Belle Mountain

noonito

noonito

New Member
So I went up to Belle Mountain near Lambertville this afternoon to get some NJ powder turns in. I was amazed to find a new fence up at the ski slope and the parking area blocked off, and "No Trespassing" signs saying that skiing, snowboarding, sledding, etc were prohibited. To top it off, a ranger was idling in the parking lot to deter any "trespassers".

Needless to say, I didn't get any turns in.
 
This sucks big time.

We were headed over there tonight.

We usually hit it in the dark.
 
jdog said:
This sucks big time.

We were headed over there tonight.

We usually hit it in the dark.
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Tell the Jewish Carpenter to meet you Thompson's Park in Jamesburg... That is my night time sleigh spot... Similar to Belle in that it too was once an old ski hill... Super Wide and super long with a great run at the end
 
I have a friend who lives in Lambertville who is beyond pissed. He lives for sledding and he hasn't missed a snowstorm at Belle in years.

He is considering storming the fence with a mass of people. He just called me and asked if i wanted to be a part of his riot.

He is totally serious about it too.. Pretty funny actually. Don't be surprised to see him on the news tomorrow.


..and yes, he is a Jewish carpenter.
 
jdog said:
I have a friend who lives in Lambertville who is beyond pissed. He lives for sledding and he hasn't missed a snowstorm at Belle in years.

He is considering storming the fence with a mass of people. He just called me and asked if i wanted to be a part of his riot.

He is totally serious about it too.. Pretty funny actually. Don't be surprised to see him on the news tomorrow.


..and yes, he is a Jewish carpenter.
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I'm in. I was looking forward to sledding there tomorrow. I would actually prefer keeping the fence. At the speeds that I come down, I need a fence to catch me before I go out into the street. 😀
 
I just got a message that at 1 pm some people are going to meet at Belle and make some sort of civil disobedience action.

I can't swing it but if you are near by you might consider it.

Apparently the local press will be there too.

Bring your sleds and your pitchforks.
 
jdog said:
I just got a message that at 1 pm some people are going to meet at Belle and make some sort of civil disobedience action.

I can't swing it but if you are near by you might consider it.

Apparently the local press will be there too.

Bring your sleds and your pitchforks.
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:hmmm: It's about a half hour drive, but it is some wicked sledding. :getsome:
 
jdog said:
I just got a message that at 1 pm some people are going to meet at Belle and make some sort of civil disobedience action.

I can't swing it but if you are near by you might consider it.

Apparently the local press will be there too.

Bring your sleds and your pitchforks.
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someone please bring a video camera :popcorn:
 
Some Sledders Sledded

I didn't go for many reasons, but I just spoke to a reliable source who was there when a bunch of folks crossed the line and did some sledding in violation of the new rules.

These folks have been sledding at Belle for years and they take great issue with the limitation of their rights to use the public land.

I know for sure that there was at least one newspaper reporter on hand. We can certainly expect some press on this issue in the next day or so.

There is talk of another, larger gathering to show public opposition to the new park rule.


I have no clue why they would lock the public out of a park when the sledding tradition has existed for years.:hmmm: I see the obvious risk of injury from sledding yet my opinion is that someone could as easily slip and fall into the canal or nearby river. I think big brother is taking way to much liberty with the new rules and I would hope that anyone that lives locally will reach out to the appointed officials.


I was out there sledding after the last big storm and it was really neat to see all the people outside enjoying the snow. There are 2 separate runs there and on the smaller hill there were countless young kids out having a blast. Clearly all the parents involved saw no inherent risk in having their kids out for some winter fun.


It may not be immediately clear why this is important to Mt bikers. It is not that far fetched that the same people who made this decision may one day decide that Mt biking is too dangerous for the public. We need not look far to find examples of trail systems that have been shut down because someone thought that mt biking was dangerous or undesirable in a public park.
 
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Wow I was so going to go there yesterday and I would have been faced with DENIED! I didn't get any txts but this sucks. I hope these locals get back this hill. If it was my backyard I would feel the same.
 
jdog said:
These folks have been sledding at Belle for years and they take great issue with the limitation of their rights to use the public land.
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I completely agree with this. Not only did they prohibit winter sports, but they closed it to ALL access (no trespassing). Public lands should be open to the public.

jdog said:
It may not be immediately clear why this is important to Mt bikers. It is not that far fetched that the same people who made this decision may one day decide that Mt biking is too dangerous for the public. We need not look far to find examples of trail systems that have been shut down because someone thought that mt biking was dangerous or undesirable in a public park.
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Last fall, when Knapp's sponsored the Mercer Mountain Bike festival at Belle Mountain, I thought that we would have a permanent local downhill course. The county immediately removed the trails after the event.
 
noonito said:
Last fall, when Knapp's sponsored the Mercer Mountain Bike festival at Belle Mountain, I thought that we would have a permanent local downhill course. The county immediately removed the trails after the event.
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I'm having trouble seeing what the point of that festival was. I'm going to guess that generating revenue couldn't have been high on the list of aims. That really only leaves visibility as the primary aim. Promote a race, open the park to the eyes of the public, do some work, and go from there.

By bulldozing the trails after the race and now shutting down access completely, the net gain is that the park is now less useful and more restricted to the public than it ever was. While I'm trying to put myself in the shoes of the other party, this is Confederacy of Dunces material.
 
Norm said:
I'm having trouble seeing what the point of that festival was. I'm going to guess that generating revenue couldn't have been high on the list of aims. That really only leaves visibility as the primary aim. Promote a race, open the park to the eyes of the public, do some work, and go from there.

By bulldozing the trails after the race and now shutting down access completely, the net gain is that the park is now less useful and more restricted to the public than it ever was.
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I am kinda of baffled by this also. I kind of get bulldozing the lower section of the ds course since it looked like a bmx track as you drove by. Some of the local residents (or maybe 1) may have complained about the look of the course and expressed safety concerns. Even though someone at the county probably signed off on this I think this may have been a case of "we didn't know thats what you ment" once they saw it in person.

As far as sledding, that one hill is really steep and the bottom of it ends at a road, which I can see being a major safety/liability concern. The other hill doesn't seem like a risk outside of people falling off a sled. It could be as simple as someone got hurt after the last storm and they shut it down after that. What sucks is that for whatever reason it was closed for sledding, may also effect more mtb trails being built.
 
Looks like my friends made some progress.

The signage and fencing was taken down this afternoon.

The new policy is "Use at your own risk".

Yee-haw.
 
According to a JORBA rep I spoke to on Sunday, the one day festival was intended to be just that...one day. Extra effort was put into it by Knapps and others in the hopes that it would blossom into something more. As we know now...it did not. 😱
 
BiknBen said:
According to a JORBA rep I spoke to on Sunday, the one day festival was intended to be just that...one day. Extra effort was put into it by Knapps and others in the hopes that it would blossom into something more. As we know now...it did not. 😱
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I remember a certian individual involved saying "the course will stay, but it will be illegal to ride it as it is not an open park".

Yeah, like that would happen.
 
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