Killington Mountain Bike Park

This is a chair lift accessed bike park at Killington Ski Area.  Their trail map shows a number of lifts serving different areas, but only the Snowshed and Rams Head quads were running.  Most of my runs were from Snowshed.  There is a wide range of terrain at this park, so take my rating with some salt.  Some trails may be a little easier and others my be impassible.

Lift operators were great.  I was there alone, and they stopped lift and loaded my chair without any issues.  I’ve seen photos of people strapping their handcycles to a chairlift seat, but my bike fit on the bike rack no problem.

Snowshed trails:

Roller:  A nice rolling trail on the easy end of the options.  A couple of relatively mild off camber sections were manageable.

Step It Up:  This is a little harder than Roller, but still very manageable and fun!  My favorite run of the day.  Lots of fun banked turns.

Jump Start:  There are a lot of jumps on this one.  I rolled over them, and thought this was a pretty fun ride, but there was definitely a lot of ups and downs.

Easy Street:  Easiest trail.  I only caught small sections between other trails

Rabbit Hole:  I didn’t ride this because I was told it’s too narrow and technical for a handcycle.  I don’t necessarily believe this, but  I didn’t want to get in a jamb without some backup since I was riding alone.

Rams Head Quad:  This lift is significantly longer than Snowshed, (they are both high speed detachable.)  My impression was that the more hard core riders were in this area.  I went up with the intention of riding Sideshow Bob down, but at the top I found a sign saying it was under construction and walking was required.  Not sure if this was true, but people said it dumped into a section of Steel Panther that is very steep and muddy, so I opted to ride Blue Magic instead.

Blue Magic is a Jump trail, which meant a LOT of jumps.  I am riding a One Off without any shocks, so I was not looking to catch air.  Front wheel left the ground from time to time, but mostly rolled over jumps.  There are a couple of jumps with significant off camber lips.  One threw me (ouch,) and another one a little farther on scared the **** out of me.  I was on guard after my crash, but it was narrow and had about a 10′ drop into trees on the side.  Thankfully, I got over it, but I’m in no hurry to do it again.  There was a lot more traffic on this trail than on others I rode, and I stopped a number of times to let others pass.

P.S. there are stairs down from unloading areas on both lifts. A ramp at Snow shed too, but looked too narrow with turns for the cycle. Snow shed stairs are short and easy to ride down. Ramshead are taller, but I descended them OK, (don’t use your front brakes.)


More Information

Trail Name: Killington Mountain Bike Park

Location: Mendon, Vermont  

Type: Wide trail (≥ 30″), Start and end at the same point (Loop)

Rating:

Length: Miles

Steepest Section: Difficult – over 30º

Most Off-Camber Section: Difficult – over 30º

Terrain: Mostly hardpack, minimal loose sections

Obstacles: Root exposure, Drops, ledges, jumps

Help Needed? Yes, a little

Even more info: Killington Resort


Directions to Trailhead

Directions:  Google Killington Resort.


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