A former Prince George man is part of a group building what could be Canada's first year-round lift-access mountain bike park.
When it's complete on the Sunshine Coast near Sechelt sometime in 2015, what will set Coast Gravity Park apart from other bike trail mountainsides in North America is its trails are going to be only a few hundred metres above sea level. That means very few days, if any, of snow coverage.
"We want something similar to what Whistler has -- you hop on a lift and go to the top and you ride the trails back down," said Kyle Norbraten. "Down at sea level, it might snow, but it's a really wet snow and it just melts away. Realistically, there's less than a month of snow that might affect us."
The loose loam and moss-covered terrain allows relatively easy digging for carving wide trails with high-banked corners and that gives course builders plenty of options in creating safe downhill runs that suit all types of riders, from double-diamond daredevils like Norbraten to beginner riders who favour gentle undulating slopes.
The project is being spearheaded by Norbraten and a group of Sechelt locals. Norbraten, who lives at nearby Roberts Creek, moved there from Prince George six years ago and is part of the Coastal Crew along with Dylan Dunkerton and Curtis Robinson. All are professional trailbuilders.
"We have four trails in right now and that's the first step to show people what we're actually doing and what we're building here," said Norbraten. "These will be world-class trails with a lot of attention to detail. We want to give the riders the best experience possible."
Norbraten, 27, is a professional downhill racer who has been part of the invitation-only Red Bull Rampage free ride/downhill competition in Virgin, Utah., which he described as "the scariest thing I'll do all year." He finished 10th in 2012 and competed in the 2013 Rampage in October. He crashed in his first run and high winds prevented his second run.
After he graduated from Prince George secondary school, Norbraten raced professionally as a sponsored rider and took a one-year mountain bike operations program at Capilano University, which focused on trail building, coaching, management and environmental stewardship. Since leaving Prince George, he's stuck close to the coast mountains, where he can ride on trails year-round.
The scenic trails of Coast Gravity offer sweeping views of the Georgia Strait and the Sechelt Inlet. The vertical drop from top to bottom on the longest trail is 440 metres but there is room for expansion above the current development. The property is owned by Bill Stockwell of Sechelt. Darren Hemstreet, a local contractor, is handling the heavy earthmoving. The project was kept a secret over the past year while Stockwell acquired adjacent properties that will be part of the development. The group plans to build overnight accommodations right at the park with a restaurant, bar and coffee shop. Norbraten said the project has the support of a majority of local residents, who see the job opportunities the park will create.
"We want to have a village of our own at the park, so people will be able to come up with their family and have all the amenities," Norbraten said. "There's potential for doing zip lines and we could partner up with kayak tours and other beach activities. We want to do it right."
Norbraten estimates the lift needed to access the trails will cost $2 million. A month-long online crowd funding drive on the group's website, coastgravitypark.ca, which offered park day lift passes with no expiry date, netted the group $94,596, just short of their $100,000 goal. Coast Gravity hopes to decide on a lift design next year and have it installed by early 2015.
"Right now we're looking at used lifts around the world but it's not for sure what we'll do," said Norbraten. "Now it's just a matter of getting a couple big investors on board who share our vision. We want to keep the park specific to mountain biking so it has to be the right person to come on board with us."
Sechelt is located a 40-minute ferry ride from the Horseshoe Bay terminal in West Vancouver. There is no highway access. The park is a 20-minute drive from where the ferry docks every two hours at Earl's Cove. Coast Gravity plans to organize a shuttle that would take the riders right to the park.
