Here’s my first official park report and I think a good place to start is by saying thank you to everybody who has been so kind to us over the years. Since our grand opening in 2006 we have recorded a steady state of growth in rider numbers. I remember that nerve racking first day open to the public. We advertised we would open with 3 top to bottom trails but some drunken dude the night before poached the mountain on his 4 wheeler and decided to drive down Maiden Voyage. He ended up jamming it in the rock garden area and it took us a few hours to get it out. It had rained the night before and we had a delayed opening on NE Style. I was standing down by the lift and I overheard some guy complaining that we only had 1 trail open even though we told everybody 3. Ah, the good ole days!
For starters as you can see we have a new website. We wanted to be able to easily ad content to core areas of the site and this new platform will help us do just that. Thanks to Ryan, Sam and Dave for helping us to get the graphics and technical stuff worked out!
There is lingering snow scattered about the mountain but it’s not long before the Highland Trail Crew will be out in full force. The first task will be to clean up the existing trails. I think I can officially say that we will have 10 ready to shred, unless 10 drunken dudes decide to go joy riding. We will try our best to get the lower section of Hellion open by May. A new and improved section of upper Eastern Hemlock will come too and will assist as a temporary link to mid Hellion until we can get upper Hellion constructed. Also planned is an easier access to upper Meadows End which will eventually work its way into mid to lower Meadows End. Other trail improvements will be coming throughout the season including a new and long awaited makeover of Maiden Voyage. We have been getting request to build more trails from beginner to intermediate and advanced trails. We really are doing the best we can to give all the riders what they want. Man I wish I had that magic wand!
Beyond trail construction lays the shadow of the HTC or Highland Training Center . This building is over 8,000 square feet and is what is referred to in the industry as a “Tensioned Fabric Building”. The HTC will allow us to offer a whole new world of training in a controlled environment. It’s our newest offering that will significantly enhance the Highland experience. Highland Camps will use this building to teach everybody from the first time rider to the next superstar. There will be session passes too for riders who want to hone their skills on their own time. It was our next logical step in the park building process. Check out our line up of coaches too. This is just a start and already shaping up huge! Don’t forget to give your bike a good cleaning so you don’t shoot mud into some poor guys face as you spin your doubles in the foam pit!
Trek is back this year with a whole new fleet of bikes and last years Remedy has been replaced with the new Scratch. We had a chance to try out the Scratch during a Trek product release last fall and it was a blast on Hellion. Also back in the fleet is the Trek Session DH line.
For protective gear we have signed Kali Protective’s out of California . These guys have a really cool line up of gear to choose from and they stepped up big time to help us meet our demands for 2010. Other new partners include Decline, NEMBA, FMBA, and a list of others soon to be on board as the season progresses.
Also added to 2010 is “Team Highland”. The team includes Chuck, Damon, Grayson, and Sam. These guys will be hitting all the races up and down the east coast and flying the H wings logo. We will be posting pics and video of their on road experience as they send it to us.
The schedule of events is loaded this year so check it out when you get a chance. Also we will be adding to the park report on a regular basis so if I forgot anything or new stuff comes out we will put it in the next report. See you at Highland soon!
Mark Hayes
