Latest Projects
Here you'll find details on some of our recently completed projects. Follow us on instagram @dirttectrails to see more about our current projects.
QUEENSTOWN BIKE PARK MAINTENANCE
Projects - Queenstown Bike Park
Dirt Design has held the trail maintenance contract for the queenstown bike park for several years. New Zealand’s first gondala assisted bike park it attracts riders from all over the world who often stay and spend the off season riding the park thanks to its world class downhill MTB trails and the unique characteristics of its terrain. You’ll see the Dirt Design crew out on the trails, raking, rebuilding berms and jumps. We’re out there refreshing gnar trails on a daily basis to keep this high traffic park feeling and looking fresh.
It’s no small undertaking with this park receiving an endless stream of riders in the summer months, with the park also open and maintained year-round for those climbing the access road. The steep gradient of the park and unique seasonal changes, from loose and dusty in the summer to snow and mud in the winter as well as aging and falling pine trees mean this park requires feet on the ground and tires in the dirt combing the park every day to ensure the trails are rider ready all year round.
DIRT SERPENT - UPPER RUDE ROCK
Projects - Dirt Serpent Coronet Peak
Dirt Serpent connects the top of Coronet Peak into Rude Rock, a blue flow trail with a variety of features, from big berms, jumps and a mix of high speed and technical sections.
With only an advanced downhill or XC trail available from the top of Coronet Peak previously, when building Dirt Serpent we took care in designing a trail which caters to riders of many skill levels. Beginner riders enjoy the smooth flow and berms on the trail, with minimal pedaling required. The jumps were also designed to provide a safe easy landing with maximum visibility of the trail ahead. Advanced riders enjoy the trail at flat-out high speed with a gradient that allows for quick pickup when pumping and pedaling, with rocks and features along the trail to pop off to spice things up.
BLUGAZI
Projects - BluGazi
It's a whazy. It's a woozie. It’s a blugazi! This technical blue trail drops in from the top of fernhill loop and ends at the start of McNearly Gnarly, the purpose of this trail was to provide a dark blue option down from the Mcgazza table which previously only had double black trails for riders or a shared hiking trail which had grown to be a safety concern with more walkers and bikers on the hill together. Built mostly with a machine to maintain the blue gradient on such a steep slope, but the character of the trail has a hand-built feel with plenty of rocks, roots, tight steep berms and line choices to spice things up for riders.
CARRY ON
Projects - CarryOn Coronet Peak
Carry On starts at the bottom of the original Zoot Track and ends at the bottom of Coronet Peak station road. A wide open, fast trail, Carry On has been a massive crowd pleaser for riders of all abilities thanks to its multiple line choices including optional grade 5 gaps and drops. Carry On received one of the most exciting trail openings with the Coro1200 held on its opening weekend. The unique character of the lower Coronet Peak terrain means it offers up a mix of fast jump flow sections, rock and stump gardens as well as forested loam sections, giving it a little bit of everything. A special thanks to Steve Carry, the Rod Drury Family Trust and the private landowners who made this trail possible.
PRIVATE JUMP LINE
Projects - Private Jump Line
When building this private jump line, we used the natural features of the space available to build a fun backyard session track with multiple jump options, progression drops, side hits, straight tables and hips as well as a pedal loop back to the top. The tight space meant we had to carefully plan the design to make the most of the available space while maintaining a fun flowy trail with plenty of features to keep things interesting.
ORIGINAL
Original has always been a favourite trail in the Queenstown Bike Park, but over the years the trail quality and riding experience diminished to the point where it needed a major freshening up. Prior to rebuilding ‘Original’, Dirt Design undertook an assessment to highlight the main positive features of the trail, and areas that needed improvement. The resulting rebuild was a modernized trail which still maintained the same characteristics of big flow and progressive jumps.
Being such a popular trail the long term maintenance of the trail was also factored in, we want to keep this trail open for riders as long as possible before needing maintenance so we integrated characteristics into the trail to ensure its longevity, stretching out the trail decreased the rolling speed into corners to allow riders to flow with the trail and reduce the need to brake, alongside this grade reversals into corners were implemented to help further reduce braking and the formation of brake bumps. Jumps were designed to suit the natural speed of the trail for maximum flow and reduced need to pedal or brake. Bigger berms were built to spread the load and create a wider trail surface, with more surface area to roll on it’s less likely for holes to form compared to a smaller berm where all riders are hitting the same line. With bigger corners we also flared out landings wherever possible to allow riders more choice of jump options rather than just straight landings.
COLONEL SENDERS
The newest addition to the Queenstown Bike Park trail network, Colonel Senders serves up its special recipe of 11 spicy jumps, perfect for progression sessions. Starting in a new hub area at the bottom of Singletrack Sandwich/Jungle adventure. Colonel Senders is a big flow, progressive jump line with massive corners and lots of time between features to help you line up and adjust. Built to provide a more accessible jump line for riders to feel safe while practicing their jump skills. Riders who prefer to keep their wheels off the ground can also enjoy one long continuous jump line by linking huck yeah into original then peeling off at the fork onto Colonel Senders.
WORK AND RIDE
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