Bike Park Season Returns to the Tetons

In the wintertime, the plaza at the base of Jackson Hole Mountain Resort (JHMR) can feel a little overwhelming. On powder days it’s busy with skiers hustling to their favorite stashes and employees working to keep infrastructure running, restaurants stocked, and the mountain open. But in the summer, it’s a totally different experience. The views from the base area are still incredible, but the energy is different. It’s calmer, more relaxed. There’s no hurry to get first tracks before they’re skied out. There’s no competition for big lines or first tracks. Instead, we’re all here to ride bikes, and as the non-existent lift lines and recently expanded trail map make clear, there’s plenty for everyone.

When I visited the Jackson Hole Bike Park last fall for Bike Mag, I found myself in a funny situation. Usually press trips are an introduction to an area, but I spent the last seven years living less than an hour away from JHMR, in Driggs, Idaho. I was quite familiar with the Jackson Bike Park, or so I thought. But in the short year since my last laps at “The Village” the trail crews had been busy. So busy. And sometimes it takes leaving a place to fully appreciate it.

Jackson’s lower mountain bike park has been excellent for well over a decade. It’s not a huge network, but the original trails built by Gravity Logic flow well, get plenty of maintenance, and often hold better, wetter dirt than the rest of the region. But from a local perspective, they felt a little like a sideshow. They were engaging for a day or two of riding per year, but bigger jumps on Teton Pass and steeper lines in the Big Holes and the Palisades were always beckoning.

In recent years though, Jackson has invested huge resources into expanding their bike park from a fun and adequate attraction to a legitimate contender. That means new trails in the lower park and a massive expansion up the mountain. In 2021, the resort opened up the Sweetwater Gondola to mountain bikes. While the original bike park off the Teewinot Chair served up 420 vertical foot laps, Sweetwater gets you 1200’ per ride.

The vert was there, but what about the trails?

Building trails at elevation in the Tetons is challenging. The higher you go, the less dirt, shade, and moisture are available. As you creep closer to the treeline, things tend to get steep, shaley, exposed, and blown out. All of the elements that make trails easy to build and fun to ride are in shorter supply. But the resort poured an impressive volume of planning and manpower into these new trails.

Solitoga is a meandering blue trail that’s approachable and alternates between sweeping berms and moderately techy sections. Dirty Hairy, a double black, is probably the most technically challenging sanctioned trail in the region. It’s legitimately steep and legitimately hairy, with plenty of awkward rock moves, exposed turns, and steep chutes. And Deepest Darkest was the original poster child of the Sweetwater expansion. It’s a flow trail in the traditional sense of the word - massive berms, huge weightless grade reversals, wide, fast, and giggle-inducing. It’s also designed with adaptive riders in mind, which doesn’t diminish its fun on a regular bike but does open it up to an under-served user group.

Originally, Deer Jump felt like the odd man out of the Sweetwater Expansion. It felt more like a black jump option off Solitoga instead of its own trail. But, last September we got a taste of the next section of Deer Jump , and it’s impressive. The Sensus RAD Trails crew has put together a great collection of big jumps, berms, and creative features that makes the Jackson Bike Park a compelling alternative to Teton Pass.

For years the “Teton Pass Rats” grom gang has spent their summers a few miles away from the Jackson Bike Park, sessioning the bigger jumps on the pass. So it was telling and exciting to see those young riders lapping Deer Jump over and over all fall. Beyond the easier access (gondolas beat out shuttling) there’s also all the benefits bike park infrastructure brings, like paid trail maintenance and professional first responders on call in case of an emergency.

With this new section of trail, the promise of Jackson’s bike park as a playground for every rider feels more realized than ever before. These new jumps are big, with proper gaps and plenty of options. And there’s a great progression between the more accessible lower mountain jumps and this new trail. Warm up down low, and then move up the mountain to dial in the new line.

The new Deer Jump section will be open to all this summer, and the park has big plans to extend the trail all the way to the base area, while also building several new trails. While we’re excited to see that expansion happen, it’s impressive how wide a range of riding the Jackson Bike Park now offers.

Lucky Charm is a green trail that really is fun for the whole family. We watched first-time bike park riders cruise down its fern-lined bridges. It does a great job of combining mellow but engaging terrain with the experience of adventure - it feels like you’re genuinely exploring the mountain.

JHMR now covers the full spectrum of riding, with logical progressions between trails and features. Looking for a technical challenge? Session Dirty Hairy, try to learn your lines and nail them. Want to go fast and cruise? You’ve got options. Looking to go big? Deer Jump is ripe for a day of boosting.

Finally, I’d be remiss to not mention the Montana Enduro Series . The Rendezvous Enduro is a truly unique experience. It’s a rare opportunity to race trails that are nearly blind, for every competitor, in an incredible setting. Even if you’re not a bike racer, it’s worth the price of registration for this unique riding experience.

And the laid-back atmosphere of the base area makes for a stable setting for a weekend on the bike. Jackson has carefully crafted its bike park into a legitimately worthy travel destination, and they’re not done yet. We can’t wait to see what they build next. I may have flown my nest in the Tetons, but you can be sure that I’ll be back regularly, to experience everything the resort is building for riders.

The Jackson Hole Bike Park opens for the summer 2024 season on June 15.