This review is more about the way they run the place than the trails. If you plan to rent a bike and/or gear you r are in for agreat deal of frustration and dissapointment.

They only have a limited number of bikes, so get there early. I was there at 8:30am, shop opens at 9:30, there were 10 people already waiting. By 9:30 there were probably 40+ people in line. There is no official line, so it's kind of a mad dash when the doors open.

Their process for getting the paperwork filled out and collecting your money is terrible. Very slow, if you get there at 9:30 expect to spend close to an hour in line.

The bikes are WORKED, very poorly maintained. The body armor never gets washed and is nasty with the stank of many who came before you.

Customer Service

Livewire, Boondocks

OMG This sucked. The reviews for this resort are hit and miss. Those who recommend full gear and a fully suspended bikes are spot on. My experience comes from trails all over the country, but i am a repeat rider at extreme Colorado trails, bay area California Trails, New Melones Reservoir trails, and Mammoth Mountain. I am always talking about how awesome mammoth is, and planned a trip here with my friends to try something new.

I learned several new words while at the resort, including "Gnar". Which is exactly what these trails are. "LiveWire" and the "2six jump park" are the only maintained trail, which "LiveWire" is watered multiple times during the day to keep it soft and dust free.

The rest of the trails are the same difficulty regardless of their blue, black and double black rating. They all contain huge boulders and rock gardens. If you like cruising smooth trails, some of the black and double black trails are better. They are more curvy and contain less rocks.especially compared to some of the blue trails. However the black trails contain many more jumps.

If you love huge jumps and have full body gear(which is necessary) this is the place for you.
If you have a family I recommend mammoth, or other local trails in your area, unless you plan on sticking to the fire roads which is in over abundance. Norhtstar has more fire roads, labeled as trails, then there are actual single track.

Most of the riders I noticed while I was at the resort are kids. And a majority of the riders came to experience Livewire(jumps). The rest claimed bragging rights for injuries or completion of the unmaintained horrific single track trails.

I still had a good time, because I came with friends, and rode trails with jumps, but i will never pay to come here again.

Customer Service

LiveWire(the only reason to pay for this resort)

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anything in Tahoe is better and free

Had a blast at my first bike park experiance.
the freeriding is great and i left with a smile on my face.
the resort has trails for a skill types and families too.

Customer Service

livewire to upper-mineshaft
gypsy to upper-mineshaft

upper-minshaft to liftline to lower-mineshaft

Went to this trail park for the first time. I have been riding all my life and love Bay Area trails within Corte Madera, Saratoga Gap, and Wilder Ranch. Drove up to Northstar to see what it was like to ride up a gondola and bomb down the trails.

Wasn't up to the expectations I had. Thought the trails were really rough and rocky. Not having a full-suspension bike made it difficult to ride. Noticed that the blue and green trails were not as well maintained as the black diamond and double black diamond trails. When I did ride on the black diamond trails they were much smoother and well maintained.

Live Wire seemed to be the only trail worth taking. Had a ton of jumps and starts out with a wicked jump to give you an idea of what to expect.

All in all I wouldn't pay $39 just to take a gondola up to an unmaintained trail. I only had a helmet and noticed that everyone else had full on motocross gear (full face helmets, knee and elbow pads, and skeleton armor). The resort and amenities are really nice. Staff was super friendly, and I had fun. Just wish there were more trails available and they were all as well maintained as the black diamond trails. Huge disparity in trail conditions from green to black.

Northstar is for the rider who wants jumps and nothing else.

Customer Service

Tryumph to the woods.
Livewire if you like the jumps.

Oh Northstar, how I love you. Summer is spent in Tahoe and every moment not spent with the wife at the beach is spent here. They have everything for every talent. I would suggest having at least an all mountain bike.
Livewire is great when it's busy, they wet it down in the morning and mid-day. Helps to keep that tahoe dust down, for almost an hour. The trail crew had out down themselves in the 08 season. The Woods was manicured and beautiful. The whole park is really becoming something of ledge, watch out Whistler!
The village has this burrito/burger place, awesome! Better then food at the main lodge. There's enough to see and do there for the non-riding others in your life.
Downside is hikers, not that I really mind, but they can do some dumb stuff. Occasionaly, an unleashed dog wants to chase you into a bush... Or they walk down a single track bike trail. Stay on the fire roads or hiking trails. Bikers pay, they don't.REPRESNT!

Customer Service

God...so many to choose from. Flameout, Karpial, Pho Dogg, Gypsy are all great for those who have some downhill skillz. You need a 'z' sometimes. Manure Pile is great, fast with a little rock garden. I love riding Flameout to Karpial, hitting Speed Control riding to Manure Pile and then taking The Woods down to the Village. A great long ride, hitting technical DH and some great jumps.Then do it all over again!
Hit Livewire for some great flowly jumps and huge berm riding.

The trail summary above is very dated. Here's the real scoop. Simply put Northstar is the best dh/freeride bike park in California! Two completely new trails have been added this year along with some new trail segments. The riding is technical due to the rocky terrain, but you are rewarded with jumps, drops and berms all over the place.

The facilities are great with the opening of the North star village and the staff/services on the mountain are excellent.

If you're into dh/freeride and live in California, it's a mandatory trip. Just don't forget to bring the full face, armor and pads. You have to bring it because there are really no easy runs.

Customer Service

Warm up: Upper Flameout and Pho Dog
The Run: Livewire
Other good runs: Gypsy, Upper Sticks and Stones

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Go shuttle Mr Toads Wild Ride in South Lake.

Intermediate, Advanced and Expert trails with more rocks than an orthopedic surgeon can count. You should have strong intermediate skills and consider a full face helmet and body armour if riding the advanced trails. If you stay at Northstar you get two free lift tickets with your room, and can take a few breaks during the day and have a great place to relax.

Customer Service

The Woods is a great intermediate run and a good place to start. The easiest advanced run is Flameout.

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Every intermediate + rider should try the Flume Trail.

We rode Northstar over this 4th of July weekend. We normally ride Skegg's Point and Soquel Demo Forest in the SF Bay Area. There is little uphill riding at Northstar, as the ski-lifts take you to the top of the mountains. The trails at Northstar are ranked from intermediate (blue) to professional (black diamond) to expert only (double black diamond). We rode several blue trails and then went on to do a couple of the black diamond runs (like Flameout, which is a great trail). All of the trails are currently in decent condition. Most of them have tons of rocks which makes for technical and demanding riding. It's also a fast course on most trails, so come prepared for fast and hairy riding. The black diamond runs were not as difficult as they sound, mostly just more technical and steeper. There are also some great fire-roads off the top of the second lift where you can go 30-40mph for over 5 miles. Basically, Northstar has it all except uphill. Almost everyone there was in full body armor using huge downhill bikes, but we were owning them on our XC bikes (even a hard-tail) with no armor and no problem so if you're a solid/natural rider don't worry about it. The place was crowded, but there are so many trails you don't come up on that many people.

Customer Service

"Flameout" for fast/technical riding. "Woods" and "Lift trail" for perfect jumps. For fireroad bombing, take the first lift to the top, go down to Thor's Hammer to the second lift, take that to the top, and make a right on the high fire road. Take that all the way up and just follow it down all the way back to the Village. Or, take the double black diamond at the top!

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Mr. Toad's Wild Ride in south shore and miles of unmarked trails around Tahoe City.

The best riding I have ever done is at Northstar, there are tons of awesome fun trails to hit. I defenetley do the most technical stuff I can when I am up there. Weather it is Karpiel, Dogbone, Sticks and Stones, or Flameout. My favorite trail there is Flameout cause it has so much different variations that are awesome. I need to reccomend that if you go there, wear as much protective gear as possible, maybe get a full face on, defenetley wear sunglasses/goggles, and go. For all you big tire riders, Northstar is it. The most technical riding you might possibly ever see. Getting up and down the mountain is easy with the chairlift, there aren't too many places to get food, but I usually bring my own and have a picnic. Me and my bike live for Northstar. (You actually get a workout at northstar thanks to the aggresive Downhill)

Customer Service

Dogbone

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Sticks and Stones

The school of hard knocks on a cross country rig. The expert (diamond) and better (double diamond) will build your skills quickly if not always kindly. Those on downhillin' rigs seemed to have a much easier go of things.

Customer Service

Flame out... just awesome single tracking.