Grand Targhee Resort Embraces The Fat
XXC Magazine once again welcomes our friend and contributor Dave Byers to the blog to talk fat bikes.
Grand Targhee Resort has become the first ski resort in the country to promote snow biking. Beginning this ski season, Grand Targhee will allow snow bikes on their groomed Nordic Trails as long as riders purchase a Nordic ticket for $10 per day or a Nordic season pass for $115. Grand Targhee is also hosting their first snow bike race on Sunday, January 15th to coincide with Teton Valley’s Winter Festival.
I have to admit that for the past two years I have considered donning a black ninja suit and poaching Targhee’s Nordic track at night just to experience the undulating terrain that we enjoy all summer on our mountain bikes… but I resisted the temptation. Now it is perfectly legal thanks to Grand Targhee’s Andy Williams.
Grand Targhee’s 2011/2012 winter season opened on Friday, Nov 25th so we rallied a posse of snow bike enthusiasts and headed up to Targhee to experience the Nordic trails on fat tires. The first thing that popped into my head as we left the parking lot and jumped onto the freshly groomed Nordic Connector Trail was that I felt guilty for riding on such pristine corduroy. That guilt quickly faded and turned into perma-grin as we climbed up to Rick’s Basin under bluebird skies and mild temps.
What is the riding like? My face is still sore from smiling so much. There are 6.15 miles of Nordic trails with 700’ of elevation gain available to snow bikers at Grand Targhee and the loop took us just under an hour to ride at a moderate pace. The trails are almost never flat and wind through numerous Aspen groves. The views do not suck either.
I applaud Grand Targhee Resort for their forward thinking and willingness to try something new. As long as snow bikers follow the rules and respect the trails when conditions are soft, I feel as if snow bikers and the Nordic skiers can coexist peacefully on the trails. When I head to the “Ghee” to ride the snow bike, I plan to also take a pair of skate skis with me just in case the trails are too soft to ride. It never hurts to have a “Plan B”.
Category: Fat Bikes, Uncategorized, Video, Winter Riding
That is awesome news! Maybe they will come trend setters and other resorts and nordic facilities will follow suit. Hey…One can only hope, right??
What kind of bikes are those?
@ Jared: These bikes are snow bikes, affectionaly called “fat bikes.” Large, fat 3.8″ tires float on the snow. See: Surly Pugsley, Salsa Mukluk, Twenty-2 Cycles Bully, etc.,
@ Vito: I really hope so. Added trails could blow up the fat movement even further and be a real shot in the arm for the industry.
[...] Kudos to Grand Targhee resort (www.grandtarghee.com) in Alta, WY for welcoming the fatbike! Kudos to Andy for blazing new trails, and thanks for sending the photo and article! The article, written by Dave Byers, can be found at XXCMag.com, here: http://xxcmag.com/archives/4318. [...]
Great article; thank you for posting this! I’ve linked to it and offered an additional place for comments and more stories at RideFatbikes.com. Sounds like an epic ride – congrats to you, to Andy, and to Grand Targhee for being on the leading edge!
[...] http://xxcmag.com/archives/4318 - News on fat-bike acceptance at ski resort Grand Targhee in Wyoming. [...]
This is awesome. I can’t wait ’til my next vacation at The Ghee to try this out. It will be an awesome alternate day activity to be able to ride when the rest of the body needs a day off from the downhill. Fat Biking is really taking off back in Wisconsin. Mainly because it is just so much fun!
Bravo! Very exciting to see this happen. Hopefully this goes well and leads to more resorts ‘getting onboard’.
i sent this link and article to my local mountain and also the local *public* nordic area and got very panicked replies from both parties.
not everyone is so forward thinking. i applaud Andy Williams and Grand Targhee for taking a chance and having something cool to make your Nordic Trails more multi use.
I also like that the article talks about respecting the skiers and looking to avoid user conflict. I think education and giving folks the opportunity to co-exist is a solid thing. Plus, it means more money and a deeper volunteer base going into the grooming pool.
AWESOME! Hopefully, more Resorts will follow this direction.
And now, when the GF goes skiing, (I can’t ski to save my life) I can go too! I just bring my Mukluk.
[...] This is pretty cool. Not a full on Wilderness experience, but fun all the same! Wish the local resorts would jump on this too! Like this:LikeBe the first to like this post. [...]