PTR: Queenstown Bike Park

Queenstown Bike Park is earning a reputation as one of the best bike parks in the Southern Hemisphere, and with good reason. With over 30 kilometres of trails spanning from beginner friendly flow lines to World Cup level downhill tracks, the Queenstown Bike Park has something for everyone.

Located only minutes from Queenstown’s CBD, and a 20 minute drive from Queenstown Airport, the bike park’s 450 metres of elevation is accessible via an access road, however it’s the Skyline Queenstown gondola that offers riders lap after lap of lift accessed riding.

Dropping into the pines for your first lap, we’d recommend heading down “Hammy’s” or “Vertigo”. Don’t be fooled by Hammy’s green rating, the trail will challenge even the most experienced rider to push faster on the giant berms and optional features.

From there, if you’re into jumps then a lap of “Huck Yeah” and “Original” should float your boat. Huck Yeah is a sizeable jump line built by the Queenstown Mountain Bike Club (QMTBC), and while the jumps are tabletops it’s best to do a scoping run first up. The jumps on Original aren’t as big, but come tightly spaced between sculpted berms and rollers.

If the technical stuff is more your cup of tea, you’re in luck. Over half of the park’s trails are graded black or double black, and with good reason. To get used to the steep, rooty nature of the more technical trails you can head over to “Armageddon" or “I’m a Shreddin”. Once you’re feeling comfortable the trio of “World Cup”,

“Hobbit” and “Killer Bee” offers up gradients of over 40 percent, as well as some high commitment technical lines.

If you’re aboard a trail bike and want to see more of what Queenstown has to offer, there are a number of trails outside the park that can be accessed via “Beeched As”. Beeched As is another trail built by QMTBC, which traverses through native beech forest to the top of Fernhill, the next hill across from the bike park.

There are a number of trails outside of the park, but if we had to pick one lap it would be to climb up to “Missing Link” (about 45 minutes to 1.5 hours from the Skyline terminal), which is accessed by turning off Beeched As onto the Ben Lomond walking track, with the descent beginning at the Ben Lomond saddle. Expect some hiking, but you’ll be rewarded with incredible views over Queenstown and Lake Wakatipu.

The Missing Link descent begins with narrow, rocky and distinctively alpine singletrack. The trail then heads into a flowy handbuilt section with multiple line choices, before finishing with a more natural beech forest section that spits you out halfway along Beeched As. From there you can continue your traverse to the top of Fernhill, which includes multiple stream crossings and fantastic views towards Cecil’s Peak.

The top of Fernhill is known for its massive, beautifully crafted table where you can rest up before dropping into your descent. The table is a fitting tribute to the late Kelly McGarry, who passed away whilst riding these trails on the 1st of February 2016.

There are a number of options from the top of Fernhill, but if you’re confident riding black trails we’d strongly recommend dropping into “Salmon Run”. The top half of Salmon Run consists of many steep switchbacks before morphing into endless rocky gullies in the lower half. There’s some steep drops off the side, so take it easy on your first run. If it’s wet then it’s probably best to be even more cautious, the roots and rocks at the bottom are deadly!

Salmon Run finishes with a split that’ll either take you to the “Wynyard Express” downhill track, or the huge jumps of Queenstown’s “Dream Track”, both of which are definitely worth a look.

At the end of a long day shredding the park and its surrounds, you can head down to Atlas Beer Cafe by Queenstown’s foreshore, park your bike up and enjoy a meal watching the sunset. Perfection.

GETTING THERE:

Queenstown Airport is 15 minutes drive from the Queenstown Bike Park, and is accessible via direct daily flights from most Australian cities.

TECHNICAL NATURE:

The Queenstown Bike Park consists of 30% green, 20% blue and 50% black trails.

YOU’LL NEED:

A lift pass will set you back $100 for the day, $229 for three days of $75 for a six run pass, which could be a good option if you’re only there for the day and plan on riding over to Fernhill or up to Missing Link multiple times.

DISTANCES:

The longest trail inside the bike park is Hammy’s, which is 6km of well constructed flow trail. Outside of the bike park, a return lap of Salmon Run is 10km and will take anywhere between 1 - 2 hours.

LOCAL KNOWLEDGE:

If you have the choice, we’d recommend taking a trail bike so you can pedal out of the bike park. If your bike has less than 140mm of travel we’d also recommend getting something with a bit more travel, especially if you’re planning on riding the more technical trails.

BEST TIME OF YEAR:

Skyline Queenstown has a Christmas blackout from December 25th – January 14th, as well as an Easter blackout from April 19th – 22nd. Other than that, the park is sustainably built and rides well throughout the whole season.

WHILE IN THE AREA:

Queenstown has much more on offer tha just the bike park. If you’re into jumps, then Wynyard Bike Park and Gorge Road are worth checking out, even if you don’t plan on riding them. Seven Mile (just out of town on the way to Glenorchy) has a labyrinth of flowy cross country trails if you’re after something a bit less gravity fuelled.

LOCAL BIKE SHOPS:

Queenstown has a number of fantastic bike shops within walking distance of the gondola, which are well stocked with the kind of spares you need in a pinch, as well as demo bikes. Vertigo Bikes offer a full suite of Giant rental bikes, Outside Sports have Specialized fans covered and Bikeaholic has a range of Kona demos.

LOCAL CLUB CONTACT:

Queenstown Mountain Bike Club do a fantastic job of maintaining existing trails and lobbying to get new trails popping out of the ground like mushrooms. They run a dig night every Wednesday evening from 6pm, which is a great way to meet the locals and pick up some trail building tips.

Queenstownmtb.co.nz REGULAR EVENTS:

The Ride More DH series is a three race series run within the Queenstown Bike Park by Vertigo Bikes and Skyline Queenstown. Bikeaholic run a regular group ride from outside their shop at 6pm on a Tuesday and other local shops provide updates on upcoming events from their websites and social media.