Whistler - The Wrap

My fellow ROAMers and riders,

Me at look back

as I mentioned before its now about time to give a lil low-down of my Whistler trip.
I think it is not neccessary anymore to point out how stoked I am and how great it was.

Whip it

The trail maintenace was good, but not over the top, which means, that some of the trails were pretty fucked up due to the high traffic load during Crankworx.
Later on, the trailteam (18 guys) focused on the higher part of the mountain, called Garbanzo, to build the all new Freight Train, which is said to be a blast. The trailteam plans to double the amount of trails until 2010! Let's see...

Heart of Darkness

The trails in general have a high quality in terms of rideability - even though double diamond trails are one hack of a challenge (especially during rain!) everything is supersafely built. There are no doubles, no tricky things with bad surprises - if you find an obstacle you know it's meant to be ridden - so it's rideable for sure - if you dare.

The Fatcrobat

Talking about the rain: My recommendation would be to go there during July - the weather seems to be best from what the locals said and it is good to have Crankworx in the final week of your riding if you intend to be there around Crankworx. It was fun to see the slopestyle, but if you miss it out...nevermind. Don't make it a premise for your trip's planning. Advantage though: A lot of of companies were there and so I had the chance to ride my future Corsair König (www.corsairbikes.com) and it was FUN! Service from many companies included. Furthermore you will see a lot of pros (well...) and a lot of new stuff.


For the costs: I had a season-pass (450€, I guess) which pays off after 9 days of riding - ideal for longer holidays - and 2 weeks at least are a must - especially for first-timers there.
My accomodation was 150$ per night - devided by 4 riders. Hot tub included. Travel from Vancouver Airport to Whistler (about 3hours) is roughly 89$. Food and drinks are on a solid european level. So you should calculate about 30€ per day - if you go for a lil lunch and have breakfast and dinner at home. All kinds of fastfood are available. Maybe not Halal :)
Red will find GREAT beet there - KOKANEE tastes awesome :)

For your bike, expect to need 2 pairs of brakepads and 2 pairs of tires - tires are EXTREMELY expensive over there...so get your stuff from home. And take the heavy duty stuff with you...single ply is for kids :) Guys...it's rocky there in the Rocky Mountains...it's not Kiara :) Some of you might be surprised - to me, it reminds me of the Alps. Wide open spaces, rocky, loose terrain, Big Mountain at its VERY best!

Smoke and Mirrors

For the equipment - bring in a safety jacket and a goggle with interchangeable lenses for foggy days - have spare lenses as they scratch easily over the time. Treat the trails with repect - they otherwise they will bite back. One local said: "It's not the question IF you go down, but only when and how hard" - so keep that in the back of your mind if you wanna "survive" a longer time there.
For those of you who think they can ride (anything) - be humble and learn new. You think you can corner? Go to Whistler and see the locals - so you know you can't :)

Go send it on the last few days :)

WtF is Dirtdrop???

If you are fully into park riding get a 7"-8" bike. If you wanna explore the MANY trails surrounding the park (like GARGAMEL in The Collective!), which is highly recommended by every local, then you should bring something like a SS, SX or Bottlerocket. Still, you will be fast enough on the gnarly stuff - I've seen it...

Well, I guess a picture saves a thousand words...so here we go for a last time :)



Finally I like to thank my sponsors for making this trip possible. Unfortunately I have none, so I made it possible myself ;)

B-Line

Devil's Club


Go there and discover how bikepark riding was meant to be!