Kirkwood Ski Area * Carson Pass, California * Sunday July 23, 2006
Everyone’s curious about riding at Kirkwood. Well this Sunday a couple of dhReno riders headed up highway 88 to find out what riding at Kirkwood is all about.
Kirkwood is absolutely beautiful this time of year. The setting is as fantastic as Mammoth or Northstar. The terrain has elevation, steeps, rocks, roots, granite slickrock. In short, there is everything present for a great mountain bike park – Kirkwood has huge potential!
In the summer Kirkwood has the feel of a small, neighborly resort. The staff are incredibly helpful and friendly. In fact after a few runs it seems like you know the lift operators and most of the other riders – this is nice.
There are about 7.5 miles of singletrack at Kirkwood (in comparison Mammoth has 85 miles). The trails are geared to XC riders more than to hardcore DHers. Although …. the staff has recently added some stunts including the burliest teeter-totter, made from massive logs, that you’ve ever seen. Check out the Teeter-Totter Movie (right click link and save target as…) Hopefully this is a portent of more to come! We’d love to see Kirkwood add a few gnarly, double-black diamond DH trails!
We highly recommend Kirkwood, it has some great trails, they’re just not super technical. (For comparison: if you ride Northstar, the black diamond trails at Kirkwood are technically equivalent to Northstar’s Flameout Trail.) Riding a trail bike here, instead of a full-on DH bike, will make it more fun! The price is right too – $20 for an all-day adult or $85 for a season pass!
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Bikes are loaded onto a hook on the back of a chair.
The Kirkwood bike shop rents Giant trail bikes.
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(click to enlarge)
1. Bike Park Trail Map 2. Bike Park Trail Brochure: *note – they’re still using the ’03 Map/Brochures so the prices listed on it have changed for ’06.
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Reviewers
Eric
Steve. These weird mushrooms grow at Kirkwood – don’t eat them!
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Links
dhRENO.com 
If you are visiting Kirkwood for the September 18 2010 Mountain Bike Race series, check out renting our house on Cornice Court. The web site is http://www.kirkwood-rental.com. Thanks.
Steve and I had a bunch of fun on these trails. I would recommend riding a trail bike. A Nomad would be a great choice for the whole mountain. For only 20 dollars a day, you have to give it a go.