The CBC trail on Mt. Seymour is now officially closed until the Spring of 2010. With the heavy rains over the past couple weeks, the lower section of the trail has taken a beating and numerous braids have formed. Please respect the closure of CBC.

During the winter, signs courtesy of the NSMBA are posted alongside the road heading up Mt. Seymour when CBC is closed during this time, typically starting in November and being removed in the Spring depending on conditions. The landowners will be enforcing the closure.

Want to know why CBC is closed during the winter and after heavy rains? Read on below.

Why shouldn't I ride CBC when it’s Wet?

CBC is not officially closed during rain and wet conditions, however a voluntary temporary closure out of respect & request of the NSMBA, the trails’ builders & maintainers and the land-owners, riders are asked to enjoy the great network of lower trails accessed from the Vancouver Picnic area parking lot on the 2^nd switchback up Mt. Seymour Rd instead (sometimes referred to as the Old Mushroom Lot).This applies during rain and 48 hours following rain. Why? The ground here is quite unstable and sensitive with a lot of water moving underneath the trail. Even though it looks bombproof and completely armoured with rock, the water flowing beneath undermines the soil that holds all this together, and bike traffic on top has a significant impact making it worse. Even in the middle of the dry summer water can be seen seeping out of the ground in some areas.

Why is CBC closed in the Winter?

CBC is OFICIALLY CLOSED in Winter months and landowners do enforce the closure. 

Signs courtesy of the NSMBA are posted alongside the road heading up Mt. Seymour when CBC is closed during this time, typically starting in November and being removed in the Spring depending on conditions. 

In addition to the ground water issue, winter months on the North Shore are infamously WET, so there is water EVERYWHERE! Add the cold temperatures and there’s significant affect to the trail due to “freeze & thaw”. Water gets in between rocks, under rocks, even in rocks & saturates pretty much everything (you included!). When the cold hits, it freezes. Then it thaws. Then it freezes. Then it thaws…. you get the idea. This erodes, cracks and weakens the trail’s surface and underlying supporting soil. Some sections of trail have eroded so deeply due to these issues that they have been completely rebuilt from solid rock elevated above a drainage system, only a few years after the trail was built. Note the level of the ground at the top of the side banks in the BEFORE pic below, this was the original height of the trail!

What makes the CBC trail on Mt. Seymour so special?

CBC travels through an ecologically sensitive area on the upper mountain. Great care was taken in choosing and laying out the line when this trail was built in 2000 with permission & co-operation from the Lower Seymour Conservation Reserve. CBC has been labeled the “poster child” trail for the NSMBA due to the meticulous attention to detail in construction, maintenance, and challenges created from natural terrain & features. CBC is the only mountain bike trail accessed from upper Mt. Seymour, making it the most highly trafficked trail on the mountain connecting to a variety of other very popular trails lower down such as Ned’s Atomic Dustbin, Corkscrew, Pingu, Pangor and Boogieman. Thousands of hours have been spent sculpting this masterpiece for everyone to enjoy - check out the trail here!