Updated: April 1, 2024:
Trails are open. Please be smart when you ride. We have more significant snow in the forecast for mid-week.
Don’t be this entitled mountain biker. This occurred after the 2 foot snowstorm on Saturday, March 23rd and March 30th. The rut in top picture had already been repaired.
IS IN THE BOOKS!
The Rutland Cold Rolled Fat bike Festival went off snow-or-no-snow—and as usual, was a HOOT!
Cold Roll Rutland was a blast despite lack of snow for 2024.
The vendor village was full with cool stuff from Green Mountain bikes, Ranch Camp, Base Camp, Down Valley Bikes, Analog bikes, Porcupine bikes. Plus Appalachian Distillery from Middlebury came!
The aid station was at Rocky Pond which provided picturesque views to the north. Complete with Fiddlehead beer, snacks and Shelley’s chocolate peanut butter bars!
Despite the non-winter type weather folks had a good time. Yes, it would have been nice to ride on snow but for the most part trails were dry and in great shape.
More photos of the event can be found here.
Cold Roll for 2025 will be February 9th! Maybe we can conjure up some more winter type weather next year.
COLD ROLLED TIME!
Rutland Cold Rolled Fat bike Festival is back. Presented by Fiddlehead Brewing, and hosted by Mountain Bike Vermont and Pine Hill Partnership in Rutland, Vermont, Cold Rolled offers a day of fatbike stoke on cold-rolled single-track! Join us Sunday February 11th, 2024 as fat bikers from around New England and New York gather in Rutland to lead a charge with Old Man Winter, replete with group rides, demos, and hearty brews around warm fires.
Tickets here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/rutland-cold-rolled-fatbike-fest-2024-tickets-775120214427?aff=ebdssbdestsearch
The event will feature a vendor village, rides for all ages and abilities, and groomed trails for your fat biking pleasure. Group rides will begin at 10am at the Giorgetti Athletic Complex at 2 Oak Street Extension (the Pine Hill Trailhead) where we’ll also convene for lunch at 12:00 pm. The remote aid station (aka party central) will be located at the overlook and will feature a bonfire and our favorite mid-ride refreshers. Lunch at Giorgetti will be catered by our friends at Ranch Camp (Stowe, VT).
“We’re beyond excited to bring the Cold Rolled back to Pine Hill – this trail network has some of the best fat biking in the state, and the community rallies to maintain them all winter.” says event co-founder & Killington Valley local Nate Freund of MTBVT. “We’re stoked to bring the party to Rutland and introduce riders from around the northeast to these amazing trails!”
The $50 ticket price ($35 for the under 21 crowd) includes group rides, lunch (with both carnivorous and veggie options), and a signed original Cold Roll Rutland artist print. So air down those tires, break out the extra layers, and get ready to party MTBVT style.
We have closed Exit Strategy, Droopy Muffin steep hill-between Intersection 30 and 30A and Lichen Rock. We have problems with freeze thaw cycles on these particular trails throughout the winter into early spring. Please respect closed trails. Thank you your hard working volunteers.
Nate N has been out grooming in the park as of Monday, January 23rd. He will continue to groom as we appear to be getting a little more snow on-and-off over the next 10 days.
With Rutland Cold-Rolled just around the corner (February 12th) we are kindly asking people to treat our groomed trails with care. That means lowering your tire pressures so you’re not leaving ruts. Run 4″ or wider tires PLEASE! No regular mountain bike size tires pretty please!
Walkers, runners—please use snowshoes or X-C skis. Those little toe divots are not fun to ride on, and are very tough to groom out once the snow sets up. If you need snowshoes the Community Center has them to loan out.
This is a huge event that showcases Pine Hill Park to the mountain bike community in the northeastern US. We really could use everyone’s help in keeping our trails in tip-top shape!
(^-^)/ Thank you!
Welcome Fatbikers
The creative minds behind Überwintern and Winterbike are at it again! Mountain Bike Vermont has partnered with Pine Hill Partnership in Rutland, Vermont to offer a day of fatbike stoke on cold-rolled single-track this Super Bowl Sunday! Join us Sunday February 12th, 2023 as fatbikers from around New England and New York gather in Rutland to lead a charge with Old Man Winter, replete with group rides, demos, and hearty brews around warm fires.
The event will feature a vendor village, rides for all ages and abilities, and groomed packed powder trails for your fatbiking pleasure. Group rides will begin at 10am at the Giorgetti Athletic Complex at 2 Oak Street Extension (the Pine Hill Trailhead) where we’ll also convene for lunch at 12:00 pm. The remote aid station (aka party central) will be located at the overlook and will feature a bonfire and our favorite mid-ride refreshers. Lunch at Giorgetti will be catered by our friends at Ranch Camp (Stowe, VT).
“We’re beyond excited to bring the Cold Rolled back to Pine Hill Park – this trail network has some of the best fatbiking in the state, and the community rallies to maintain them all winter.” says event cofounder & Killington Valley local Nate Freund of MTBVT. “We’re stoked to bring the party to Rutland and introduce riders from around the northeast to these amazing trails!”
The $50 ticket price ($35 for the under 21 crowd) includes group rides, lunch (with both carnivorous and veggie options), and a signed original Cold Roll Rutland artist print. So air down those tires, break out the extra layers, and get ready to party MTBVT style.
Tickets are purchased here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/rutland-cold-rolled-2023-registration-471385365317
SCHEDULE:
Vendor setup 8:00 to 9:00
Registration / Expo area opens 9:00
Group Rides
Advanced ride departs 9:45
Intermediate ride departs 10:00
Beginner ride departs 10:15
Remote Aid Station opens 11:00 to 2:00
Lunch 12:00 to 2:00
Event ends 3:00
Advanced Ride – This ride’s duration is up to 3ish hours. The pace is for avid riders that enjoy covering ground at a steady pace. You can expect up to 12ish miles of riding over variable terrain.
Intermediate – These rides are for most folks looking to have a good time, stop at the fire for a bit, and be guided around PHP. this ride will be three hours in duration with opportunities to bail out or put in a few extra miles.
Beginner ride – Beginner rides take folks on the easier terrain and no experience is necessary. This ride will bring participants to the remote aid station and back to base.
About Mountain Bike Vermont
Mountain Bike Vermont (MTBVT.com) is an online journal, events promoter, apparel company, and rolling party instigator. MTBVT’s dual initiative is documenting and promoting the Green Mountain State’s incomparable cycling community. Visit MTBVT.com for info on our annual event series, shop our online store, and peruse new and archived articles. #MTBVT
Have questions? Want to become a vendor? Contact john@mtbvt.com
Saturday, June 4th: Jigsaw is now open.
Sunday, May 21st: Park is open today with Jigsaw being closed and roped off. There are still some tender places in the park so be gentle riding please. Thank you.
6PM UPDATE: Friday, May 20th. Park will remained closed for Saturday. We will reassess later Saturday afternoon to see if trails have dried up to open for Sunday. We still have standing water on a lot of trails. Please stay off the trails it would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
Volunteers will be checking the trails late Friday (5/20) afternoon to see if they have dried up. We had another .2″ of rain on Thursday evening. We are hoping the trees leafing out and a little bit of wind this afternoon things will dry out for the weekend. Stay tuned. Thank you.
We have had to temporarily close the park due to the amount of rain last Saturday, Monday and Tuesday. We have standing water on a lot of our trails. The water needs to drain out before we reopen for all users.
Thank you for respecting our temporary trail closures.
Water on Strong Angel, Jigsaw and Sore Elbow, Tuesday, May 17th.
UPDATE: May 3: Steep hill on Droopy Muffin and Lichen Rock are now open. Exit Strategy and Voldemort are still closed.
UPDATE: April 13: Trails are open for pedestrians and bikes. Lichen Rock, steep hill on Droopy and Exit Strategy are closed. Power company is doing work on a the power-line up by the Crusher. Please be aware of large vehicles on the Pond Rd.
UPDATE: April 11th: Trails are open for pedestrians only. We finished the new boardwalk this past weekend. Bikes you’ll have to be patient a little bit longer. Thank you.
Update: April 1st.
Trails are now closed to all users. Trails are in the process of thaw/freeze cycles and are very susceptible to trail damage. All our volunteers would greatly appreciate it if folks could hold off on riding and walking.
The park is closed to pedestrians this year also. We are hoping to open soon for pedestrians but trails need to dry out more.
NEMBA has a really great explanation on why we need to give trails a break in the spring.
Please stay tuned.
Our weather is all over the place. The warm weather towards the end of February definitely gave us some boiler plate ice that is now covered with a little bit of snow. Plus there is frozen bare ground that is covered in snow. Fat bike folks you will prefer studded tires but be wary as the snow is not sticking to the ice fully. That might change in the near future with warmer temps. We do not have enough snow to groom.
Pedestrians most likely will prefer some sort of ice gripper. Not necessary but depends if you like landing on your butt at unsuspecting times.
Speaking of warmer weather….long range weather report is showing a warm up then getting cooler again. However, as we approach the end of March the trails start the dreaded freeze/thaw cycle. What does that mean for Pine Hill Park???
When we feel it’s appropriate the park will close to all users. Bikes, pedestrians, everyone. The freeze/thaw cycle we are asking all users not to utilize the trails. The trails become muddy, ice is pushing up out of the ground and with foot traffic and bike traffic it destroys the trail tread. We are asking folks to be aware of our conditions. We will have a white board at the front entrance letting folks know if trails are open or closed. If you use social media it will be the easiest place to find if trails are open or closed. We understand folks want to get outside after a long winter but we are kindly asking not to use our trail system once the freeze/thaw cycles start.
Our trails are being used hard by many folks and trail degradation is happening faster than our core volunteers can maintain. Please consider making a donation to Pine Hill Partnership to help pay for a VYCC crew and a professional trail builder to come in and help repair some of our older trails.
We lucked out with weather getting cold for Sunday after a warm day on Saturday that saw trails really get soft. I think it’s safe to say everyone had a really great time. Thanks to #MTBVT, #PineHillPartnership,#Fiddleheadbeer
