on schedule. Once the building is up the ramps and foam pit go in then it’s time for ribbon cutting.
As I type this report there’s a mix bag of precipitation falling from the sky. This is actually perfect for burning brush and black flies. My neighbor once called me a wimp because I was wearing a fly net over my head while cleaning up leaves. I think she said something like “All this stuff your doing on this mountain and you’re afraid of black flies”…I guess she’s got a point. Anyway these poor little guys will be dead in a couple weeks and as long as you’re moving more than 3 MPH they can’t catch you.
According to the Tilton 10 day forecast, (I know crap shoot), it looks like spring weather is coming full force for next week. Sunny skies and temps in the 70’s for opening day…that would be nice! Come on Mother Nature
