Where is it?
Valemount is located on Highway 5 about 5.5 hours west of Edmonton. The town itself is located in between the Rocky, Monashee, and Cariboo Mountain ranges and is truly a beautiful spot.
The Valemount Bike Park itself is about 10 minutes outside town and can be ridden to easily or you can take a short drive up to the staging area.
This free to use bike park is touted as one of the best in British Columbia which is saying quite a lot. How does this park stack up against the paid lift assist parks? Read on to find out!
Where to stay?
There are plenty of hotel options around town but we tend to prefer to bring our camper along on these bike trips.
We stayed at the Yellowhead RV Park & Campground. It is located just off the highway. Best tip I can give is ask for a spot near the creek to avoid a bit of that road noise. For us it wasn’t a huge concern as most of our time was spent on bikes not at the campsite. They have plenty of serviced and tent sites, nice showers and washrooms and plenty of other folks on bikes everywhere you look.
What to do there?
Shuttles are the name of the game here at the Valemount Bike Park . Local company Peak Shuttles will help you get up to one of the three shuttle drop offs to start your downhill adventures. You can also self shuttle if you have a really cool non-biking friend or partner. 4×4 is highly recommended to cut down on the washboard.
There is also a pretty great climb trail Munday Grind if you prefer to earn your turns. I was riding with my son who has been spoiled with lifts and shuttles so I didn’t get a chance to try it out.
You will want to scope out a trail map or Trailforks for the area to ensure you can link up a few runs together. Some of the trail heads are not located at the shuttle drop offs and need to be linked into a longer run.
Three Shuttle Drop Offs
Bacon Staging
First up the road is the Bacon Staging area.
From here you can directly access;
Depending on skill level Bacon is a nice Blue warmup trail. Plenty of berms and a few optional jumps and drops mixed in to get you in the zone.
Our favorite trail ended up being Stumptown. Rated as a black but I found it more like a nice blue machine built flow trail. Plenty of berms, table tops and fun to be had on that one!
Tin Foil Hat Staging
Second up the road is Tin Foil Hat Staging area
From here you can directly access;
In our travels we ended up cruising a section of Tin Foil Hat while descending from the top.
I found it had a nice bit of tech mixed in however my son on the hardtail preferred to skip it after one lap. With a nice full suspension you will have a blast heading down any trail this staging area offers.
High Roller Staging
Top of the mountain and last on the road is the High Roller Staging area.
From here you can directly access;
High Roller is a super nice jump line. This will remind you of any of those lines you paid $60+ to ride at Sun Peaks or Whistler.
The Craig is a unique hand and machine built trail with a ton of cool rock roll features. I loved this one below is a short taste of some of the terrain you will come across on this one.
Final Thoughts
After the first run down here in Valemount my son and I could tell we were in a very special place. This small town has an amazing group of volunteers and bike lovers and it shows. It gave me a great chance to stretch my Norco Fluid FS1 legs on some hand built tech and machine built flow.
VARDA does an incredible job maintaining these trails and building the stoke. If you enjoy the trails here please ensure you consider throwing a few bucks into the donation box or use the link to do so via Trailforks Karma
We luckily were able to join in the fun of Fall Fest which is the wrap up weekend for summer riding here. They event was well organized with food, demos and plenty of shuttles to go around.
Attending during the Fall Fest weekend allowed us to see a ton of the local riders and VARDA folks. You can tell it is a very tight knit community of people who love biking.
We loved the vibes on the main street and the ample mountain bike parking at Three Ranges Brewing. I was a huge fan of the Vale Trail Pale Ale and happily drank some in support of the local bike community. They even had something for the pups to enjoy!
If you like the article please share with your friends and check out my other destination posts! Comment below on your favorite trail at the Valemount Bike Park.
Nice piece on our local bike park. Thanks
Thanks! We loved visiting! What is your favorite trail at the park?