Route guides Wolftrax

How to get there:: Head for Dalwhinnie and then towards laggan, turn left and its about 1 mile up the road. It is just over 2 hours drive from Glasgow

Well they said it couldn’t be done, the three routes in one day, but you know what us dudes from Glasgowmtbmad are like, we did it all and then some.

The Night before

Myself, Rob, Rab and Joe all headed up to Laggan on the Saturday night, with me and Rob roughing it in the van. We met up with Rab and Joe once we had set up camp and had a few beers and spot of guitar playing round the campfire. In the morning we headed to Basecamp for a spot of breaky and got our kit ready. Once the boy arrived we were ready to roll.

The Blue Route ( Fun Park)

The Blue Route begins with an easy climb from the car park along a fire road that takes about 20 minutes at a leisurely pace. Once at the start of the Fun Park you get your first view of the Blue Route descent. A kind of twisty, bermy, jumpy singletrack rollercoaster. We fired up the helmet cam and Rob Stokes put his goggles on and we whooped our way down. We did however find that a couple of the doubles were a bit too close to the preceding berms to clear them but after a couple of runs we were almost there. I do feel personally that for a blue route this could be bettered by allowing a better run up to the double to build up speed. That said it was a fun route after all and all four of us enjoyed it.

The Red Route

The red route starts from the car park again and follows the same climb as the blue route only goes a bit higher up. While climbing we spotted a slab similar to the slab at Dalbeattie but maybe a bit smoother. So we headed over for a shot. Joe had never attempted anything like this before, but after discarding his seatpost he took on the might of the slab and conquered it first time. There were the usual crowd with their fancy bikes stood deliberating over what line to choose and taking pictures only to walk away from the obstacle altogether. Come on guys give it a go! Anyway we carried on climbing to the start of the red route descent. Nice single track and some rocky stepping stone type paths led on to the tester for the slab that we had already completed so we didn’t find it too difficult. We done the tester and the Slab and then carried on our way with more of the same until we reached a high point in the trail. From here there was a nice fast descent with jumps and berms and I must say that this was one of the high points of the ride. This led to a fire road and then to more singletrack. A strange bit of North Shore inspired wood work led through the trees. The platform was very with with camber changes and although not particularly demanding it was still fun as we rode over it at terminal velocity. This led us to a junction half way down the Blue route fun park which in turn took us back down to the car park where we decided to stop for a spot of Lunch.

The Black Route

For the third time today we climbed the same fire road beginning and once at the top split off to the right for the Black route. After some climbing we reached the high point of the trail which was signposted. Thanks for that at least we new than that the worst was over. All I can say about the black route is that it is very technical and rocky. Basecamp literature says not to attempt it unless you have a full bouncer but true to for Rob was offski and cleaned most of it including the 2 ton drop. Incidentally the 2 ton drop is no way droppable there is no run up to it whatsoever. The devils chessboard also presented no problem to Rob who bounded his way over everything his path. All in all the Black route is a great run and even I managed 80 percent of it on my hardtail. Another couple of runs and hopefully I will complete it all.

Basecamp

Basecamp has a load of great facilities including the usual toilets, shop and café. In addition though it has helmet cams for hire, and mountain bike videos playing constantly in the café so you can see how you should have been riding. Verdict then is a big thumbs up and It may even clinch second place behind Peebles although I will reserve that decision until I get more input from the rest of the guys.

Malkygee