Looks interesting, I guess a big plus is you don't have to climb the mountain. Do all resorts have this type of riding? Lift to the top then bomb down the trials? Are any of them free entry but you ride up and down?
Found this youtube video showing a bit of the new Snowbird trail.
My family and I ended up at Snowbird this weekend so I drug my bike along. I rode the new trail down, which was fun, but I'd have a hard time paying $30 to do it again. I ended up riding with a few guys I met up there and we were all joking around about who knew it would be so tough to ride downhill. I added an all-day tram pass to my pass my family and I had bought for only another $10. It took a lot longer than I thought it would to get down. It's all single track with lots of switchbacks. Overall, for an out-of-shape rider, it took me about two hours to get down and I was toasted. I wrecked once which jacked up my right thigh so that made it an easier decision not to head up again. The new trail has a ton of rocks which makes it tough to ride (especially on a hard tail). For a half day pass, you could probably get two rides in. Just watched that video and it's spot on, it is a very spectacular view...not often do you get views like that.
As for free ride, it was my impression that if you rode up the trail, it was free. You were only buying a tram pass. I did pass one guy that was riding up it and one of the mountain patrol guys said it's average about a 7* grade the whole way down and there are often guys that ride up. After coming down, I could see that being the case but you'd have to be in really good shape (I'd die a mile in to it
). There's really no (or very very little) areas that don't have some kind of downhill slope to them, so if you rode up, you'd be pedaling literally the whole way. On the flip side, coming down, you have to pedal very little. Infact, I'm sure a good rider could get down without pedaling at all, I did pedal in a few spots when I didn't carry enough momentum.
If the trail was a smooth free flowing trail, I'd do it again in a second. I've heard Gad Valley is that way, I probably should have rode it instead.
