Soldier Mountain announced Tuesday it is opening its new mountain bike park for the summer this Friday. The park will be open Friday through Sunday, as well as Memorial Day and Labor Day, through the end of October.
"We're excited to be opening our bike park," Soldier Mountain's general manager, Paul Alden, said. "These trails are built to world-class standards, and we look forward to being the preferred local mountain-biking destination for riders of all ages and abilities."
A grand opening celebration is planned for May 22 from 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. There will be a live band, 50% discount on in-person lift ticket purchases, a free dessert with ticket purchase, giveaways, food and local craft brews.
Soldier Mountain now has 7.7. miles of gravity mountain biking on four new trails, according to a news release. The bike park was designed and built by Hailey-based Titus Trails and Apex Trail Construction from Park City, Utah.
The trails are made for all skill levels with easy, intermediate, advanced hand-cut and extreme machine-cut jump trails. The mountain has also added a skills park and plans to add a longer, hand-cut intermediate trail this summer.
"I’ve got a five-year-old and a two-year-old and I built the green with the intention that my five-year-old could come down it," said Brian Vaughan of Titus Trails. "The extreme trail has gap jumps so but everything has a ride around so you don’t have to ride the jump."
"Having had the opportunity to preview Soldier Mountain's new trails, I am thrilled with the addition of a new lift-accessed bike park in our region," Julian Tyo, a Wood River Trails Coalition board member, said. "The progression built within the network is pitch-perfect, with a playful, family-friendly green trail and a black jump trail that is the real deal. With a blue jump trail currently in the works by Titus Trails, I'm confident the offering the Soldier Mountain team is creating will appeal to bikers of all abilities."
Soldier Mountain also opened for summer operations earlier than they expected, we tried to check out the bike park last fall but when we arrived the resort got evacuated because of a wildfire.
The new owners of Soldier Mountain told us they will also debut a new disc golf course in a few weeks, Alden said they have been working with 208 Discs out of Boise and all they have to do is install the baskets.
Soldier Mountain will have limited bike rentals due to current mountain bike and bike parts supply chain issues due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Operating hours for the bike park are as follows:
- Friday from 1:30 to 7 p.m.
- Saturday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.
- Sundays and holidays from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
For more information on ticket prices and season passes click here, for those looking to make a weekend out of their trip this resort is in the Sawtooth National Forest and there is a campground less than a mile away from Soldier Mountain.
