Mount Buller Expands Its Trail Base

More new trails and an ongoing commitment to mountain biking—Mt Buller is shaping up to be our answer to Whistler.

A little over one year ago we featured the Mt Buller trails and looked at Stonefly, their newly opened wilderness trail at the time. Climbing 300m up the side of Mt Stirling before dropping back down to Howqua Gap on one of the funnest downhills anywhere, the building of this 11km this trail was a huge undertaking.

Even with machine labour and up to six employees from World Trail working full-time, Stonefly still took two years to complete. It has a total of 19 bridges, some up to 12-metres in length, as well as lots of rock armouring and some amazing berms in pure hero dirt.

With Stonefly standing as the crown jewel and a host of supporting trails already in place, you’d think that the trail fairies could be pretty content. Well no, not by a long shot. In the last 12 months Mt Buller and the World Trail team have worked almost non-stop, enhancing, maintaining and building more new trails.

You may well have heard about Copperhead, the much-publicised ‘flow down’ trail that was opened at the start of the 2011/2012 summer season. However, many won’t know that World Trail has also pumped out a number of other new trails in and around Mt Buller. Individually none are on the grand scale of Stonefly, but what they do for the trail network as a whole is quite substantial.

To continually pump out new trails and add to what is already an impressive trail network shows a real commitment to mountain biking. You don’t even need to ride to see that mountain biking is big-time at Buller—just driving up the road you’ll be confronted by massive billboards promoting the trails. Not only does this make you feel ‘wanted’ as a mountain biker, it also can’t hurt the popularity of mountain biking. Someone who’s heading up to Buller for a bushwalk is getting subliminal messages that they should really give mountain biking a try—it looks like fun!

It all serves to ram home the point that Buller is a long way in front of other Australian ski resorts when it comes to adopting mountain biking as a summer sport. In Canada you have Whistler and in Europe there are countless resorts that switch from skiing to riding when the snow melts. Some of these places draw as many people in summer as winter. While we don’t know if this is possible in Australia, Mt Buller is clearly having a serious crack at achieving it. Most other Aussie ski resorts have primarily focused on the gravity side of the sport whereas Mt Buller has directed their efforts at all disciplines and all skill levels.

So who’s behind this commendable push? We spoke to John Huber, CEO of the Mt Buller and Mt Stirling Resort Management Board to find out. He points out that Mt Buller has always been a destination for mountain bikers—after all, its natural topography and scenery is ideal for MTB adventures. However, the resort’s cross-country mountain bike offering was initially poor, limited to the use of existing walking trails, fire tracks and unsealed roads.

According to John, “This all changed in October 2004, when Resort Management’s Environmental Manager, Lou Perrin, was asked in a board meeting what should be done to increase summer visitation, to which she replied ‘mountain bike trails’. A keen mountain biker, Lou realised that Mt Buller had the potential to offer a premier mountain bike experience. With her natural determination and personal passion for the sport, she was committed to making it happen.”

In pursuit of her vision, Lou started investigating the offerings of other key mountain bike destinations, particularly those that were successful on the international scene. With an IMBA scholarship (International Mountain Bicycling Association), she embarked on a study trip to Whistler and attended the 2006 IMBA trails conference.

John continued, “It was in Canada that Lou was inspired and filled with the possibility that Mt Buller could one day become a resort like Whistler, maximising the natural environment and creating a bustling year-round mountain bike Mecca.

On her return to Mt Buller, she set the wheels in motion, managing to achieve buy-in from the Board, management and staff. She then began the process of liaising with external consultants and other established mountain bike destinations to understand the opportunities that existed to grow summer visitation through the development of a dedicated cross-country trail network.”

World Trail was contracted for the task and they’ve been at it ever since. According to John Huber they’ve invested $750,000 into the trails thus far and that includes $350,000 in grants from Regional Development Victoria and Tourism North East.

In what could be seen as a ‘shot in the dark’ investment, you’d have to hope that Mt Buller will see a return for their outlay. While I’m sure that mountain bikers already appreciate Lou Perrin’s inspiration, the Alpine Resort Management Board (ARMB) is surely looking for a financial return.

Glen Jacobs from World Trail frequently talks of the ‘tipping point’. That’s when a destination moves from attracting random one-off visits and becomes something far bigger. “To achieve this, you’ve got to have enough trails that people ride all weekend long and still have trails that they haven’t touched. You’ve also got to have trails to suit different skill levels. It’s a bit like a shopping mall; you wouldn’t go there if it only had one or two shops that were open. You go there because it’s got everything you need under the one roof. Some places put in 20km of track and wonder why it doesn’t attract many people. To be successful you need around 70km of trails.” Mt Buller has clearly seen the logic in Glen’s thinking and they’ve put their time money and effort behind it too; but will it really work? Well in some ways it has already started…

The ARMB has been using track counters to monitor visitation – yes I know, Big Brother has been watching – and the figures are quite remarkable. Throughout the summer season of 2010-11 the track counters registered 10,600 passes. One year later this figure has risen to 30,581—a 300% increase in just 12 months. Now either Glen Jacobs has been out in the bush, madly jumping up and down on the track counter, or there’s actually some truth in his ‘tipping point’ theory!

Apparently ARMB is already noticing positive outcomes can already be noted across the resort, both within the industry and the community. In their view, visitation figures are the key measure and it’s expected that the figures will continue to increase. With the quantity and quality of trails on offer, people will want to return again and again. Plus they tell their mates and the cycle starts again—the process snowballs from there. We certainly hope it does anyway. If Mt Buller’s trail project is a roaring success, both in popularity and financially for the resort, it’ll have to draw attention from other ski resorts around Australia. If our sport is seen as a viable money maker (as skiing is in winter), we’ll undoubtedly gain a broader range of riding opportunities in these beautiful alpine areas.

If you last visited Mt Buller early in the 2011-12 summer season, you’ll already find a number of new trails on your next visit.

Copperhead

Completed late in 2011, Copperhead was launched with a fair bit of fanfare and according to World Trail, it’s the only one of this type inAustralia. Described as a ‘flow down trail’ it’s basically a downhill track without anything excessively technical. It drops 258m in 2.38km and the hardest thing about the trail is the rather skatey trail surface, but that is settling in as time goes by. It is steep in places but for the most part, it’s entirely rideable for intermediate level trail riders.

On most trails, the main line is the hard one with slower B-lines that feel like an afterthought. With Copperhead, the main line is the easier one—it flows well with plenty of bermed corners but a rather skatey trail surface that keeps you on your toes.

More skilled riders or those who are comfortable with the trail and want to experiment can easily step it up a notch. Look beyond the main line and you’ll see various jumps and drops that are worked into the terrain. Up the speed and some massive double and triple jumps appear. Copperhead can be enjoyed without your tyres ever leaving the ground or it can challenge a really skilled rider—that’s what makes it special.

Located right near the village, Copperhead was always going to see plenty of use—that’s why the trail surface was capped with a hard wearing imported trail surface. It is serviced by the Horse Hill lift for those who want to do runs or it can also be used to access other new cross-country trails within the network.

Snowgums

Copperhead now links with another new trail called Snowgums. This climbing trail exits Copperhead ¾ of the way down—at the end of the fast straight for those who are familiar with the trail. With a steady and cruisy grade, Snowgums switchbacks its way up the hill with some impressive 270-degree turns and moss-covered rock armoured sections. This trail crosses the main Mt Buller road at Tip Corner and takes you onto Gang Gangs. From there you can head up to the Village Loop and back up to the start of Copperhead, forming a complete off-road loop that’s almost entirely on singletrack.

Split Rock

Previously, when leaving the village en route to Corn Hill and other trails like Stonefly, you would have followed Gang Gangs down and ridden down a short steep section of fire road to the skills park. Now a new section of trail cuts out the fire road. Completed late in the 2012 summer, it still needed some bedding in but features some great turns and the odd drop or two. There’s also a Split Rock climbing trail, which takes you from the skills park and Corn Hill trails back to Gang Gangs and the village itself. This cuts out a particularly punishing fire road pinch past the sewerage treatment plant—a breath of fresh air as the Mt Buller team puts it! The Split Rock climbing trail is a spectacular piece of work, featuring a 40-metre long section of boardwalk—by far the longest in the trail network. There are a few steep corners on the way up but on the whole, it’s more gradual and far more enjoyable than the old ‘poo hill’.

There have been various other upgrades including realignments on Skyline (close to the village), Misty Twist has been spruced up and the skills park has been re-cut. All of this adds up to a lot of work, but there’s more to come in the 2012-13 summer season…

Woolly Butt

Expanding the trail network even further, World Trail has a new adventure plotted out on the way out to Howqua Gap. Woolly Butt will eliminate the fire trail section between the Picnic Trail and the base of Stonefly. In its place will be a downhill singletrack of around 3-4km in length—that’s similar to the Stonefly descent in length, although Woolly Butt won’t be as steep. The other big thing will be a realignment of the Delatite River Trail. It’ll go back to following its original route which add an extra 10-15 minutes of riding to this descent that already takes around 45 minutes to ride. To top it all off we can also expect improved trail signage, bike wash facilities and more.

Mt Buller has shown real commitment to mountain biking and their trail network continues to evolve. If you haven’t made the trip up there, you’ve really got to do it. This could well be Australia’s answer to Whistler and it’s a lot closer to home, so pencil in a trip for the 2012-13 summer and support the mountain that supports us!