After an epic snow year, the high country trails at Purgatory Resort are finally ready to roll.
Purgatory was scheduled to start running Lift 1 on Thursday, but had to push the opening back a few days. When it opens, the Purgatory Express will carry mountain bikers to the top of the hill and allow them access more of the mountain’s terrain.
The Alpine Slide will continue to operate off of Lift 4, as well as beginner and intermediate mountain biking.
Advanced mountain biking and scenic chairlift rides, however, will be conducted on Lift 1, which is newer, faster and has more vertical than Lift 4.
With Lift 1 opening, advanced bikers, will be able to access the World Cup Downhill and Pirate trails. Those two advanced trails are scheduled to open for the season on Friday.
Purgatory caters to all types of riders, from the top professional mountain bikers and teams to newbies learning on the Shangri-La beginner trail.
The opening of Lift 1 is also just in time for the Big Mountain Enduro. Purgatory will host the BME on July 8-9 and invites everyone to catch the high-speed, adrenaline-fueled action of all-mountain riding. Official practice will take place on Thursday and Friday, with racing action on Saturday and Sunday. The national race series offers some of the most challenging mountain bike terrain in a mix of backcountry and lift-accessed stages.
Purgatory will be the third stop of the 2023 BME. The series began May 6 at Mt. Nebo in Arkansas and the second stop was June 10-11 at Sunrise Park Resort in Arizona. After the Purgatory race, the series will head to Brian Head, Utah, from July 22-23 before wrapping up Aug. 6-7 at Big Sky, Montana.
Nikolas Nestoroff won the first two stops in the pro men’s division while Porsha Murdock won the pro women’s first stop and Isabella Naughton won the second.
More information on the status of Purgatory’s trails at https://www.purgatory.ski/mountain/weather-conditions-webcams/lifts-trails-biking/.
More information on the BME at https://bigmountainenduro.com/
UPDATE: A previous version of this story said Purgatory was opening Lift 1 on Thursday. The opening, however, was delayed.
