Nevis Red route final section now open

The complete Nevis Red route reopened today after an exciting weekend of the motorcycle SPEA FIM Trial World Championships in Fort William. The cross country trail which originally opened in 2009 stopped short at gondola tower 8 where it met up with the downhill trail and riders joined the existing Witch's Trails cross country trails to cycle back to the Nevis Range car park. 500m of new track now completes the Nevis Red route sweeping through the woods on flowing sections with swoopy drops and fast bermed corners. The new section of track has been built 1.2m wide to accommodate 'four-wheel mountain bikes'. The trail shares gondola uplift for mountain bike with the famous World Cup downhill track. The classic cross country single track trail now stands at 5.5km and descends 543m to 100m above sea level. One kilometre of metre wide boardwalk, natural rock, and gravel sections give way to sweeping highland mountain-scapes and previously hidden panoramas across Lochaber. Under the Forestry Commission grading system the trail is ‘red’ which means riders should expect to encounter some more difficult 'black' sections. The trail has been constructed in 3 seperate phases over almost 2 years and many tons of material were transported by helicopter. Snow impeded construction during the previous 2 winters and delayed the original opening of the track by several weeks. Marian Austin, Nevis Range MD, commented "As part of the diversification of the business into an all year round resort, we opened our first downhill mountain bike track in 2000, and this led to the Mountain Bike World Cup being held in Fort William every year since 2002. The first downhill track is a very tough track and although thousands come to each year to ride it, many riders can only aspire to this feat. This new trail will open up the hill to competent cross country mountain bikers, and give more riders the thrill of riding downhill without the need to pedal up. It's a good fit with the already popular Witch's Trails cross country tracks in Leanachan forest at the foot of Aonach Mor." Gondolas operate for bike uplift from 10.15am - 3.45pm until Wednesday 15 September, other than certain race, maintenance and bad weather days. Up to date information is posted on the Nevis Range website. www.nevisrange.co.uk