Places That Rock: Falls Creek
Falls Creek is an alpine icon, and they likely have a lot trails for this summer compared to last time you visited.
Words: Anna Beck Photos: Dominic Hook, Colin Levitch, Nick Waygood
Falls Creek has ridden the wave of a mountain biking boom for a decade, moving from strength to strength as they have added trails to their network. The ski-field-come-summer mountain bike wonderland now boasts 50km of dedicated mountain bike trails, with the management team planning to build even more: including a UCI-rated dedicated Downhill Track!
A windy 30km drive above nearby Mt Beauty, Victoria, the drive is worth the effort to experience the Falls Creek trails, as their fast and furious machine-built park style that sitsright alongside the opportunity to head well out into the backcountry on an all-day (or multi-day!) ride.
Falls Creek features trails for everyone: from first-time mountain bikers to seasoned gravity warriors. While many of the trails could be ridden on an XC bike by an intermediate rider, to get the most bang for your buck a trail bike in the 130-150mm range will allow you to maintain your speed through the rough stuff, and reduce fatigue on the longer runs.
With Blue Dirt running shuttles in summer, you can bring your enduro bike and lap the trails all day long if that's your jam. Blue Dirt also have hire bikes if you just want to head out and leave your own bike at home.
All about the trails at Falls Creek
The Summit trailhead (at 1780m, breathe deep!) is where the shuttles drop you off, and from this point there are multiple adventures to choose from.
You can drop into the crowd favourite Big Fella, or traverse along Frying Pan Spur to The Trig to take on what may well end up as the most popular trail at Falls Creek – Skyline.
This trail descends through a zone that no other trail has accessed yet, with gravity doing the work for high trail speed. Expect features, swooping berms and a finish onto the lower part of the ever-popular Flowtown trail, taking you right to the park gates. You can jump on the shuttle, or pedal up the packhorse singletrack over the road.
There are two more new trails that create excellent links on the mountain. Heavy Metal is a 2km trail that links from Wishing Well to Downtown, or all the way across to the lower part of Flowtown.
Downtown is another linking trail from Wishing Well to the lower section of Skyline, it's 1.3km long with about 100m of descent.
For a newer rider, the ‘Green Line’ is a great place to start; a 5km loop comprised of green runs linked together for maximum use of the terrain. Start by heading down the Summit road, then drop into the fast and flowy ‘Eagle Rock’. Enjoy the big berms and free speed of the trail before a short gravel climb takes you to ‘Turbine’. Hero dirt and alpine granite abound before you turn into ‘Lakeview’ and the surface becomes a little looser, while you head up to ‘Short Circuit’ and the undulating ‘Induction’ trail takes you straight back to the main Falls’ parking lot.
If you want to head out of the purpose-made trails, then consider a route that takes in some of the historic sites, like the Falls Creek Huts Ride. It's almost flat, and can make an ideal trip with a picnic for tired legs or tiny ones.
For the ultimate all-mountain experience, there is 10km of (mainly) descending to be had if you link up the trails ‘Frying Pan Spur’, ‘High Voltage’, ‘Wishing Well’ and ‘Flowtown’, the top part of these trails are rated black, however are easily achievable by intermediate level riders, followed by blue tracks and the 6km ‘Flowtown' to make your face hurt from smiling, and legs hurt from pumping. To really get the most out of this loop, stop and have a look around at the view from ‘Frying Pan’, and take a snap at the 360-degree panorama of the Trig Point, between ‘Frying Pan’ and ‘High Voltage’ trails.
Check out the whole trail map for Falls Creek.
Stay, Eat, Drink, Shuttle
– For breakfast or coffee, head to the Village Bike Cafe or 1550 restaurant.
– Time for lunch? Both the Village Bike Cafe and 1550 restaurant should be on your hit list.
– In the evening, dinner or drinks can be found at the Frying Pan Inn, The Last Hoot, Jbs Restaurant and at Lakeside during the January holidays.
– If you're keen to use the shuttle, book in with Blue Dirt, who operate shuttles, bike hire and more. Shuttle costs start at $85 per day.
Another great option is to head into the top of ‘Big Fella’ and sneak across ‘Graveyard’ instead of heading straight down, which takes you to ‘Lorna’s Link’. Form here you can head down ‘Generator Down’ into ‘Vortex’, two fun and flow blue trails that beautifully showcase the natural alpine environment.
Falls creek, if you have the bike, is best ridden with some shuttles in mind (available every weekend in season), but that’s not to say there aren’t some cracker climbs to offer the weekend sadomasochist/anyone with a cross country bike. From the end of Flowtown (at the ticket box, a few km from the main village) the blue rated ‘Packhorse’ is a mainly flowy climb trail with a few technical challenges. Not recommended for less fit or skilled riders, as it may prove to be a bit more challenging than expected when gravity isn’t assisting!
From the Slalom Plaza, a few blue trails offer the opportunity to ride to the summit, starting with ‘Jump Start’, to ‘Generator Up’ into ‘Lorna’s Link' and across the gravel Summit road. From the Gully Trailhead, ‘Blackout’ takes you up to the ‘Aqueduct’ trail leading to ‘Wishing Well’, for another way to access the ‘Wishing Well’/‘Flowtown’ run.
GETTING THERE
Head straight up Bogong High Plains Road from Mt Beauty. It's a little over 4 hours from Melbourne, just over 5 from Canberra and about 7.5 hours from Sydney.
YOU’LL NEED
It's an alpine area so keep a jacket, suncream and water on hand and carry your regular trail essentials.
LOCAL KNOWLEDGE
Falls Creek is just the launching point for some big adventures in the mountains. If you're handy with a topographic map, dig it out and take a look.
WHILE IN THE AREA
Take a walk! There is some great hiking and plenty of other activities – check out the Falls Creek website for more details.
LOCAL BIKE SHOPS
Depending when you're going, your best bet is in the valley at Mt Beauty, although some spares are available when hiring bikes in Falls Creek.
REGULAR EVENTS
Falls Creek puts on a social event the opening weekend of the season called ‘Ignition’, which is as much a festival of gravity as it is a social event. The ‘MTB de Femme’ is a women’s version, happening in February. Falls Creek also hosts various mountain bike race events, keep your eyes on the calendar for upcoming XCO and gravity races at Falls!
Facilities
Toilets: Yes, at the village
Drinking Water: Yes, at the village
Parking: Yes, lots at the villahe
Trails Signposted: Yes
Mobile Reception: Telstra – Yes, Optus – Yes
Shelter: Mostly at the village but also near the lifts.
Accommodation: Lots! Fallscreek.com.au
Ratings
Technicality 3/5
Fitness level 1/5 (for shuttles. 5/5 if you’re breathing that thin alpine air on the climb up)
X-country 5/5
Trail 5/5
All/mtn 4/5
Downhill 2/5
