Serious business

October 2026 (written November '26)

A photograph of the ITRS 2026 cohort, all staring at their phone apps — ITRS training involved a lot of discussing systematic grading, and even more pointing at trail features. Photo by full-time shredder and part-time crasher Gusts Osmucnieks (Velosolutions).

Despite my instragram stories, I was actually getting some work done while in Europe. One of the main reasons I had travelled was to become a Certified Trail Rater (CTR) so that I could formally grade trails in line with the new International Trail Rating System (ITRS). I'll write a separate post about what this is, and how it relates to the research later.

The week-long residential training course was in Visp, Switzerland. A location where beauty and expense are in a continous battle for supremacy.

Suprisingly intense, but with a great deal of time out on the trails, the course was really well put together and gave us ample time to question the nuance of the process, to bond as a cohort, and to test the rating system out in the field..

The final day of the course saw us leaving before dawn for a 9-hour marathon examination of our new trail rating skills. I was out on course with Patrick, a delightful Spain-residing Ohioan who went to school with Chelsea(?!). The world is terrifyingly small sometimes.

I stayed on Visp for a couple of extra days after the exam, and had an excellent day with Phillip Bont of Vast trails, chatting all things trail building, and learning about the pressure of operating in this ultra-high alpine environement.

Pleasingly I passed the exam and (subject to a follow up post-mortem) will be the Southern Hemisphere's first CTR.

I'm looking forward to testing this out in the field - stay tuned for a post about that study...