2025 Schwalbe NAEC Course
Be aware, all roads on transfers are live and will potentially have vehicle traffic. Pay attention, especially while riding around corners, and follow all traffic laws.
DAY 1:
The Pro/Expert course uses Stages 1-7. Sport will race Stages 1-3 on Saturday and Stage 7 on Sunday. The Pro/Expert Course is roughly 6,100’ of climbing over the two days, and 16,172' of descending. The Sport course is roughly 2,600' of climbing and 8,500' of descending. Everyone: Keep your timing chip overnight.
Transfer 1 - Everyone – This is the standard first transfer route that we take most years. Leave the Silver Mountain parking lot, hang a left on the trail of the Coeur d’Alenes, take a right on Division, and follow the gold arrows up the hill. Keep an eye for the left turn off of Division and onto Slaughterhouse Gulch, right under the gondola. Take the usual dirt roads, just follow the arrows and you’ll arrive at 5 Corners in around an hour.
Stage 1 - Everyone - Soup Kitchen/Mom Jeans/War Gerbil
Launch into the roots and off cambers of Soup Kitchen, navigate the high lines of Mom Jeans, and then sprint your way into War Gerbil. The Gerbil has really developed into a local favorite with some great line choices, and some fun high lines.
Transfer 2 - Everyone - Transfer down Frog Trees, hop on the Trail of the CDA's, pass through the neutral support area, and head up the gondola.
Stage 2 - Everyone - Hot Beans/ Franknbeans
Stage 2 is a full-on downhill track with an optional section called Baby Swiss. Baby Swiss is NOT rollable, please look before you leap.
Transfer 3 - Everyone - Hop on Chair 3. Don't blow it, people are watching. You had your whole life to get ready for this.
Stage 3 - Everyone - El Burro Loco/Carnage Asada/Daisy Downs/Daisy Dukes
El Burro Loco means The Burro Loco, and it's a fun and twisty blue tech trail that winds down to the bottom of Chair 5. As you cross the road at Chair 5 drop into Carnage Asada. The Silver Mountain Bike Park trail crew gave Carnage Asada a full on tune up and some subtle reroutes for it’s sophomore season, and you’re going to like what you see. You'll cross Ridge Rd, take the tiny piece of Picnic Rock trail, and dive into Daisy Downs. Be ready for a clever reroute of fresh loamer that gets rid of two road sections, including the climb. Daisy Dukes is still surf city, hold on as it spits you out under the gondola line.
Transfer 4 - Everyone - Pedal up the same road you climbed earlier to 5 Corners and transfer your way down the mountain on any open trails. Take the Trail of the CDAs back to the Neutral Support area. The Pro/Expert course moves on to Stage 4, but SPORT IS DONE FOR THE DAY.
Pro/Expert only - Hop back on the gondola. Exit the Gondola, walk out towards the start of Stage 3, and you'll see signs directing you to transfer down the first portion of Snake Pit. IMPORTANT: After you do the first high speed section of Snake Pit you will be in a big open saddle, slow down and look for signs directing you under the rope and onto a road on your left. Follow the signs to the top of Stage 4.
Stage 4- Pro/Expert only- Red Dragon
Red Dragon is as glorious as it is short, be sure to practice this punchy line full of rock rollers and some optional drops. It may be 400 vertical feet, but it’s very photogenic.
Transfer 5 - Pro/Expert only- Turn around after finishing on the road and start chugging out SOB (South of the Boarder) Road. It’s the toughest climb of the day, with a lot of loose rock and punchy climbs. You’ll near the top of Kellogg Peak, and then descend a bit before starting up Wardner Peak with its hallmark communication towers.
Stage 5 - Pro/Expert only - Hot Dog Hallway/Loamer Simpson/Hot Dog Hallway/ Lower Loamer Simpson.
A few years back we raced Hot Dog Hallway, named after a tight ski line in the proximity. You’ll start on that same trail, but right before it gets rocky you’ll turn onto Loamer Simpson for some fresh stuff. When you enter the forest you’ll see all the trees have a wild bend from surviving the forces of winter. Harvest some loam, get popped back onto Hot Dog Hallway, cross a rocky af road, and then you can squish some more loam to the finish line. You’ll stop shortly after the finish line, and you can walk or ride your bike down the rough path to the road below.
Transfer 6 - Pro/Expert only - Follow the signs for a gentle pedal to the base of Chair 3, just past to Moose Knuckle. Please do not get in the chairlift line, backups here will delay the rest of the folks still on course. Take Moose Knuckle for a nice connector to Corkscrew, and transfer out however you like as long as it’s open.
DAY 2:
Sticks and Stones + Top to Bottom.
Hop on the gondola and cruise up to the Mountain House. We upload everyone early so we’re not mixing with the normal Gondola traffic. The sport category will load up the gondola first and go straight to Stage 7. The Pro/Expert categories will load up after the Sport category and head up to Stage 6 from the top of the gondola.
Transfer 7 - Pro/Expert only- Exit the Gondola, walk out towards the start of Stage 3, and you'll see signs directing you to transfer down the first portion of Snake Pit. IMPORTANT: After you do the first high speed section of Snake Pityou will be in a big open saddle, slow down and look for signs directing you under the rope and onto a road on your left. Climb the road and follow the signs to Kellogg Peak. Take a good look, you can see MT, WA, and BC on a really nice day.
Stage 6- Pro/Expert only- Stix & Stones/Snake Pit
Stix & Stones got a full makeover, we cut out a bunch of trees, raked the whole thing top to bottom, and cut out some new line options. It's still steep, smells exactly like hot brakes, and sounds like carbon eating rocks. And sometimes rocks eating carbon. Once you make the turn onto Snake Pit, you'll notice that the smell of brakes intensifies, and there are somehow more rocks.
Transfer 8 - Pro/Expert only - Hop on Chair 3 and head to the start of Stage 7.
Stage 7 - Everyone - 3,400' of buck nasty, top-to-bottom, NAEC goodness.
Drop in on the Hammer, enjoy a new raw section, and watch for the right hander onto Goat Rodeo right before the road gap. Goat Rodeo is a little taste of BC in Idaho, with surfy turns and long root strewn straightaway. From there you’ll get into Mutton Conductor, which steps up the chunk, roots, holes, and gnar. It’s an absolute hand killer that takes a lot of skill to maintain speed on. You’ll blow through 5 Corners junction and drop into Spooky Woods. Be sure to enjoy these classic roots that have been pounding bike since the 90's. At the bottom of Spooky Woods, you’ll turn left, go on the road for a little bit, then drop into Mom Jeans. That leads right into Pirate Trail and then into Wide Open, a little bit smoother high speed trail with a couple of jumps, and some rough and bumpy sections. Shortly after the second jump everyone will bang a Louie and turn onto a short section Secret Squirrel. This crosses Wide Open in the meadow and goes straight to continue on Secret Squirrel. The Squirrel is a narrow trail with a mix of flow and and high speed off camber. We join Man Child right before the step up to step down, and finish up with some low angle roots and corners. As you sprint across Cemetery Rd - say what's up to your course marshals - then enjoy the much-faster-than-you'd-expect Frog Trees. Cross the finish line, catch your breath, then head straight back to the Race HQ and return your timing chip.