Name: Varley's
Rating: 3.9

Mountain Bike

4,111 ft

Distance

341 ft

Climb

-28 ft

Descent

00:13:12

Avg time

Varley's Details

Activities
- Mountain Bike
- E-Bike
- Hike
- Trail Running
Riding Area

Makara Peak Mountain Bike Park
Wellington
Difficulty Rating

Advanced rate
Voted Difficulty

Black Diamond (1 vote)
Trail Type

Singletrack
Bike Type

AM, XC
Trail Usage

Biking Primary
Direction

Both Directions
Climb Difficulty

Black Diamond
Physical Rating

Hard
Dogs Allowed

Yes
eBike Allowed

Yes
Ride in Rain

Yes
Global Ranking

#31682 in Mountain Biking
Local Popularity
70 in Mountain Biking [+]
- 65 in E-Biking
- 70 in Trail Running
- 95 in Hiking
Year Opened

1998
Land Manager

Wellington City Council

Named after Gareth Varley and built by Johnsonville Cycles in 1998/99, Varley's is a classic two way Makara Peak trail.

As an alternative entrance into the park from Makara Road, it's one of the more challenging climbs in the park. The gradient combined with steep switchbacks and some rocky sections make it a genuinely challenging grade 4 climb. All but the strongest and fittest riders will be huffing and puffing by the time they reach the top.

When combined with Zac's and Wahine (in the back of Karori Park) it's a great downhill alternative for intermediate riders looking for something different than Peak Flow and North Face - just watch out for uphill riders and walkers connecting in from Skyline.

In 2017 the Makara Peak Supporters, with help from a number of corporate work parties, built an extension from the water tank down to Makara Road to bypass the very steep tarsealed access road.

Access Info

From the summit head down Zac's Track or T3. Uphill riders can either go up Makara Road or the really keen can go up Wahine at the back of Karori Park.

Local Trail Association

Makara Peak MTB Park Supporters
Please consider joining or donating to the local trail association to support
trail development & maintenance.
donate to earn trail karma!

More Stats for Varley's mountain bike trail trail

Altitude change

313 ft
Altitude min

763 ft
Altitude max

1,083 ft
Altitude start

771 ft
Altitude end

1,083 ft
Grade

7.6%
Grade max

-6.2%
Grade min

52%
Distance climb

3,182 ft
Distance down

679 ft
Distance flat

249 ft
Avg time

00:13:12
Avg reverse time

00:05:43
view trail stats

Status:

on Jan 21, 2021

Dry

Trailforks scans users ridelogs to determine the most popular direction each trail is ridden. A good flowing trail network will have most trails flowing in a single direction according to their intension.
The colour categories are based on what percentage of riders are riding a trail in its intended direction.

Trailforks scans ridelogs to determine the last time a trail was ridden.

The intended direction a trail should be ridden.

Colors indicate trail is missing specified detail.

Trailforks scans ridelogs to determine which trails are ridden the most in the last 9 months. Trails are compared with nearby trails in the same city region with a possible 25 colour shades. Think of this as a heatmap, more rides = more kinetic energy = warmer colors.

Trail Difficulties

Access Road/Trail
White
Green
Blue
Black
Double Black Diamond

Trail Report Status

Clear / Green
Minor Issue / Yellow
Significant Issue / Amber
Closed

Land Owner Overlay
Wilderness (typically no bikes in USA)
BLM (public)
USFS (Wildlife sanctuaries darker than usfs)
State land
Indigenous
Military

Trail Conditions

Unknown
Snow Groomed
Snow Packed
Snow Covered
Freeze/thaw Cycle
Icy
Prevalent Mud
Wet
Variable
Ideal
Dry
Very Dry

Past Week

9 rides
16 miles avg distance

6 Months

206 rides
19 miles avg distance

Photos

no photos have been added for Varley's yet, add a photo.

Routes with this trail

title	rating	distance
WUU2K 60km Route		39 miles
Skyline (The Full Version)		24 miles
Some tasty tech runs - with a nasty climb		6 miles

2 Reviews & Comments

Score Time

sminchnz

(Jan 4, 2019 at 17:12)

Really fun descent, super technical ascent.

[Reply]

OliverRoozen

(Aug 17, 2020 at 22:07)

This track is very difficult, mostly because of its sheer gradient. Existing information is quite accurate in this regard. Makara can't seem to make their mind up over it being Intermediate/Advanced but it is definitely not Intermediate.

[Reply]

Videos

Skyline 328 ft
Wahine 1,325 ft
Snake Charmer 1,381 ft
Vertigo 2,254 ft
T4 (trail To The Top) 2,277 ft

Makara Peak Mountain Bike Park

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By passive649 Makara & contributors
#18779 - 3,107 views

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status	date	description
	Jan 21, 2021 @ 4:59pm Jan 21, 2021	Overgrown on the lower half including some blackberry sticking onto the track
	Oct 15, 2020 @ 9:31pm Oct 15, 2020
	Jun 5, 2020 @ 3:17pm Jun 5, 2020
	Apr 28, 2020 @ 3:18pm Apr 28, 2020	reporter Track care as there is a lot of debris on track following the park closure and recent storms
	Apr 23, 2020 @ 12:00am Apr 23, 2020

Varley's