- Behind me is Snake Pit,
a skinny feature we built back in 2019.
And I'm sorry to say it is nearing the end
of its safe, usable life.
We took basically rotting dead trees,
cut them down,
sliced them open,
and screwed cedar planks to them.
Most of the Cedar planks are doing fine,
but the trees themselves are really starting to break apart,
planks are coming loose,
and it's just becoming a hazard.
We're gonna start with something new,
and I wanna build something better.
Something even more fun.
Snake Pit in its current state is sort of two lines.
There's one that goes under a tree,
and there's one that forces you to jump over a tree.
Even really good riders who have visited
have been sort of freaked out by it
just a little bit,
because they've never seen anything like it.
There is a gap off of a skinny,
so you have to be really dialed before you hit that,
and you have to make sure you have the speed.
And, of course, there's like a growing tree
in the middle that you're jumping over.
So it's small, but it packs a punch.
So we're gonna start by taking all the cedar planks off
and getting this old feature out of the way.
(upbeat bright music) (drill whirring)
(nails clattering)
(planks clanking)
It's unsurprising wood rots from the outside.
Fungus, ants, the elements
get in from the outside
and they work their way in.
We have another feature here
that's made from elm.
Elm doesn't last very long outside at all,
yet, it's still standing
because it's up off the ground.
So between the sun beating on it,
the steep incline just shedding the water,
it's lasted pretty nicely.
And if we took the bark off that thing,
it would last even longer.
(chainsaw whirring)
Truth be told,
I've never actually seen a snake here,
and it makes sense.
This stuff is basically soil.
There's no place to hide in it unless you're a worm.
So I'm gonna pull this mess back
and get down to the clay,
so we can set some posts in here,
and get the new feature up off the ground.
With the work area prepped,
it's time to get our materials in order.
That means busting out the old skidding rig
Kevin and I built.
It still does exactly what we designed it for,
and honestly, moving this stuff without it
would be a giant mess.
(engine revving)
(mill whirring)
The Alaskan mill.
It's an invaluable tool for creating custom timbers on-site.
But believe me, it's not fun.
The dust, the noise, the fumes.
And that comes after you fiddle with it for 30 minutes.
But for this job,
I really appreciate what it can do.
(cutting machine whirring)
(wood clanking)
Now it's time to actually build something here.
We're gonna keep everything that made the old features
so fun and iconic,
including the old planks and fasteners.
But we're gonna make the whole thing scarier.
(auger whirring)
Digging with the auger is a workout,
but it's way easier than post hole diggers,
and the hole is really nice.
We're not gonna have to do a lot of work
to get that post sat in there real nice.
I'm using these fat treated fence posts
from Tractor Supply,
and I think they look really cool.
(auger whirring)
So this is right next to a tree.
And if we keep cutting away roots,
we might kill the tree.
This is only gonna be like maybe a foot and a half
off the ground,
so I don't need a big, like, telephone pole to hold this up.
So I think we can hammer a post in the ground
and just kinda shift the roots aside.
All these are beautiful.
This one looks very functional.
Cheers from California, Kevin.
(metal clanking)
Okay, let's see how the head of the post is doing.
(metal clanking)
Wow, all its got is black paint on it.
I'll need to do a fair bit of cutting and shaping
on these posts,
which my 16-inch battery-powered chainsaw is perfect for.
But it needs a new motor
and I've been procrastinating,
so we have no choice but to dive in
to a completely different project.
(upbeat whimsical music)
(air blowing)
(plastic clattering)
(chainsaw whirring)
They don't make this 40 volt saw anymore,
but they do sell replacement parts.
And given the amount of batteries I still have for it,
it pays to do a repair every few years to keep it running.
I can barely even get a four-inch screw through that thing.
I sort of had a plan,
but ended up cutting these notches for no reason.
I realized we can have everything bear down
on top of these posts
and have a much simpler design.
(upbeat drum music) (chainsaw whirring)
(drill whirring)
On the new feature,
anything that makes contact with the ground
will be rot resistant,
and everything else will be debarked
and held high off the ground so it can drip dry.
If I blow all the leaves off
and keep it moss and fungus free,
it should last a good while
and take much less maintenance than a dirt feature.
I would've loved to reuse the lip
from the original feature,
but we're gonna need something
a little bit bigger this time.
(cutting machine whirring)
(wood clanking)
(chainsaw whirring)
So now comes the guesswork.
I carved out a lip,
it's a 10 and a half foot radius,
so it's very good for mountain bikes,
but I have to attach it here,
kinda set the angle,
and try and estimate what the best way
to get over this gap is gonna be.
(drill whirring)
(chainsaw whirring)
All right, that better work.
(drill whirring)
This thing is framed out.
I considered trying to ride it in its current state,
but this is high consequence.
It's kinda what I wanted,
I wanted something a little crazy,
we're not gonna tame down Snake Pit.
But there's one other thing
that I wanna do before we put it together,
is connect it to the old B Line.
(upbeat whimsical music)
(drill whirring)
(chainsaw whirring)
(planks clanking)
(drill whirring)
Well, on the bright side,
it should cool off a little bit,
but I guess it's gonna be real muddy.
(drill whirring)
The upper part where you,
it's kinda blinding,
you gotta go over.
I'm making it wider.
I'm using the wider planks here
so that you can kinda get yourself into position,
take the outside line,
and then, it's gonna get really narrow on the jump.
(drill whirring)
(chainsaw whirring)
(drill whirring)
The cedar has a tendency to crack.
Rather than pre-drill it,
I'm like drilling down a little bit,
and then running the drill in reverse
to kinda make a hole,
and then putting it down there
just saves me a little bit of time.
(drill whirring)
(chainsaw whirring)
(drill whirring)
(upbeat bright music)
The concept is the same,
the planks are the same,
and we even use the old fasteners.
Even the old B Line hasn't changed
as it seems to have a bit of life left in it.
But everything else is different.
Snake Pit 2.0 looks a lot more interesting
and it's a lot sketchier.
The lip is bigger,
the gap is bigger,
and the entrance to the B Line was an afterthought.
That should make it real challenging.
Now we just need to wait for this thing to dry
so we can test it out.
Kevin, what do you think?
- I mean, it's bigger
- And I got an audience.
So Kevin's here and Drew from Loam Wolf.
They're here to drive me to the hospital
if this doesn't work.
And so I'm gonna try the B Line first,
and then we're gonna send the new gap
and see if she goes.
It always comes back down to this, doesn't it?
Here we go.
Okay. (bike chains whirring)
(planks clanking)
- Whoa! (chuckles)
- [Drew] Wow!
- If you come over that thing and it's blocking it all,
and then you don't see it until you're on it.
- [Kevin] Sketchy momentum here with a sliding tire on it.
- [Drew] You had enough speed if you would've just gone straight,
which is gonna be way easier than having to get onto that.
You'll grease it, no problem.
- So now I'm gonna do the jump
and see if the math works.
Yeah, what else,
we gotta do it.
(suspense music)
- [Drew] Ow!
- [Seth] I cased it a little bit!
I was up there and I was like,
"I need to crank, but I said I was going with it"
which is the dumbest logic ever.
So I'm gonna come over
with a little bit more authority this time.
- [Drew] Yeah, go get him.
(upbeat music)
- So the most different thing about Snake Pit 2.0
is that you come up to it blind
because now you have to go up this thing,
so you don't see the skinny line
you're about to ride until you get over it.
And then you also have to plan really quick
because you see what you're about to ride
for the first time.
(Drew laughing)
So Drew just turned in his rental bike.
Kevin just said,
"Hey, I think my bike fits you."
- I mean, it's a bike, right?
How different can it be?
(upbeat whimsical musical)
- [Seth] Ooh, yeah! (Seth clapping and chuckling)
- [Kevin] Buddy.
- [Seth] That was awesome,
you got the full Berm Peak experience.
- [Drew] Oh my God.
- [Drew] I knew I could do it,
but, you also don't wanna be the guy
who comes here and crashes.
- [Seth] That guy has been here.
- [Kevin] He's been here.
- [Seth] Snake Pit 2.0.
It's still sketchy,
and it still doesn't have any snakes,
but that doesn't make falling off of it anymore pleasant.
I think the second iteration of Snake Pit
is a lot more fun than the first.
And in true, Berm Peak fashion,
taking the B Line isn't much easier.
Drew and Brian from Lone wolf
were out here this weekend doing a documentary,
so keep an eye out for that.
And have a look at this feature playlist
to see other things we built here on Berm Peak.
Thanks for riding with me today,
and I'll see you next time.
(lively trumpet music)