Mountain Biking in Scotland

[cramman]

I’m looking to spend a couple of days mountain biking in Scotland. I’ve been to Glentress and would definitely go back as it’s fairly close to me.
But, as this is going to be a couple of days away I really like the idea of going somewhere with lifts.
One option is a day at Glentress then the next day see if we can use the uplift at Innerleithen, but we’d prefer somewhere new.

So, where do people recommend in Scotland where we can use the chair lifts and has a few decent runs.

We are both fairly competent red/black riders.

Cheers,

Cramman.

[a11y_m]

I'm guessing mentioning chairlifts that you're primarily looking for DH-orientated stuff?

Just checking that you know the uplift at Innerleithen isn't a chairlift?! It's a cattle truck plus coach. Just from the way you'd posted I thought I'd better check...

The only chairlift-accessible biking trails are at Fort William and now also at Glencoe. Fort William obviously has the world cup DH track and it really is quite mental but is a great challenge, but they've also got a very good red-graded DH track: it's more technical than a red XC route by a long way. I'm there fairly often and love both tracks even though the red is tough work on a DH bike. I've not been to Glencoe yet but have heard favourable reports from the weekend about the new red track.

Edit: combine a day at Fort William with a day riding at Laggan - if you're fairly competent red/black riders then you'll love the black route there. They also do uplift too although unsure when/how it runs as we just ride up, it's no hardship.

[Pablo16v]

a11y_m said:

I'm guessing mentioning chairlifts that you're primarily looking for DH-orientated stuff?

Just checking that you know the uplift at Innerleithen isn't a chairlift?! It's a cattle truck plus coach. Just from the way you'd posted I thought I'd better check...

The only chairlift-accessible biking trails are at Fort William and now also at Glencoe. Fort William obviously has the world cup DH track and it really is quite mental but is a great challenge, but they've also got a very good red-graded DH track: it's more technical than a red XC route by a long way. I'm there fairly often and love both tracks even though the red is tough work on a DH bike. I've not been to Glencoe yet but have heard favourable reports from the weekend about the new red track.

Edit: combine a day at Fort William with a day riding at Laggan - if you're fairly competent red/black riders then you'll love the black route there. They also do uplift too although unsure when/how it runs as we just ride up, it's no hardship.

A day at FW and a day at Laggan would make for a top weekend and would get my vote too.

[cramman]

Thanks for the replies.

a11y_m said:

I'm guessing mentioning chairlifts that you're primarily looking for DH-orientated stuff?

Aye, not the full on DH stuff, more red/black runs that go downhill/XC, I was just thinking as this is going to be a bit of a holiday, I like the idea of a lift taking me to the top, or at least so of the way up to save the boredom of climbing all day (I’m lazy)

Thanks for the info though, I’ll take a look at Fort William.

I thought they would be making more use of the ski lifts in the off season, clearly not, seems a shame.

Cheers,

Cramman

[a11y_m]

cramman said:

I thought they would be making more use of the ski lifts in the off season, clearly not, seems a shame.

Yeah they've not quite grasped the full potential of the resorts for summer use in the same way as mainland Europe, etc. Getting better although I'm not sure if the demand is there due to the location compared to the population mass in the UK. Innerleithen really needs the chairlift but that's a touchy subject!

I think you'd enjoy the red DH at Fort William judging by your comments. It's not full-on DH - it descends the same vertical drop as the world cup track, but takes over twice the distance to do so. There's a few videos around on youtube that'll be worth a watch. I was there at the weekend and split my time between the two tracks, great fun.