Image Credit: SUBMITTED/Silver Star Mountain Resort
April 05, 2017 - 11:03 AM
The grand opening of Beowulf is finally here. The Beowulf Cross Country loop is an epic in every sense. It has been over four years in the making and in 2017 the 35+ km loop that starts and finishes at SilverStar’s village will be complete.
The name “Beowulf” comes from an epic poem, which may be the oldest existing long poem in Old English. Borrowing its name from an epic poem is a true fit for this trail, capturing the undertaking of building it from beginning to end. In the poem, Beowulf is a Viking who must come to the aid of Hrothgar, the king of the Danes, and undertake two enduring battles. First, he defeats Grendel and then Grendel’s Mother who attacks in revenge. Later on, he indulges in his third and last battle with The Dragon who he defeats but is fatally wounded.
These three battles parallel the creation of SilverStar’s Beowulf. The first battle involved the initial design and scope of exploring every inch of the terrain, followed by over three years of building the trail, and now the third battle is for the riders. “We have created The Dragon, it’s your turn to take it on and defeat it,” says trail builder Jason Martin.
The 35 + km loop takes riders along ridgelines, through cedar rainforests and grassy meadows as it winds its way from the SilverStar village to the bottom of Putnam Creek and back again, covering all of the incredible terrain SilverStar has to offer. This is a must-do ride for the discerning mountain biker. “At its inception, we planned for this trail to be a destination trail that would draw riders from around the world,” says Cam Sorensen, SilverStar’s Bike Park Manager. Beowulf will catapult SilverStar from being an IMBA (International Mountain Bicycling Association) Silver Level Ride Centre to a Gold Level Centre.
“Five years ago we saw the changes in bike technology and anticipated that Enduro biking would see a surge in popularity” says Sorensen. It was at that time that SilverStar embarked on building a 100 kilometre plus cross-country network culminating with the building of the Beowulf trail.
News from © iNFOnews, 2017