Its no secret we love to mountain bike. One of the reasons we love living in Teton Valley, Idaho is the plethora of outdoor activities and trails. Oh, and its not hot in the summer. That’s a huge plus.

We spent the winter skiing at Grand Targhee Resort (and loved it!) so when I started talking to their marketing department about potential partnership opportunities we threw around the idea of bringing the family up during the summer to test out the new beginner mountain biking trails off their Shoshone lift.

Yes, please.

After a couple of days testing out the trails, Grand Targhee is now officially our favorite in the summer as well as the winter. Keep on reading to see the reasons why!

Beginner Lift Serviced Trails

For those that have never experienced mountain biking at a ski resort this could be an entirely new concept. Many resorts convert their facilities over to mountain biking trails in the summer and enable guests to take their bikes up to the top and then just ride down back to the base. Pretty sweet, right? All the fun of downhill without having to bust a lung climbing back up again.

The lifts at Grand Targhee open for bikes at 10am as the staff needs to ride the trails early to make sure everything is clear and safe. This is great since I’m not a super morning person anyway. Plenty of time to sleep in, let the dew melt off the grass, and have the weather warm up just a smidge. Our kids were chomping at the bit to get going, so we were lined up ready to load at 10am sharp.

We dropped Cara off for her mountain biking lesson (more on that in a minute) and then Sam and I loaded up on the lift with the two older kids. The lift is slightly different in the summer as they have dedicated bike chairs – so you have to get your bike on and then you follow it around before being picked up by the next chair. The lift attendants were great, and totally helped my kids get their bikes on when needed.

After a short 10 minute ride to the top we were ready to tackle the trails. We had picked out Bring it On Home as our first trail – the easiest green one down the mountain. It was fast, flowy, fun and my kids couldn’t wipe the grins off their faces.

We then spent the rest of the day alternating between riding, the swimming pool, riding, eating, and more riding.

The trails off Shoshone are great for beginners as they aren’t too technical. There are plenty of berms to practice cornering, while Chutes and Ladders has plenty of jumps for those looking for a challenge. The trails are smooth single track which helped our kids gain confidence along with speed.

Mountain Biking Lessons

I’ve talked quite a bit lately about our “divide and conquer” mode of operation when it comes to family mountain biking. Anything the older two kids can ride ends in tears for Cara, and anything she enjoys riding completely bores the others. Usually we’ll start together but then split as one adult rides faster with Rachel & Andrew, while the other lags behind with Cara.

When we planned our trip up here, we decided that a lesson might be exactly what Cara needed to push to that next level. She struggles to take direction from us (Stop telling me when to shift, mom!), but as evidenced by skiing lessons, she’ll do anything for an instructor. Our Targhee contact scheduled a 1.5 hour intro to Targhee lesson first thing in the morning and we were set!

Cara was nervous to be by herself, but her instructor, Chris, immediately put her at ease. They started out in the parking lot going over basic skills, then moved to some of the easier cross country trails, and finally ended up on the lift practicing what she learned on the downhill.

We met up with them in between runs and the girl was all smiles.

I followed behind the two of them for a bit to get a feel of how it was going, and listened as Chris called out “Ready position!” and “Get high on the berm” as they flew down the trail. Cara did awesome! She was full of confidence and couldn’t wait to show us all she had learned.

I feel like the mountain bike lessons at Targhee are affordable and a great way for kids (and adults!) to improve their skills. We’ve always been impressed with the instructors at the resort both in winter and a summer. They are patient, confident, and know how to work well with kids.

Targhee also offers a 3 hour lesson that I’ve got my eye on for next summer. You can do just a lesson or a combination of lesson, rental, and lift ticket. Plus, its a great way to help your kids improve (and be supervised – ahem) while you go out and tackle some of the bigger trails! Find out more information on their website here. 

Skills Park

New this year, Grand Targhee just added a small skills park to their trail network. While not expansive, its super fun and a great way to spin your tires at the end of a day. There’s a pump track around the outside, some plank walks in in the middle, a rock garden, and boulders to hop. Andrew had fun doing a few laps after dinner our last night there.

Cross Country Trails

In addition to the lift serviced downhill trails, Grand Targhee has miles of cross country trails that are free to ride. There are some easier ones west of the lodge (where Cara had part of her lesson), which Sam and Rachel did a lap or two on after some downhill riding.

The rest of the cross country trails aren’t necessarily more technical (still pretty smooth) but have more elevation gain and loss. Sam and I had a biking date a few weeks earlier and rode out to Quakie Ridge. It was enough climbing to get my heart rate up with some flowy downhill and beautiful views mixed in.

Having both kinds of trails is great as they are different forms of exercise and use a variety of skills. We spent most of our time on the downhill trails since we had a lift ticket for the day, but living so close I can guarantee we’ll be back to tackle more of those trails with our kids.

We’ve been to a few other resorts that have downhill mountain biking (Steamboat Springs, CO, Sundance, UT, & Snowbird, UT) and really just love Grand Targhee – especially with kids. Having easier trails specifically designed for the beginner crowd is pretty unique and we felt we could enjoy the experience together as a family!

We are super grateful for Grand Targhee and their partnership with us! They provided the lift tickets, bike lesson, and accommodations but as always, all opinions are our own. We love the ‘Ghee!