Yup, the gnarliest of the chutes has been done too. We finished it today, with a good runout (no more bomb holes or stumps to get impaled on), followed by a couple of rollers. It’s very fast now and difficult to stay on the ground if you come in with speed.
I liked the old chute myself, in the dh direction at least, and hoped that it would be possible to find an alternate bluesquare (and climbing) line that would more-or-less preserve the existing line. But there’s just no feasible option.
To those who regret the loss of gnar, I encourage you to send the new configuration! And then climb back up it.
As already noted, there is a landowner-approved 1way black/double black loop off Schnitzel on the ‘to build’ list. Envision mostly slow speed gnar, step ups, slab rolldowns and lots of skinnys. On the priority list, it came behind making a long blue-square connecting route. Making it happen quickly just takes money to pay crew or contractor, and/or an absolute boatload of volunteer effort and leadership.
Completing the route from Spryfield to Norawarren will also open up a lot of new terrain to trail building, especially the BIG granite terrain around and to the west of Piggy Mtn. Everything is bigger here; the ridges and the troughs. There is a large parcel of NS Crown land here, and MRWA is hoping to develop an extended agreement with NS-Lands and Forests for next-phase trail development in this area, and between WEst and East Pine Island ponds.
If you want to be involved in laying out new trails of any difficulty (and then building them in a couple of years time, when approved), and have the time it takes and the needed skills (or want to learn them), please contact MRWA through me. The ECMTB senior crew (Derek, Jeff, Shawn etc) have already made a significant contribution in this way, and there is room for more of that from others too.