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Cupcake Lap

Vancouver Island

One of Cumberland's most famous double black diamond runs.

Mountain Biking Extreme

Distance
14 km
Ascent
513 m
Descent
513 m
Duration
1-2 hrs
Low Point
149 m
High Point
599 m
Gradient
10˚
Cupcake Lap Map

Anchored by the famous Cupcake Trail, this top-to-bottom run is one of the most renowned double black diamond challenges in Cumberland Forest. Connecting Lost Wood to Blockhead, Cupcake, Baker's Dozen, and Knuckers, you'll be challenged by a veritable onslaught of gnar all the way down the mountainside!

Description

The ride warms you up with a long climb to the top of Lost Wood. Once onto Lost Wood and Blockhead, you'll reacquaint yourself with wet roots and steep rock rolls, but the difficulty gets cranked up to 11 when you drop into Cupcake.

Cupcake is a steep-and-deep gnar fest of the first degree. This challenging singletrack trail descends a series of near-vertical pitches filled with root webs, drops, and steep rock sections. Cliff drops and gap jumps litter the trail, but all can be bypassed if you don't want to hit them. However, you can't avoid the steep, sometimes slippery, and always sketchy technical descents—this is a full commitment trail that will chew you up and spit you out if you aren't paying attention!

The difficulty of this section of trail depends significantly on the dirt conditions. Cumberland is prone to wet, wet days, and if it's slick and slimy on Cupcake, this descent can be insanely difficult! The slick roots, ice-like rock slabs, and slimy mud can quickly spell disaster. If the dirt is dryer, this descent is much more manageable. Unfortunately, if the conditions get dusty (which does happen occasionally), Cupcake will yet again get quite sketchy.

Baker's Dozen flows seamlessly from Cupcake, but Knuckers offers a slightly different trail feel. Here, the singletrack drops into a deeper, darker forest, with some more significant rock features. A few sections of sidehill trail traverse beneath cliff sides and then funnel into a few challenging switchbacks. It's a beautiful ending to a fantastic technical challenge!

Difficulty

Extreme

Very steep, difficult, narrow singletrack with widely variable and unpredictable trail conditions. Unavoidable obstacles could be 15in/38cm tall or greater, and unavoidable obstacles with serious consequences are likely to be present. Obstacles could include big rocks, difficult root sections, drops, jumps, sharp switchbacks, and more. Ideal for expert-level riders.

High Exposure

3 out of 4

Some trail sections have exposed ledges or steep ascents/descents where falling could cause serious injury.

Remoteness

2 out of 4

Away from help but easily accessed.

Best time to visit

between May and November

Features

  • Technical
  • Singletrack
  • In the forest
  • Drops
  • Jumps
  • Roots
  • Gap Jumps
  • Rock Rolls
  • Rock Slabs
  • Rock Gardens
  • Wooden Feature

Similar routes nearby

Guidebooks in this area