JustMTB Deliver Adventure Heli-Biking In New Zealand

As the guys and gals at JustMTB say, “Delivering riders to unique locations is our speciality”, and Heli -biking is a great example, creating some amazing opportunities and accessing the most remote land areas, that would otherwise take three days to ride to. Flying in a helicopter is a unique feeling and the experience of dropping onto the highest mountain peak from above, yielding stunning 360 views is breath-taking to say the least, and something everyone should experience at least once. Surrounded by a vast expanse of nothing but nature, the experience is a million miles from the reality of everyday life.

Once the helicopter has left, there is a certain eerie silence. Perched on one of the highest peaks in the area, views abound from every direction, a huge expanse of land devoid of human activity, untouched for many thousands of years, providing a glimpse into what it would have been like to visit New Zealand 3000 years ago. Big mountains enveloped in native bush and shale covered volcanic peaks dominate mountain summits, while pristine rivers full of trout and wetlands cover the valleys. Listening to the whistle of the wind and the calls of nature, there are no car engines or rush hour traffic out there, simply a blissful hidden world not enough people get to enjoy.

The trail, a 10km man-made single track descending shy of 1 km seems to create the perfect gradient for a mountain bike adventure. Fast flowing and technical in places, the trail will not fail to make you feel like a hero, even riding it for the first time. A smorgasbord of soil and trail features sees that you’re treated to a unique riding experience. Starting up on the desolate and scree covered peak, the trail provides a host of options – there’s a start point and an end point and many ways to race your friends down the hill in a multi-line frenzy.

After a few hundred metres surfing over scree, a more defined single-track appears. Rock strewn and lined by tussock grass, it’s somewhat a lottery to cut corners or clean jump sections of trail. Riding sensibly is rewarded by some fantastic corners that spit you out at Mach speed should you be able to hold your nerve. Short climbs give riders a chance to get back their breath and provide a good opportunity to congregate and ‘high five’, telling stories of crashes escaped.

Dropping into the final descent, the trail becomes 100% loamy dirt. That perfect dirt that tickles your legs as your rail hard through corners, roosting a spray of light soil into the air. The trail steepens up throughout this last section, flowing down the contours in a number of fast and tight corners before dropping into a straight chute at the very end. Almost like slalom skiing the corners come up fast and one after another, cutting them is not an option but leaning your knee into the tussock grass that whips over your kneepads is an unusual pleasure.

Meeting the helicopter at the bottom, there’s time for another lap to get your fill. It’s a rarity to find such a long man-made trail without even a braking bump, where tyre tracks are minimal, but that’s the magic of heli-biking.

For further information on JustMTB please go to http://www.justmtb.co.nz .