About us
Allegheny Gnar is a 501c3 nonprofit organization founded in 2023. Our mission is to make the outdoors more accessible in the Allegheny Mountain region by creating and maintaining areas to recreate. We build trails, map routes, host events and educate people about the outdoors.
CREATING PLACES TO RECREATE
The Allegheny Mountain region is covered by the working forests owned by timber companies or land investors. Most of that land is open for public recreation but needs considerable help with trail mapping and maintenance to make it accessible. Our partnerships with these land owners help preserve existing trails and create new trails in a sustainable way that doesn't harm the forest or logging operations. This opens up new recreational opportunities for the public in areas where there isn't a lot of public owned land.
Allegheny Gnar is also opening an indoor rock climbing gym in 2027. This new area will make rock climbing more accessible than ever in Venango County, bringing an outdoor sport inside for the first time in the area. Proceeds from operating the gym will go back into local trail projects with an emphasis on improving accessibility to our regions natural outdoor rock climbing.
HOSTING EVENTS
We started the Allegheny Gnar DH Race Series in 2024 as a USA Cycling sanctioned State Championship for Pennsylvania. These events brought in hundreds of riders across all events to an area in Western PA that has never hosted a downhill mountain bike race before. Many of the racers were first time competitors but also top riders from across the east coast & mid east regions competed for cash prizes and the overall championship titles. We offer beginner specific classes on purpose built beginner trails, free youth clinics & free bike demos when available to actively promote the sport to new riders. These events are very important to our mission since the proceeds of these events are put 100% back into building, maintaining and promoting mountain bike trails in our region.
Allegheny Gnar hosts year-round free public group mountain bike rides and outdoor climbs so that anyone can join in and get a guided session on many trails in the region. Follow us on Instagram to stay up to date on group events happening year-round or Contact Us through our website for upcoming events.
EDUCATION
We provide an inclusive environment for new outdoor enthusiasts to safely learn skills of mountain biking, trail stewardship, rock climbing and more. Most of our group rides or hikes have at least 1 trained coach or experienced guide that is eager to help you safely enjoy the trails.
Our annual mountain bike event hosts Dirt Rock n Root Training clinics run by 3-time masters world champion Kathi Krause. The new Allegheny Gnar climbing gym will host regular classes on bouldering techniques for climbers of all ages. Trail crew leaders have years of professional trail building experience and can teach new volunteers how to properly take care of the outdoors we all enjoy. In fact, many of our volunteer trail stewards have gain experience working on local trails and progressed into professional trail building careers.
