About NAMBA Niseko Area Mountain Bike Association
The NAMBA Story
Why NAMBA exists
The Allegra Partnership
Growth Timeline
Six mountain bikers in Niseko look at the mountains around them and see year-round potential. They start figuring out how to build a nonprofit from scratch.
Officially founded as an NPO. The founding board comes together. Trail design goes out to tender, and Allegra win by unanimous vote. Kutchan town grants us permission to rent the land that becomes Twin Peaks. COVID visa lead times for Allegra's crew cut the first build window short, but we still finish Ezo Shika and the upper part of Easy Ryder, all built under a 1m trail-width restriction and without cutting down a single tree.
Our biggest build window yet, the fastest-growing project Allegra had ever seen. Sponsorship is tricky, but every trail finds a backer. We learn (the hard way) that every excavation has to be revegetated before opening, so the community shows up: volunteers building bridges, installing signage, hand-seeding grass. On 16 September, Twin Peaks opens to the public. That summer, Hokkaido hosts its first Soil Searching event. At the closing weekend, Grand Hirafu approach us about building at their resort.
Work begins at Grand Hirafu: new trail goes in and the existing Kaikan is reworked, with a future link to Twin Peaks in mind. At Twin Peaks, the rocky upper section we'd been wrestling with the year before becomes Taki Tech, the park's first double-black. Dirty Dames launches with 30+ women at the opening ride.
Cruise Control opens and becomes one of the park's most-loved trails. So does Twin Peaks' first jump line, paired with a dedicated climb trail for hot laps. Loic Bruni visits to ride and to discuss a new project with NAMBA and Nico Vink. Building begins at Hanazono.
Hanazono opens in summer 2026, joining the network. Grand Hirafu shifts operations to the new Ace Gondola, with new singletrack going in. The vision the founders sketched in 2021, one connected Niseko riding region, is becoming the map.
