Must-Ride: High Voltage, Falls Creek, Victoria.



 

Falls Creek is one of the Australian alpine resorts currently accepting that 97% of scientists are right and that our winters aren’t likely to ever again be as cold or long as they once were. Less of the white stuff and more of the green means that mountain biking is a big winner, and at Falls that’s especially true. This stunning resort, high above Mt Beauty on the Bogong Plains, is in the midst of a massive program of trail building.

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Accessing High Voltage means a short cruise out along the picturesque Frying Pan Spur.

In late 2014, we paid a visit to Falls Creek to see how their mountain bike park was developing, and we left in complete awe of not only the new trails, but the landscape and the amazing back country riding on offer. From shuttled runs of the village trails, to ranging explorations of the region’s historic huts, and huge all-day rides into the Keiwa Valley below, Falls has great diversity.

This season, Falls Creek has added another key trail into their network, with the opening of High Voltage on 21 November, 2015. Trail building gurus World Trail have worked their magic again, this time applying the love to Frying Pan Spur, which lies to the north of the existing mountain bike park.

High Voltage fires off from the end of the spur, offering an alternative intermediate descent to the black diamond Thunderbolt. Descending for nearly its entire length, before plugging back into the final portion of Wishing Well, it’s got all the flow you’d expect, plus some of the most inviting, loamy berms going.

We were lucky enough to get a cheeky preview of High Voltage with National Enduro Champ Chris Panozzo, a couple of weeks prior to its official opening date. It’s fair to say we now know how this trail can be ridden, and we doubt it’ll see a set of wheels this quick again for some time.

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The trail building at Falls is far from complete too. There’s yet another stage of development slated for 2016, with a swathe of new climbing tracks and a huge blue-graded flowtrail descent ‘Flowtown’ (we approve of the name). There’s already more than enough trail on offer at Falls to keep you and a crew occupied for a couple of days, so lock a road trip in for summer now, before the snow ruins the fun for a few months again.

For more info on riding in Falls Creek, check out their super comprehensive website here: TAKE ME TO FALLS! 

Falls Creek Map

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The gnarled snow gums are such a cool feature of riding in the alps.

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Big granite features are part of all the trails at Falls Creek.
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The lower part of High Voltage is a great run of step downs, transfers and doubles.

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