Niseko’s Twin Peaks Bike Park is an ambitions new project by the Niseko Area Mountain Bike Association (NAMTBA) to create a free-to-use mountain bike park open to the public. Located in the heart of the Niseko resort area, the new MTB park will feature beginner, intermediate and advanced riding across six trails, more than 21 kilometers of terrain and 200 meters of elevation differential. There will be a dedicated children’s balance bike area as well as a skills park for learning new techniques and building confidence.
Twin Peaks is the first project for NAMTBA, a registered non-profit organizations based in Niseko, and they see the park as a first step for creating new opportunities for riders as well as connecting future trails in and around Niseko. Their board is a diverse mix of nationalities, genders, ages and mountain bike riders, but they all share a vision of turning Niseko into a sustainable, world-class mountain bike destination.
Getting approval to use, and build on, public lands is tricky, but the team has worked closely with town and forestry authorities to move the process forward. When progress stalled it could have been perceived as reluctance, however the team understood the local stakeholders were simply doing their due diligence—finding out who NAMBTA was, making sure NAMTBA’s motivations were genuine and, understandably, making sure NAMBTA could deliver.
“We were really put under a microscope,” says Miles Zeorlin. “But it feels good to have earned their support.”
The project is being built in three stages, with the goal of completing Stage 3 during the 2023 green season. To build an international-caliber park, they brought in an international team lead by Allegra Tourismus, a renowned trail design company from Switzerland who has a U.S. and New Zealand-based crew building trails one meter at a time. There is talk of having a soft opening with eight kilometers of trails to ride in October this year, but check the website for updates. Once completed, the park will be free and open from May 1 – Oct. 31 each year.
Join the Crowd for a Chance to Win!
The pandemic hit local resort businesses in Japan hard, but the Niseko community have pitched in with generous donations of time and funding. If readers would like to support the cause, a crowdfunding drive is on now with a chance to win some great prizes. Each ¥5,000 ticket sold funds a further 2.5 meters of trail. T-shirts and other merchandise are also up for grabs and 100% of raffle and merchandise proceeds will be put towards continued trail building. Prizes include a new Trek Rail E-bike (worth ¥740,000) a ¥500,000 heli ski and accommodation package and more. Participation in the raffle is open to the public in Japan and overseas. For more details, terms and conditions visit namtba.com/get-involved/crowdfund/
