Adrian Hayden leaps over a hump on the trail down Mount Pisgah at the 2021 Pisgah Pedalfest. The village of Saranac Lake is partnering with local mountain bike organizers to get plans to redesign the trails at the mountain. (Enterprise photo — Aaron Marbone)

SARANAC LAKE — The village board on Monday approved pitching in $2,500 toward a design plan for improvements to the mountain bike trails on Mount Pisgah.

The village-owned mountain and ski area at Mount Pisgah has mountain biking trails which are maintained by the Barkeater Trails Alliance. BETA board member Karen Miemis and her husband Kris, who sits on the local BETA committee, approached the village on Monday with a proposal.

When the trails at Mount Pisgah were built by volunteers around a dozen years ago, being some of the first machine-built trails in Adirondacks, they created a new way to enjoy the mountain — speeding down it on two wheels.

But getting up the mountain is a bit more difficult. The main climbing trail — called Iron Lung — has roots, rocks and a steep pitch, making it an intermediate- to advanced-level climb. Most kids learning the sport just walk their bikes up, instead of riding them.

Also, the corners of the most popular downhill flow trail, “The Cure,” are eroding. The soil donated back when it was built had pebbles in it, and with time, those have come out and Kris said it’s now like riding on marbles around the curves.

The Miemis’ said BETA put out a request for proposals to local builders for design plans earlier this year and recently selected Jay-native trail designer Luke Peduzzi. The plans are meant to be an overall assessment of the trails — determining what to keep, what to abandon, what to redesign and what to build new. The mountain has four bike trails, with more than 330 feet of vertical gain.

The plans are set to cost $5,000. The proposal to the village was to partner and split the cost 50/50.

The board voted unanimously to approve their half of the spending.

“Best Christmas present ever!” Karen said after the vote.

Trustee Kelly Brunette was not present at the meeting. Trustee Aurora White believes this will be a good investment to get more grants for the work itself.

Karen gave a rough estimate of $150,000 to build the improved trail. The work could be done in phases, she said.

Kris also asked the village to include mountain biking at Pisgah in the park’s vision plan. This would give them more leverage for grants, he said.

Trustee Matt Scollin, a former professional snowboarder, wondered about the impact on ski and snowboard trails. Karen said the snow and bike sports mostly operate on different trails at this time. Kris said since many different people use Pisgah for different things, they want to talk with other stakeholders, like Friends of Mount Pisgah, which supports the ski area, and the village Parks and Trails Advisory Board.

They also said there are plans to build a trail to the mountain from the Park Avenue neighborhood. The current ways to bike to the mountain — from state routes 3 and 86 — are not biker-friendly, as they are on busy, highway speed roads. Karen said the owners of Cure Cottage LLC, who own the former Trudeau Sanatorium, are allowing them to build a safer route to the hill from the neighborhood.

The village recently got a grant for a T-bar attachment for bikes through the federal-state Northern Border Regional Commission.

Kris and Karen said this could change BETA’s role with the mountain. A T-bar lift could put a lot more people on the slopes, leading to more erosion and more maintenance, which would need more funding. Running the lift in the summer would require hiring lift attendants, which would require selling tickets to pay for them.

Kris and Karen said mountain biking is a growing sport. Saranac Lake schools have started mountain bike clubs in recent years. The Miemis’ kids were part of a group of youth who started Saranac Lake Innovative Cycling Kids to support the sport in the area.

The UCI Mountain Bike World Series was held at Mount Van Hoevenburg in Lake Placid this fall, and the state Olympic Regional Development Authority designated Mount Pisgah as a place for spectators to enjoy the sport themselves.

ORDA and UCI have a three-year contract for these events and the Miemis’ said they are expecting thousands of spectators to come here over the course of the contract. They also mentioned that there’s plans to hold the downhill races at Whiteface Mountain next October.

Mayor Jimmy Williams indicated that the village is supportive of improving the mountain biking trails at Mount Pisgah. He said BETA can support the work with in-kind labor, and asked the Miemis’ for a long-term projection of annual cost of work at the mountain.