2.0 miles

Distance

28 ft

Climb

-1,406 ft

Descent

00:20:28

Avg time

SHAFT Details

Activities
- Mountain Bike
- E-Bike
Riding Area

Moose Mountain
Bragg Creek, Alberta
Difficulty Rating

Blue rate
Voted Difficulty

Blue (4 votes)
Trail Type

Singletrack
Bike Type

DH, AM, XC
Direction

Downhill Only
Popular direction shown
Physical Rating

Moderate
Dogs Allowed

Yes
eBike Allowed

Yes up to Class 1
Global Ranking
#2901 in Mountain Biking [+]
- #8306 in E-Biking
Local Popularity
85 in Mountain Biking [+]
- 80 in E-Biking
Year Opened

2011

SHAFT stands for Super Happy Awesome Fun Trail. It is a high-speed bermed-corner blue trail that has become popular with the XC/AM crowd as well. SHAFT starts off fairly mellow with some sweeping corners and little hits here and there. As it rolls downhill, you get eased into faster speeds and bigger berms before getting shot out the bottom along the old T-Dub gully. Cross Canyon Creek, high-five everyone in sight with a big ol' grin on your face.

This trail is totally doable on everything in the 120-200mm travel range, including hardtails. Good tires help. Ride don't slide. Good loop options include:
- Pneuma [from Hwy66] to SHAFT and then back on the Hwy or Elbow Valley
- Sulphur Springs to Pneuma to SHAFT to EV to Pneuma to RoS [intense]
- SS to Pneuma to SHAFT to EV to Pneuma to Moosepackers to Ridgeback [hardcore!].

NB: The trail has some loose rock, but it's not like surfing a scree slope. Once you're into the bermed part of the trail, watch your crank placement - the tread has a bit of a v-notch going on and it's possible to catch a pedal on the uphill side in a few spots.

Access Info

If you're shuttling, drive to the end of the Moose mountain road and head directly west towards the gated road to the well site. Push another 100 meters up the gated road where you will find the entrance to T-Dub to your left and the entrance to SHAFT just a few meters past it, also on your left. SHAFT finishes on the last few hundred meters of T-Dub which will then flow onto the Canyon Creek road, where you pedal south (left) towards the Ing’s mine parking lot. where your driver should wait.

If you're riding up Pneuma, exit at Special K [or lower] and take the road to the well site.

Local Trail Association

Moose Mountain Bike Trail Society
Please consider joining or donating to the local trail association to support
trail development & maintenance.
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Traditionally Indigenous Territory

More Stats for SHAFT mountain bike trail trail

Altitude change

-1,378 ft
Altitude min

5,099 ft
Altitude max

6,477 ft
Altitude start

6,477 ft
Altitude end

5,099 ft
Grade

-12.801%
Grade max

-108.661%
Grade min

7.43%
Distance climb

1,451 ft
Distance down

2 miles
Distance flat

210 ft
Avg time

00:20:28
Avg reverse time

00:24:44
view trail stats

Status:

on Oct 9, 2022

Dry

Avg: 4.1 (38 votes)

Your vote: 0

view (2,720)

Directions to shaft trailhead (50.914090, -114.778960)

update trails status or condition

SHAFT Trail Reports

status	date	description
	Oct 9, 2022 @ 4:31am Oct 9, 2022
	Aug 16, 2022 @ 4:24pm Aug 16, 2022
	Aug 10, 2022 @ 5:35pm Aug 10, 2022
	Jul 16, 2022 @ 4:13am Jul 16, 2022
	Jun 9, 2022 @ 5:00pm Jun 9, 2022

view all reports »

Recent Ridelog Activity on Trail

Past Week

1 rides
16 miles avg distance

6 Months

229 rides
14 miles avg distance

All

2,577 rides
Last: Jul 31, 2022

Photos

164 |

Apr 18, 2021 @ 12:28pm

Apr 18, 2021

92 |

Sep 1, 2020 @ 8:42pm

Sep 1, 2020

215 |

Apr 3, 2020 @ 2:36pm

Apr 3, 2020

175 |

Apr 3, 2020 @ 2:34pm

Apr 3, 2020

Trail Lists

Summer 2016
16 trails
2018 Shred List
85 trails

Routes with this trail

title	distance
Pneuma To Shaft Loop	13 miles
Pneuma to Shaft Loop - Short	12 miles
Bragg to Canmore	63 miles
The Big Loop to Shaft!	15 miles

8 Reviews & Comments

Score Time Post Comment

aka-bigsteve (Jul 23, 2020 at 12:45)

I disagree- it is a blue on the Moose Mountain scale. Very enjoyable on my 140 mm hardtail. Compared to the WBC blues- yeah, it might be considered a black. The few steep bits are short and easily scoped out, and walked if you are uncomfortable with them. The final steep to Canyon Creek (which I avoid) can be bypassed by keeping left at the merge with T-Dub.

[Reply]

dihanventer (Jul 24, 2020 at 8:46)

very true, if you can ride it blind without getting off to scope out steeps, blind drops and features then its a blue. maybe a purple ish blue. but still a blue

[Reply]

ryancartiers

(Aug 23, 2022 at 7:31)

Trailforks & most the world rely on the IMBA grades, providing a standard anyone can follow.

If every region had it's own scale it would be difficult for visitors to assess and potentially unsafe.
Also, where is the 'moose mountain scale' you reference available? Is it online or posted in the area?

Just because there are more difficult trails in an area does not mean the rating system changes.

Please rate trails appropriately.
imbacanada.com/trail-difficulty-rating-system

[Reply]

aka-bigsteve (Aug 23, 2022 at 20:41)

I stand by my assertion that SHAFT is an excellent example of a "blue" trail, in the Moose scheme of things. With that being so- if you want to be consistent between local riding regions- that makes many of the WBC trails "green", such as Merlin. But that's not how things work in reality. Quoted from the IMBA document you link to above:
"4. Evaluate Difficulty Relative to Local Trails
Trails should be rated relative to other trails in the region. Don’t evaluate each trail in isolation. Consider all the trails in a region and how they compare to one another. This will help you rank the relative difficulty of each trail and will help trail users select an appropriate route. Trails will rate differently from region to region. A black diamond trail in one region may rate as a blue square in another region, but the ratings should be consistent locally."

[Reply]

ryancartiers

(Aug 23, 2022 at 21:43)

good point, thank you for adding this

[Reply]

dihanventer (Aug 23, 2022 at 22:32)

Just to chime the real problem is that there is no grading between blue and black . In Europe, uk and Southern Hemisphere (rest of the world basically) there is red between blue and black. And it helps a lot as a large portion of riders enjoy riding those kinds of trails and it really helps segment trails better.
Loamzilla- red (1 black option)
Pistolero - red (streeps)
Sidetrax - red (semi steeps)
Shaft - red (physical with loose rocks)
Race of spades - red (physical) with black options
Flow - blue
Shoulda - blue
Merlin - very blue

There’s the same issues in BC ,they have blues that would be black anywhere else

www.britishcycling.org.uk/search/article/mtbst20100615-MTB-Trail-Grading-System-0

[Reply]

StumpHumper45

(Jul 23, 2020 at 11:13)

I agree with the previous post. SHAFT is not a blue run. My hands can tell you the difference between 727/Family Guy and SHAFT within the first two minutes of SHAFT being much rougher and super steep near the end. If anyone with admin access reads this, please consider changing it. You’ll get someone hurt by being an EnduroBro and saying you’ll be good on a hardtail or even 120mm bikes.

[Reply]

Scubes76 (Jul 4, 2020 at 11:48)

I’m just new to mountain biking so I’m just trying. To get comfortable with being on the bike and riding these trails. I’m not sure if it’s just me but I would say these ratings are very much on the conservative side. In my opinion there’s no way shaft is a blue run. VERY rocky and lots of places to wipe out. I would say this is closer to a black but again I am a beginner. Out of all the trails I’ve ridden at Moose so far, I find 727 the most enjoyable and the smoothest trail but I would even like to find something easier and work my way up.

[Reply]