3 Years Building a $12M Mountain Bike Trail in the New Zealand Bush

The Pike 29 Memorial Track was built as a living memorial to the men who died in the 2010 Pike mining disaster. A massive project culminating in a $12M trail, it was sculpted into the landscape by passionate mountain bikers and track builders and is a world-class and first-of-its-kind mountain bike track which doubles and New Zealand’s 10th Great Walk.

This video shows some of the exploits of the team who built it called the Bush Walruses. MTB track designer and digger operator Milty Coultas, explosives specialist and track shaper Tom Woodward, and tree fellers Logan and Felix.

We cut the track through the bush over three long years while exposed, battered and frost bitten by the elements on the West Coast. It was the most extreme construction site that any of us had worked at.

This video featured in the 2020 New Zealand Mountain Film Festival.

For track building services follow Milty on Instagram at: https://www.instagram.com/graded_earth/

Follow Tom on Instagram at: https://www.instagram.com/tom.woodward.videos/

Read more about this project HERE.

This article originally appeared on Bikemag.com and was republished with permission.