There won’t be self shuttling in the park. There’s a number of reasons for this, many of which don’t sit with us. From our end though, being transparent, there really isn’t a manageable, safe, and functional way to do so. Particularly if we want to actually significantly grow and improve the park and trail system.
Mystic MTB - Bright
- Thread starter smitho
- Start date
Cardy George
Piercing rural members since 1981
Keep talking to us and providing valid reasons for what you're doing and I'm sure it will stay that way
climberman
Likes Dirt
Dunno, but MTB can be all year, skiing is Jun/Jul/Aug/Sep in Oz, and shuttles suck compared to a chairlift, it's not even vaguely comparable.
climberman
Likes Dirt
Time to bring the future forward
Mattyp
Cows go boing
Mount Buller used to spin their chairlift allowing for 25+ runs a day...
These days on the blue bus, with half a millions km on the odometer that struggles to get out of 1st gear, you will get about 7-8..
Jpez
Down on the left!
Just imagine the grumbling from people when they are asked to pay $1000 a year in membership fees because some people don’t like busses.Time to bring the future forward
As a side note I know people love to hate on mystic. Can’t self shuttle, fees are too much, hero/shred is boring. Don’t disagree there or whatever but this new move is really positive and I’m excited for its future. VIC sucks for decent riding. Or at least decent riding not 5-6 hours drive away so this can only be a good thing.
Im happy to pay my yearly membership.
LPG
likes thicc birds
Keep adding it to the list, I'll tell my wife I need to prove myself right and she will shake her head and I'll think I have freedom
I'm a fan of Bright/Mystic. It's one of the only places on the mainland where you can ride from a town that has everything you want for a family holiday. I've been there a couple times with my wife and son when he was 1-2 years old and it is the only place where my wife is happy and she doesn't feel like she is just there to look after the little one while I ride. Bright isn't cheap and it's near 7hrs drive but we always have an awesome time and only regret not going for an extra day or 2.
I feel like Narooma might be an equivalent in some ways but I haven't been there yet.
climberman
Likes Dirt
I catch buses most working days, they are fine. I just don't take my bike on em!
Shuttling is always a game of 'race to get to the bottom to get place on bus/in 4WD, sit there for 20 mins til bus fills, drive up which takes forever, unload bikes, blah'
A 'liffetime' in a chair queue is about a standard to long wait shuttling.
Jpez
Down on the left!
Yeah I hear you. It’s frustrating. I’ve had a single day at Maydena between family commitments and there weren’t many people in the park and they were running 1 maybe two busses. I was waiting 40min for a few until Reece took pity on me and ran me up in the ute. I got 4 runs. Didn’t quite feel like I got my moneys worth.
And when the buses at Bright get out of sync or something or the driver goes of for a smoke or a chat and there’s a bus full of hot sweaty riders sitting for 20min. Yeah that shit needs to be sorted asap.
I’d love a chair just like everyone but obviously it’s not viable to do.
climberman
Likes Dirt
smitho
Likes Bikes and Dirt
Surely the best candidate for a chair is Buller. It’s existing infrastructure in working condition that’s been used for bikes before. It runs end to end from the trails. I don’t know I ever managed 25+ runs like Mattyp above, but definitely got in significantly more than on the shuttles.
It would be interesting to know whether it wasn’t economically viable to run the chair with the amount of rider using it, or whether BSL just wanted to handball the whole MTB operation off to an outside operator. You’d only imagine that with the increased popularity of MTB, the stupid amount you can charge for services these days, and sheer number of people up there in the green season it’d only be more economically viable now.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I’m pretty confident that we’ll see the first MTB specific lift operation in Australia within the next 5 years. Beyond the not insignificant capex costs, there is a whole host of compliance and regulatory costs for the operation, which make it extra hard. At the right site though, with the right trail network we believe it is viable.
We have looked at lift systems for a number of projects both in Australia and overseas. This includes ground based lifts, which are actually a pretty compelling option.
A lot would need to change at Mystic and in the broader MTB market to make a lift a viable option. In saying that though, surf parks are securing massive investment with a similar level of capital requirements and their business models don’t look amazing from an outsiders perspective.
While it’s not on the cards for Mystic right now, we definitely wouldn’t rule it out completely!
Cheers,
Frenchy
We have looked at lift systems for a number of projects both in Australia and overseas. This includes ground based lifts, which are actually a pretty compelling option.
A lot would need to change at Mystic and in the broader MTB market to make a lift a viable option. In saying that though, surf parks are securing massive investment with a similar level of capital requirements and their business models don’t look amazing from an outsiders perspective.
While it’s not on the cards for Mystic right now, we definitely wouldn’t rule it out completely!
Cheers,
Frenchy
rockmoose
his flabber is totally gastered
No doubt ground based would also have much lower running costs. I don't know how much a chairlift or T-bar/poma would cost to run per hour, but would be pretty certain the little 'uns would require far less traffic for viability compared to a chairlift.
Mattyp
Cows go boing
Fairly sure the Buller chairlift was shutdown by WorkSafe... The bikes and riders were being loaded in a spot where the chairs would not slow down, as well as the fact you had to have the bike sitting on your lap which meant the safety bar could not come down, it was actually pretty sketchy if someone hit the e-stop on the lift....
I've often thought that Hotham is probably best set out for MTB trails... The flat road along the top gives access to a large area of Terrain to drop into the bottom of Snake Gully below... The tracks could funnel to the main Village chair from both sides and you'd only have to run one lift...
The fact that it is run by Vail Resorts, who already have MTB tracks at Falls Creek, and I believe also do MTB stuff in the US? You would think they would be all over this considering how short, and shit, the snow season here is.
pink poodle
気が狂っている男
Hook into the Falls Creek t-bar for all the joy!
LPG
likes thicc birds
It could be pretty cheap compared to a chair and less safety approvals provided it is done over the right terrain. Bikes could basically be towed up. Problem is getting a mechanism right to attach, detach and balance support as you climb.
It would also be funny to see the people who fall off just like t bars!
Stredda
Runs naked through virgin scrub
I listened to a podcast with the owners of Bikepark Wales and they discussed the topic of a chair lift at that park. They were saying that a chair lift would cost 10 million pounds, it can't run in windy conditions and it's not much chop to ride on when it's wet (compared to shuttle vans). Plus, it needs two weeks downtime for maintenance per year and that means you either don't have any uplift for that time or you have to runs vans, which you wouldn't want to have hanging around just for two weeks of use. They mentioned that Whistler has 30k skiers in a day while they only have 80k riders in a whole year and they reckon the economics don't add up as you would never pay it off.
Not sure what Mystic would get but the UK has a pretty big population to pull from.
Not sure what Mystic would get but the UK has a pretty big population to pull from.
dancaseyimages
Mountain bike pornographer
That sounds insane, Pineapple Express is on my bucket list for next year. We just missed out this year (bit earlier than I could get holidays for)