There may be silver in the hills, but Park City's trails are gold. The International Mountain Bicycling Association (IMBA) recently named Park City a Gold Level Ride Center, the first town in the world to receive the honor.

Charlie Sturgis submitted the town's application on behalf of the Mountain Trails Association and said receiving the award is an important milestone. “This really shows that we have the whole deal dialed in, dirt bike parks, terrain parks, downhill and family-friendly trails,” Sturgis said. “We also have hotels, restaurants and information that can be easily accessed by mountain bikers.” Sturgis estimates that there are 350 miles of mountain bike trails just in the West Side of Summit County.

IMBA Communication Director Mark Eller said Park City fits all of the criteria for the award. On a scale of 100, Park City received a 96. According to a press release, no other town has ever received higher than a 90. “We have known about Park City for a long time, but when we held a biking summit out there recently, we really saw how great all of the trails were,” Eller said. “We invited multiple towns to apply for the award and then went through a detailed matrix of attributes.”

Eller describes Park City as a model town and said it offers “everything” when it comes to biking. “There are all kinds of high quality biking in one place,” he said.  Eller said the award may also benefit the community by attracting additional summer tourists. “Mountain bike tourism is really coming into its own,” he said. “Places like Park City, Whistler B.C., and Winter Park, Colorado are marketing summer recreation as professionally as they are winter sports.”

For more information, please click here.