The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Teocalli Ridge extension
By Than Acuff
When the Forest Service contracted for a reroute of Teocalli Ridge in 2019, the resulting new trail was top shelf. Same sting on the uphill but more bang for the buck on the downhill. Now, the Crested Butte Mountain Bike Association (CBMBA) is going to jump in on the Teocalli Ridge effort with their annual work weekend, sponsored by Pinnacle Orthopedics, Saturday and Sunday, August 17-18 committed to extending the Teocalli Ridge downhill.
The weekend is step two of the North Valley Trails Project (NVTP). CBMBA kicked off the NVTP at the start of the summer with the Upper Upper Loop trail extension, aka the Pointed Laccolith trail, linking the end of the Upper Upper Loop to the Brush Creek trailhead.
Now it’s time for the next phase of the NVTP as CBMBA received authorization to continue the downhill of the Teocalli Ridge trail and is calling on the community of trail users to shoe up, glove up, sunblock up and rally.
“The plan is to continue using that 350 vertical feet and build a half mile of trail to keep the flow, the fun, the features, and the flavor of the existing Teo Ridge, and give it the finish it deserves,” says CBMBA Executive Director Dave Ochs. “It also provides more ‘Riders Off the Road,’ as well as seamless trail connectivity from one trail to another. Let’s face it, you did all that work to get up to Teo Ridge, let’s get as much back as we can via shreddy singletrack downhill.”
The work starts both Saturday and Sunday at 10 a.m. and the headquarters, aka the Wolf Den, is Tent City, the big parking and camping area six miles out Brush Creek Road. Ochs asks volunteers to meet out there each day, and then head out to the trail work, working top down.
For those of you making a weekend of it and camping, Rim Tours, as usual, will be providing dinner Saturday night, as well as breakfast and lunch on Sunday with beers provided by Ska Brewing.
Ochs believes if they get their usual slate of volunteers, they should have the new section of trail completely built and buffed.
“120-130 volunteers through the whole weekend would be amazing,” says Ochs. “It’s only a half mile of trail but it’s about getting the heavy lifting done. We’re going to be building big flowy berm turns so there’s a lot of work in specific areas. It’ll be super-fast high speed haulin’ with stunning views.”
Bring sturdy shoes, gloves, plenty of water, and please do RSVP to info@cbmba.org so CBMBA has a headcount for camping and for dinner.
