WHERE DO WE MEET?

  • Wilson Bay Carpark. We will meet you in the car park at Wilson Bay, 788 Glenorchy Queenstown Road. Please don’t get confused with the first carpark you come across heading to Seven Mile from Queenstown - head over the hill to Wilson Bay and you shall find us in the carpark!

  • We will meet you outside the bottom lift terminal of Skyline Bike Park. If you need to purchase lift tickets, allow extra time before your session to purchase these.

  • We will meet you outside the bottom lift terminal of Skyline Bike Park. If you need to purchase lift tickets, allow extra time before your session to purchase these.

  • We will meet on the gravel carpark on the corner of Wynyard crescent. There is a sharp corner with gate on the other side of the road.

WHAT DO I BRING?

  • Clothing - Please dress in appropriate clothing for mountain biking - clothing should be comfortable, offer good coverage of the body and no excessively baggy or restrictive. It is a good idea to pack a few layers and a waterproof as our mountains can be unpredictable.

    Footwear - We recommend mountain bike specific footwear to provide the safest connection to your pedals. If you don’t have these, sturdy flat soled sport/skate shoes are fine. Hiking boots, work boots, jandals and sandals are unsuitable.

    Food/Drink - We do not provide any food or drink on our sessions. Please pack an appropriate amount of snacks and fluids for what you would usually take in over the duration of your session.

  • Bike – We strongly recommend a modern full suspension mountain bike with at least 140mm travel front and rear, hydraulic disc brakes and robust tyres with sufficient tread. The bike should be mechanically sound with no issues. An enduro bike or downhill bike is ideal. We love bike set up, so if you have any questions, let us know!

    Mandatory Protection – Full face helmet, knee pads.

    Strongly recommended Protection – Gloves, goggles/eye protection, elbow pads, chest/spine protection, shin pads, neck brace.

  • Bike - As a minimum, we recommend that the bike is equipped with front suspension, disc brakes, mountain bike tyres and a wide range gear system. A modern full suspension mountain bike is preferred, but not essential - hardtails are fine.

    Mandatory Protection - Open face helmet, knee pads.

    Strongly recommended Protection - Full face helmet for jump lessons, gloves, goggles/eye protection, elbow pads, chest/spine protection, shin pads, neck brace.

Please ensure you arrive with the correct equipment - it is for your own safety. Your session may be cancelled if you do not have the correct equipment. No refunds, or compensation will be given for any time lost in getting the equipment.

OTHER

  • We operate rain or shine, so please dress appropriately! Occasionally, if the weather is forecast to become so bad that it will impact safety (i.e. severe storms), the session will be cancelled and rescheduled, at no extra cost.

    Some of our locations may close when the weather is adverse. We will do our best to predict when this may impact the running of your session ahead of time, but our mountain environment can be unpredictable. In this case, the session will be cancelled and rescheduled, at no extra cost.

  • Our prices do not include lift passes. If you need to purchase these for your session, this needs to be done in advance of your lesson starting. Note, that we may not use up all runs loaded on your pass during the session.

  • Our sessions do not include any rental equipment. We would be happy to point you in the right direction to rent equipment from a number of established operators.

  • Refer to our Terms and Conditions for information on cancellations.

  • Our sessions run for between 3 and 6 hours, which requires a degree of physical fitness. Whilst our locations and sessions allow us to be adaptable and flexible with physical demands, please ensure you are comfortable with riding for the duration of the session time. On our full day sessions, we ensure that there is adequate time for resting and re-fuelling.

  • We will give you directions on how to load and unload the lifts. It’s pretty straight forward, so no need to stress.

    There can be lift lines that can cause delays in loading the lift.

    We do not have a priority lift line and have the same rights as anyone else using the lifts. Public holidays, holiday periods and weekends can have longer wait times than usual.

    We will do our best to make sure you always get as much ride time as possible, but delays due to lift lines are out of our control.

WHAT TO EXPECT

  • Please arrive on time, at least 10 mins before your session start time.

    For visitors, please allow plenty of time to arrange and collect rental bikes and lift passes.

  • This section applies to new students at Onward who have not ridden in bike parks before.

    Risk management is important to us. A big part of this is to ensure you have a set of minimum prerequisite skills. This is so that when you get to riding the trails, you haven’t been thrown in the deep end in a sink-or-swim scenario - not fun!

    • For new students at Onward, there will be a skills assessment made before riding trails.

    • The time taken for this skills assessment will vary, depending on your current ability level.

    • Your instructor may spend some time teaching some fundamental skills to safely approach bike park riding.

    • The time taken is solely up to your instructor - this is for your own safety.

    • Once your instructor is happy with your skills, we’ll hit the trails!

    • For most confident beginner riders, we are confident that our teaching will give you the skills to approach these trails.

    • Openness and honesty is key to safety - In the event that your instructor does not deems you unfit to approach green trails safely, we will respectfully tell you this. We can spend more time working on skills, or arrange a partial refund if the session is terminated.

    • See our ‘participants’ section of our Terms and Conditions for more info.

  • Gravity-only bike park riding is a bit different to normal mountain biking. It’s super fun, challenging and rewarding. But for safety reasons, our participants need to display a suitable minimum ability level before riding any trails:

    • Able to apply brakes gradually to stop without skidding.

    • Comfortable using both brakes to effectively control speed on steeper sections.

    • Able to stand up on the pedals, in a strong, mobile and stable position, on a variety of trail conditions (flat/corners/rougher sections.)

    • Confident and comfortable with descending for 15-20 minutes per lap, over a total period of 3 hours.

    If you are new to bike park riding, we will ensure that we teach you these skills before you get on the trails, so don’t stress too much!

    If you would prefer to learn in a less demanding area, consider our other riding options - Seven Mile Recreation Reserve offers great terrain for beginners.

  • Queenstown trail grades can be different from where you are used to. Don’t fret, we always do our best to match suitable terrain to our students ability level.

    Some green trails (grade 2) in Queenstown can easily be compared to blue (grade 3) found elsewhere in NZ and the world. Please ensure that you are ready for an increased challenge level when riding Queenstown trails!