Nelson

Nelson is a city located in the Selkirk Mountains on the extreme West Arm of Kootenay Lake in the Southern Interior of British Columbia, Canada. Known as "The Queen City", and acknowledged for its impressive collection of restored heritage buildings from its glory days in a regional silver rush, Nelson is one of the three cities forming the commercial and population core of the West Kootenay region, the others being Castlegar and Trail.

Many of the kids here learn to ride early, and locals including Canadian mountain biking freeride athlete Robbie Bourdon and Kurt Sorge (Red Bull Rampage 2012 winner) have achieved fame and/or notoriety in mountain bike movies that were filmed in and around Nelson. There are hundreds of mountain bike trails cut into these mountains and valleys.

Accessed via Mountain Station, "The Vein" is an epic single track that drops 1,463m/4,800ft from the top of the ridge in what has been described as "the descent of the gods."

Further out of town, on what is known locally as the North Shore, "Hitman" is accessed from the Kokanee Creek Road (ride up or shuttle).

About a 20 minute drive west of town, the Smallwood area offers some terrific cross-country terrain. The trail involves a mellow climb up to a lookout with views of Nelson, Castlegar and Red Mountain, but it can be a little steep and technical on the descent.

Suggested trails: