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Where in the UK you can ride downhill all day and let something else do the climbing, from gondolas on Scottish mountains to Land Rover uplifts in the Welsh hills, and how the uplift works at each one.
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What this guide covers
"Bike park" covers a lot of ground. It can mean a ski resort with a gondola, a farm with a Land Rover and a trailer, a few graded runs in the woods that you push back up, a jump spot or an urban park with a pump track. This guide covers one part of that: venues with a regular uplift, where something takes you and your bike back to the top, so a day is spent riding down rather than climbing. The uplift comes in three forms.
- 🚡 Lifts at mountain resorts: ski areas that carry bikes up on a gondola, chairlift or conveyor, with long descents and big vertical. Nevis Range, Glencoe, Cairngorm and the Lecht, all in Scotland.
- 🚐 Uplift bike parks: private parks with their own uplift, usually a minibus or Land Rover towing a bike trailer (🚜 a tractor at One Giant Leap), on trails built for gravity riding.
- 🚐 Trail centres with an uplift operator: forest trail centres with downhill runs, where an independent operator shuttles riders to the top. You can pedal or push up too.
Depending on the venue, the queue and your pace, a full uplift day usually gives somewhere between eight and twenty runs. Most uplifts are booked in advance, many run on set days only, popular days sell out, and some venues insist on a full-face helmet. Check the venue's own site, or the operator's, before you travel.
New to uplift days?
Start on green and blue trails, and pick a venue that has them. BikePark Wales runs a Beginner Uplift Experience on its greens, Flyup 417 runs beginners sessions and guided days on its blues, and Hafod Trails and Antur Stiniog both start at green. In Scotland, Cairngorm and the Lecht have green and blue flow trails, and the gondola at Nevis Range serves a long blue.
Several parks start at red, including Dyfi, Revolution, Caersws, Okeford Hill and Dirt Farm, so save those until you ride reds with confidence. Our guide to trail centres and bike parks for beginners has more on where to start.
What is not in this guide
- Push-up bike parks, where you push or pedal back to the top between runs.
- Urban bike parks, dirt jump parks, pump tracks and skills parks. Use the trail search to find those near you.
- Occasional uplift days run by a shop, club or race series on tracks that have no regular service, and private tracks ridden only on race days.
- Venues that are not open yet or are being rebuilt. They go in when the uplift is running.
- Lift-served bike parks in the Alps and the rest of Europe, which are in our guide to European mountain bike destinations.
England
England's uplift venues are in the south west and the north. See all England trails.
South West
3 listings
Okeford Hill Bike Park, Okeford Fitzpaine, Dorset
Sixteen lines across three tiers, from red to the Pro Line-rated Rocket Line, plus a 4X track, and a base for Adaptiv Sports' adaptive MTB sessions. 🚐 Uplift: open-top Land Rover and bike trailer, around 20 runs a day by the park's own estimate.
Flyup 417 Bike Park, Crickley Hill, Gloucestershire
14 surfaced downhill trails from blue to double black, rideable in most weather, plus a dual slalom, a dirt jump field and an indoor pump track. 🚐 Uplift: day passes, with guided sessions for new riders.
Forest of Dean, near Coleford, Gloucestershire
More than ten downhill runs from blue to double black, alongside trail centre loops from green to red. 🚐 Uplift: Flyup Downhill, the official uplift service.
North
2 listings
Danny Hart's Descend Bike Park, Hamsterley Forest, County Durham
Five downhill tracks splitting into eight technical bottom sections, plus a 4X track. 🚐 Uplift: booked in advance.
Havok Bike Park, near Todmorden, West Yorkshire
Red, black and double black trails, a dual slalom, a dirt jump zone and a pro freeride line. 🚐 Uplift: day passes, or single runs on quieter days.
Wales
Wales has more uplift venues than anywhere else in this guide, from the south Wales valleys to Snowdonia. See all Wales trails.
North Wales
3 listings
Berwyn Bike Park, Llanarmon Dyffryn Ceiriog, Denbighshire
Natural tech and root downhill lines and built jump sections. 🚐 Uplift: on scheduled ride and race days only, announced on its social media; riding is by permission.
One Giant Leap, Llangollen, Denbighshire
A downhill club with four tracks. Uplift days and races are open to all riders; on other days the tracks are for club members only. 🚜 Uplift: tractor and covered trailer on scheduled uplift days, with ten to twelve runs in a typical day, the club says.
Antur Stiniog, Blaenau Ffestiniog, Gwynedd
Fourteen gravity tracks from green to black in a former slate quarry, plus a pump and jump park. 🚐 Uplift: minibus, up to 20 runs a day, the centre says; every trail is uplift-only, so book a place.
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Mid Wales
3 listings
Caersws Bike Park, Caersws, Powys
Five tracks from single red diamond flow lines to a triple black diamond jump line. 🚐 Uplift: advance booking only, and full-face helmets are compulsory.
Dyfi Bike Park, Machynlleth, Powys
18 hand-built downhill and enduro tracks from red to triple black diamond, plus a freeride zone. 🚐 Uplift: Land Rover, to the top or lower mountain.
Revolution Bike Park, Llangynog, Powys
14 trails across red, black and pro, from flowing lines to steep, rooty pro runs. 🚐 Uplift: uplift day passes, or a push and pedal pass; booking required.
South Wales
4 listings
Cwmcarn Trails, Cwmcarn, Caerphilly
The Y Mynydd downhill, splitting into red and black runs, and the black Pedalhounds track, alongside cross-country loops and a pump track. 🚐 Uplift: bookable for the downhill tracks; details on the listing.
Hafod Trails, Brechfa Forest, Carmarthenshire
Nine progressive trails from green to black. 🚐 Uplift: pre-booked; there is no push-up track.
BikePark Wales, Merthyr Tydfil
More than 50 trails from green to pro, a quarry skills area and a pump track. 🚐 Uplift: an uplift service, a beginner uplift for the green and blue trails, or a singletrack climb of around half an hour.
Dirt Farm, near Abergavenny, Monmouthshire
Blue, red and two black routes plus a pro jump line, built for mixing and matching on a working farm. 🚐 Uplift: on operating days, or push up any time the park is open.
Scotland
Scotland has the UK's lift-served mountains and the Tweed Valley's uplift-served forests. See all Scotland trails.
Highlands and Cairngorms
4 listings
The Lecht, between Tomintoul and Strathdon, Aberdeenshire
Green and blue trails, two red descents, a pump track and a skills park. 🚡 Uplift: the EasyLoop, booked online; it needs a wheel of at least 20 inches.
Cairngorm Mountain Bike Park, near Aviemore, Highland
Nine green, blue and red flow trails at Scotland's highest ski area. 🚡 Uplift: a conveyor serves the lower zone, with a climb trail to the red runs higher up.
Glencoe Mountain Resort, Highland
Red and black downhill tracks and blue, red and black cross-country trails from the top of the chairlift. 🚡 Uplift: chairlift; the resort's bike track report gives the day's hours.
Nevis Range, near Fort William, Highland
Gondola-accessed downhill and flow trails, including the World Cup downhill track, with cross-country trails in Leanachan Forest below. 🚡 Uplift: gondola, on selected days, so check the mountain report before travelling.
Perthshire
1 listing
Dunkeld, Perth and Kinross
A downhill circuit in Craigvinean Forest that has hosted Scottish downhill racing, plus natural cross-country and enduro riding. 🚐 Uplift: Progression Bikes in Dunkeld.
South of Scotland
3 listings
Ae Forest, Dumfries and Galloway
Two downhill runs, one of them double black, alongside the 7stanes cross-country trails. 🚐 Uplift: Adrenalin Uplift, from the forest car park.
Glentress, near Peebles, Scottish Borders
Green to black waymarked trails, the newer Masterplan trails and two skills areas. 🚐 Uplift: run independently by Adrenalin Uplift.
Innerleithen and the Golfie, Tweed Valley, Scottish Borders
Graded downhill runs on the 7stanes side and around 60 lines across every grade on the Golfie. 🚐 Uplift: Adrenalin Uplift shuttles from the Innerleithen car park; the signed push-up climbs over 300 vertical metres.
Northern Ireland
1 listing
See all Northern Ireland trails.
Rostrevor Mountain Bike Centre, Kilbroney Park, County Down
Two dedicated downhill trails above Carlingford Lough, with red and black cross-country loops. 🚐 Uplift: Bike Mourne, from its desk at the trailhead.
Something missing?
Know an uplift we have missed, one that has started or stopped, or something here that is out of date? Leave a comment on this guide or get in touch, and we will check it and update the guide.
Hero photo by Anastasia Shuraeva on Pexels.