Category Archives: Mountain Biking

Education, Hikes, Mountain Biking, Trail Running, Trail Updates

Trails are Open!

April 16, 2023 Voldemort Leave a comment

April 15, 2023

Great news! All of our trails are open to bikes, pedestrians, runners. We are completely amazed at how dry the park is for this time of year.

Trail maintenance will continue through the spring and summer.

Just a quick reminder that these trails are built and maintained by volunteers. Please consider joining Pine Hill Partnership by using the button on the front page—or by leaving a donation in Tinman when you visit us.

We’re the first trail network to open in the state, so please be considerate of our volunteers who have worked super hard to create a great trail system. Unfortunately, trails do not magically appear :- )

Thank You !

Education, Meetings, Mountain Biking, Pine Hill Partnership, Trail Updates, Uncategorized, Volunteering

Annual dinner

March 4, 2023 Tin Man Leave a comment

Save the date! Tuesday, March 28th, 6:30pm. It will be via Zoom this year so our out of town members can join. Email pinehillpartnership@gmail.com for the link to attend.

Would you like to contribute to the park join our board of directors. Shoot us an email and let us know.

To replace our annual dinner we will be holding a walk/hike/ride on Saturday, May 20th from 10-2pm. Burgers hot off the grill start at 12:30.

We hope all of you can attend the annual dinner to hear about what is happening in Pine Hill Park this summer. Plus join us for some fun on May 20th.

Cross Country Skiing, Fat Biking, Mountain Biking, Snowshoeing, Trail Running

Snowdog is BACK!

January 24, 2023 Tin Man Leave a comment

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!

Fat Biking, Mountain Biking

Rutland Cold Rolled Returns

November 28, 2022 Tin Man Leave a comment

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

Hikes, Mountain Biking, Trail Safety, Trail Updates, Trail Work

Trail Work

November 22, 2022 Tin Man Leave a comment

KSA Built is in the park doing trail remediation work thanks to the Enhanced Recreation and Stewardship Grant that Rutland Recreation received.

We are super jazzed about how the trails that cross the upper power line are coming out. Arthur’s Chair(Upper Jersey) has had a tune-up. Strong Angel and Upper Jersey Turnpike have had a lot of work on them are now open. Watkins Wood Rd spring area received a culvert to hopefully eliminate that spring mud hole.

Exit Strategy had to sit over the winter. Rosey had gotten the mini on it only to have it snow the following day. It sat over the winter all roughed in and finish work was done in early April. Exit Strategy opened the earliest that we can remember in quite a few years. The whole park really never closed for spring freeze/thaw cycles.

Underdog, Salamander, upper Droopy Muffin, PA4J and Casey’s Cross all have been repaired. Where these trails cross the power lines and it’s sunny and warm(above 25 degrees) please stay off those sections of trails. The dirt has a lot of moisture in it being recently disturbed and will rut extremely easy. We would appreciate it if folks just be aware of tire and foot traffic leaving ruts in the dirt. We do not need to readdress these in the spring.

Casey’s Cross will get more repair work done as we missed the spring that floods the area.

The work KSA Built is doing is fantastic with more refinements starting in June. Broken Handlebar North, all of Halfpipe and Escalator will all get tuned up.

A few before and after pictures.

Upper Jersey looking downhill before pic

Education, Hikes, Mountain Biking, Observations, Pine Hill Partnership, Programs, Trail Safety, Trail Updates, Trail Work, Uncategorized

Park Updates

October 27, 2022 Tin Man Leave a comment

KSA Built is starting Thursday, October 27th in the park. Rosey will be working as late into late fall that weather permits. Some trails may be closed off as they are being upgraded. Please do not ride, walk, or run if you see a trail closed sign on that trail.

Broken Handlebar North and all of Halfpipe will see major improvements. Other smaller sections of trails will have drainage’s improved so water stops running straight down the trail tread. These improvements are part of the ERSA Grant Rutland Recreation received. Pine Hill Partnership is helping defray the higher cost of diesel some of our trails can see the upgrade they need. If you would like to make a donation directly to our trail fund please do so here https://pinehillpartnership.org/membership/ All contributions go back directly into Pine Hill Park trail system.

VYCC (VT Youth Conservation Corp) will be in the summer of 2023 to do more trail remediation work.

Our trails are being used heavily and need much needed TLC so please bear with this while the work is being performed.

Mountain Biking, Trail Running, Trail Updates, Trail Work, Video

Maximum Capacity, It’s Grand and It’s OPEN!

August 23, 2022 Voldemort Leave a comment

On Sunday, August 21 we opened the last new trail to be built in Pine Hill Park and we definitely saved the best for last. We celebrated with a little ribbon cutting, some refreshments, and a chance to say hello to long-time members as well as those just discovering the park.

Cutting the Ribbon — Grand opening celebration of Maximum Capacity trail at Pine Hill Park August 21, 2022

Prior to the official snip of the ribbon long time Pine Hill Partnership leader and project coordinator Shelley Lutz shared a few thoughts:

“Thank you, Rutland Recreation, for having the trust in Pine Hill Partnership to build and maintain trails in the park. This started around 2003 with Cindi Wight and Michael Smith, who had a vision of the asset that Pine Hill Park could be for the city, then Ejay Bishop agreeing with this vision. Now it’s Kim Peters and Tyler Dahlin. The Rec Department’s trust has been instrumental in getting the park to where it is today. Thank you all.

Next round of big thank you’ s go to Tim Vile, who designed the bridges in the park, and more recently Nate Netsch, Leonard Bartenstein and Keith Wight who will still come down to help us out on major projects.

Pine Hill Partnership board of directors: Andy & Peggy Shinn, Joel Blumenthal, Claus Bartenstein, Lindsey Johnston, Nate Netsch, Dave Jenne.

A huge thank you to Josh Harris and Rosey for volunteering their time, energy and mini-excavator to build the jump line on Maximum Capacity. This started out as me casually mentioning to Josh one day there was a mini bowl area we discovered when Keith and I walked this trail 5 or 6 years ago. Josh immediately said I’ll donate my time and mini and get Rosey to help build a jump line. Thank you Josh and Rosey for all your time well spent.

Josh Harris (left) and Rosey sample the jump line they volunteered their time and a mini-excavator to build on Maximum Capacity.

VT Youth Conservation Corp has had a big hand in building trails in Pine Hill Park along with Rutland High School YES plan, Killington Mountain School and Youth Works. YES plan and KMS programs will be back in 2023 and Proctor High School will be doing an outdoor education class 2 days/week this fall learning how to maintain trails.

Josh and Rosey Playing on the jump line. Video by Claus Bartenstein

Riders take a tour of the jump line on the freshly-opened Maximum Capacity trail. Video by Claus Bartenstein

Claudia Sachs was a crew leader for our crew this past summer that built Maximum Capacity.

Funding for Maximum Capacity has been by contributions from folks who use the park. Plus a Recreational Trail Program grant that Nikki Adams a former Rec employee helped write. Thank you Kim Peters for letting Nikki assist in writing this grant. “

The work done by the VYCC crew was hard, dirty and wet a few days but luckily they did not lose any days to poor weather. Even the mosquitoes didn’t carry them away! The spongy moths were buggers the first week but even they slowed down thankfully.

Maximum Capacity is 2486′ long. When combined with Broken Handlebar, Jigsaw, Milk Run, Furlough and Exit Strategy it will be 12,215 (2.3 miles) foot long mostly downhill run.

Pine Hill Partnership applied for a Recreational Trail Program (RTP) grant which we received to pay for this 3 week crew. Thank you to Rutland Rec for their help in writing the grant and the maintenance crew for their support in mowing VYCC camping site and equipment we can borrow when needed.

Hope to see you in the park trying out Maximum Capacity soon!

Mountain Biking, Trail Updates, Trail Work, Video, Volunteering

Maximum Capacity

June 5, 2022 Tin Man Leave a comment

July 20th Update: Maximum Capacity is complete and still closed. VYCC crew #5 did a great job in building this trail. They came in not knowing what they were getting into fully and came out seasoned trail builders understanding how to build a complete trail from scratch.

We will have a grand opening for this trail. We’re just not sure when. Stay tuned to social media and our webpage for updates.

The crew built 5 huge banked corners, two French drains under two of our banked corners. We built rock ride overs to protect tree roots or help to raise the trail tread in low places. Moved TONS of rocks literally. We taught them finish work how to build rolling grade dips complete with out-slope or in-slope a trail for drainage.

This rock weighed probably 800-1000 lbs. We dug it out and replaced it into a banked corner.

The crew members are from all over the US, college students needing a summer job.

The work was hard, dirty and wet a few days but luckily we did not lose any days to poor weather. Even the mosquitoes didn’t carry us away. The spongy moths were buggers the first week in the caterpillar stage even they slowed down thankfully.

Maximum Capacity is 2486′ long. When combined with Broken Handlebar, Jigsaw, Milk Run, Furlough and Exit Strategy it will be 12,215 (2.3 miles) foot long mostly downhill run.

June 27th Update: VYCC has been here for one week and will be here until July 8th working on Maximum Capacity and hopefully Bone Spur. They are camping at the Community Center feeding all the mosquitoes.

Anyone who likes to make cookies or brownies VYCC would be grateful recipients.

The trail is CLOSED until it is completed and the trail tread has time to set up.

Folks have been hearing about Maximum Capacity for over a year now. The trail is coming to life with Killington Mountain School back in May and currently with YES Plan (Rutland High School students) in early June. The students have done a great job in removing organic material. We will continue to work on this trail with YES Plan and VT Youth Conservation Corp to hopefully have it open by the end of July. The trail is approximately 2500′ long.

If you have flexible hours and would like to help with finish work let us know. This is where we do all the raking to create a sustainable trail tread. Send pinehillpartnership@gmail.com an email for more details. We do have a lot of trail broken open that needs finish work so many hands make light work.

Education, Fat Biking, Hikes, Mountain Biking, Nature Study, Observations, Pine Hill Partnership, Trail Running, Trail Safety, Trail Updates, Trail Work, Uncategorized, Volunteering

Park is OPEN

May 16, 2022 Tin Man 2 Comments

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.

Education, Mountain Biking, Pine Hill Partnership, Trail Running, Trail Updates, Trail Work, Volunteering

KMS Students

May 14, 2022 Tin Man Leave a comment

Thank you to Killington Mountain School for a solid morning of removing organic material on Maximum Capacity. The students, coaches and administrators broke open about 900 feet of trail in 2 hours. This is 900 feet less than the VT Youth Conservation Corp will have to do in late June. Thank you KMS!

Rutland High School YES Plan is back in early June. We will continue to work on Maximum Capacity.

It is fantastic to have these work groups back in the park.