Fort William in Scotland is much better known for its Downhill Track, having hosted the World Cup Downhill every year since 2002. It isn’t the only track snaking down the face of Aonach Mor, however. Longer, and (arguably) more physically demanding than the World Cup Track is Top Chief, the UK’s longest enduro track.
Top Chief, Fort William
Top Chief was once known as “The Red Giant” back when it was a red graded trail. A couple of years ago, the Nevis Range destination came to it senses, regrading the track as a black run, and renaming it “Top Chief”. The track is 4.6km long, dropping 474m to the Gondola base station.
I am going to say it. Top Chief is hard. It features heaps of challenging features; board walk, tight switchbacks, granite rock slabs, boulders, loose gravel, a river crossing, often with a healthy dose of horizontal rain and crosswinds, just to keep you on your toes.
There’s no wonder Top Chief was the highlight stage of past year’s Scottish Enduro Series events and last year’s European Enduro Series Round. We took a run down Top Chief with local Pro, Liam Moynihan, who gave us some excellent line choice advice!
I headed up to Fort William to ride this track specifically as part of my training for the Enduro World Series. Reckon you’ve got what it takes to tame the Top Chief? Check out my full run here to scope it out.
Thank you very much to Liam Moynihan for filming this video with us.
Follow Liam @Papa_Moyn
Follow Jessie-May @jessiemaymorgan
