Chch Is The Best Place... The Farm Track Thread

[Trail]

nah apparently that's what they're resorting to to keep people off it. anyone caught ignoring the 'CLOSED' signs will be fined. its since that video of the dude's (doing what everyone else had been doing (-tho, not me!)) riding the Summit Rd.

I don't get why people are so hung up about rapaki being closed anyway - farm park track has been open for ages, and is all of 500m over from rapaki, go up that (admittedly the huge amounts of tar seal climbing involved in getting to the bottom of huntsbury puts me off that one).

hopefully the rock work down bowenvale will be done in time to coincide with old bowenvale drying out

Exactly. Mt Vernon farm track has been my staple way up the hill since earthquake closure. Is quite funny biking up there and looking across at all the people on the closed Rapaki track...

[slowMTB]

nah apparently that's what they're resorting to to keep people off it. anyone caught ignoring the 'CLOSED' signs will be fined. its since that video of the dude's (doing what everyone else had been doing (-tho, not me!)) riding the Summit Rd.

I don't get why people are so hung up about rapaki being closed anyway - farm park track has been open for ages, and is all of 500m over from rapaki, go up that (admittedly the huge amounts of tar seal climbing involved in getting to the bottom of huntsbury puts me off that one).

hopefully the rock work down bowenvale will be done in time to coincide with old bowenvale drying out

Exactly. Mt Vernon farm track has been my staple way up the hill since earthquake closure. Is quite funny biking up there and looking across at all the people on the closed Rapaki track...

No, whats funny is looking across at the walkers passing me as I grovel my way up

[handy-andy]

Mt Vernon farm track has been my staple way up the hill since earthquake closure.

Shortly after Rapaki was closed I'm sure Mt Vernon Farm track was described (on the CCC track status page?) as a good alternative route to access the Port Hills. When I last rode it there were a good number of rocks on the lower track - they'd obviously tumbled off the bluff in February.

Given that Mt Vernon Farm Track is not listed on the CCC track status page and Rapaki is closed due to the June aftershocks, it leaves me wondering whether the rocks on the bluff above Mt Vernon Farm Track have been re-checked, and whether that route is any safer than Rapaki?

[XCguy]

...Given that Mt Vernon Farm Track is not listed on the CCC track status page...

Yeah, that is strange. I do wonder if it has been removed due to it being not officially a CCC track. The Crocodile Track was also removed sometime over the last few months, I presume for the same reason.
PK, do you know the reason for this?

[Butch]

I went for a ride in... ooo.. early april? And found a big track closed sign at the bottom of farm track, and could see dudes working on the hill above it, so I'm picking if that sign is gone it's been cleared.

[danose]

Given that Mt Vernon Farm Track is not listed on the CCC track status page and Rapaki is closed due to the June aftershocks, it leaves me wondering whether the rocks on the bluff above Mt Vernon Farm Track have been re-checked, and whether that route is any safer than Rapaki?

I actually rode up Mt Vernon Farm Track 2 days after the feb quake, well before the 'closed' signs went up and before anyone got around to touching the fallen rocks. There was a bit of rock down then bottom (up to fridge sized), but it paled in comparison to the amount on the bottom of rapaki (just where you leave the trees) - reason is obvious when you look, on Mt V the rock is simply loose boulders amongst the grass that have taken off, on Rapaki it's a large-ish bluff above the track that's disintegrating. Hence why Farm Track was one of the first things to re-open

so not sure what you're talking about with the 'bluff' above the farm park track - cos there ain't one - you not getting confused the the actual mt vernon (traverse) track up the top (which has a couple of small outcrops above it).

Meanwhile according to the track status the geo techs have re-checked rapaki post jun 13 and discovered more stuff will need to be blasted before it's 'safe'

[RHR_Rob]

They could make a fortune on a Sat morning with $1200 fines

[Slapheid]

So where are people going once they get to the top of Mt Vern Farm track? Bowenvale Traverse and the Mt Vern traverse are both showing as closed; is this due to wet or rocks?

Ganting to get back up into the hills…

[danose]

Traverse and the Mt Vern traverse are both showing as closed; is this due to wet or rocks?

the ones that are closed due to rockfall issues are actually listed as such (capt thomas, godley head, anaconda, rapaki, castle rock, witches hill, bowenvale exit/old bowenvale) - all the other ones that are shown closed at the mo are just cos they're soaked by snow melt

[Trail]

I would expect the farm track to be quite slippery at the moment as well.... should dry out very soon tho!

[danose]

I would expect the farm track to be quite slippery at the moment as well.... should dry out very soon tho!

three days of how NW predicted - should blow-dry the tracks nicely for the weekend

downside is it's going to stuff the skifields rather badly - not much of a season

[handy-andy]

so not sure what you're talking about with the 'bluff' above the farm park track - cos there ain't one - you not getting confused the the actual mt vernon (traverse) track up the top (which has a couple of small outcrops above it).'

No, I mean the lower part of farm track. It may not technically be a bluff, but I'd argue it's a steep hillside covered in large rocks! In Feb-11, some of those rocks clearly tumbled off onto the track or rolled right over the track to the bottom of the hill. I guess I think of it as a bluff because of the way the track runs down the top of the spur, and then skirts around the end of the hill to allow for a manageable gradient.

I haven't used Rapaki since Feb-11 so I can't compare. What I do recall is (in chronological order):

- after Feb-11, Farm Track being described as good alternative to Rapaki
- me riding Farm Track (assuming it is safe) and finding lots of rocks
- a subsequent notice (on the CCC track status page) that the rocks above Farm Track had now been checked/cleared, and the track was now safe to use

... which I thought was awesome , because I'd assumed it was safe when I'd used it, but presumably that was before it had been checked/cleared (despite being described as a good alternative route to Rapaki while that track was closed).

AFAIK there's been no comment on the status of Farm Track since 13-Jun. Let's face it - any steep hillside area in the Port Hills is at risk of rockfall. However, the lack of the track status on the CCC page isn't particularly helpful!

[danose]

... which I thought was awesome , because I'd assumed it was safe when I'd used it, but presumably that was before it had been checked/cleared (despite being described as a good alternative route to Rapaki while that track was closed).

I remember seeing it officially flagged from closed to checked/open on the season of cycling page, but that's now gone and like you said for some reason it's not on the CCC page that has replaced it - so I suspect it's just a silly omission on the CCC page, it definitely has been checked/ok'd

sure it had a bit of rock on it for sure when I rode up (good reason to not dawdle) - bit not enough to freak me and a fraction of what came down in other places (I walked right from the kiwi to castle rock and back 2 days after the quake - when the only people up there were army and nosey climbers - you should have seen the road between the tors and castle rock)

[pedalingkiwi]

They could make a fortune on a Sat morning with $1200 fines

The impression that I am getting from comments, behaviour & attitude of some official type people is that unless it is case of blatant, dangerous, numbskull behaviour (ie; riding on the summit road below the Gondola) the powers that be are turning a blind eye to use of things like Rapaki.

Geotech & CCC are working their way through a painstaking process to ensure "no stone is unturned" in seeking to sign off that the hill environs are as safe as can be. Both Rapaki & Farm Track were only days away from this when June 13 jumbled things up again - and significant probs have been found in the re-check of both.

AFAIK there is one significant new problem to be resolved above Rapaki, and the Farm Track is actually still supposed to be closed (though considerable confusion exists about that). One thing I did hear today is that the Valley Track between Rapaki & FT is definately a risky place to venture - I mention this because some mtbikers have been known to favour it as a singletrack climb to avoid the Rapaki highway.

Essentially what is going on on them thar hills is a detailed survey unlike anything ever done before, and by rolling, blowing up, or anchoring, attempting to eliminate or mitigate the risks posed by any rocks or bluffs. The way I view it with the vast majority of risks carefully examined & resolved as necessary, the hills will in fact be a safer place to be than ever before.

[pedalingkiwi]

...Given that Mt Vernon Farm Track is not listed on the CCC track status page...

Yeah, that is strange. I do wonder if it has been removed due to it being not officially a CCC track. The Crocodile Track was also removed sometime over the last few months, I presume for the same reason.
PK, do you know the reason for this?

Not sure on these counts, but my guess would be that Farm Track is perhaps not widely noted to be a mtbike route ? (though it is definately "PH reserve" land)
Re Crocodile my guess would be that CCC are keen to minimise any exposure they have to liability (fullstop), even more so for tracks on private land, over which they actually have no control / jurisdiction. So not including it in their webpage goes someway towards that, even if it is a part of the "PH network".