Talk to me about Whistler... « Singletrack Forum

Bike Forum

Talk to me about Whistler...

22 posts & 16 voices | Started 7 months ago by jamescoulson | Latest reply from _tom_

Tags:

No tags yet.

jamescoulson - Member

Only done the Alps previously (Les Gets/Morzine/Chatel) and looked to spread the wings a bit. How does Whistler compare?? Particularly stuff like accomodation, location (i.e. Alps great for riding from accomodation to lift in about 30 secs!), trail maintenance (non-existent in Les Gets!!). Will be going with the missus and both pretty competent so not so concerned about stuff like "will we be up to it" but more general comments about how the trails flow, linking different areas, how busy it was...

Photos always welcome

Posted 7 months ago #
flatfish - Member

Bike or Snow sports?

Posted 7 months ago #
philconsequence - Member

what you need is for _tom_ to reply on this thread, he's been out there for a while now and is LOVING it if his recent posts are anything to go by!

Posted 7 months ago #
jamescoulson - Member

Was kinda hoping for bike related thoughts, this being bike forum an'all

Posted 7 months ago #
Ewan - Member

Accomidation - depends how much you pay like anywhere. Whistlers not very big and there are only two lifts for the bike park anyway. We stayed in 60 quid a day accomidation which was fairly bling.
Trail maintenance - very very good. They have full time crews out and close the trails on a cycle to maintain them.

The bike park isn't that big - we rode pretty much everything in three days. We then went off and toured BC, def the way to do it...

Posted 7 months ago #
wrecker - Member

I've been. The bike park is pretty full on IMO. Armour up obviously.
There are some XC trails pretty much in the village around lost lake (the zappa trails). I rode kill me thrill me on cougar mountain too (Slow, techy). There are much more trails around whistler (Danimal etc) which I didn't ride so cant comment on. I would recommend that you get at least a days riding in at Squamish, it really is ace. The local bike shop Tantalus cycles have maps and are the most helpful shop I've ever been into.

Posted 7 months ago #
steviep - Member

We had two weeks in whistler in july with Bearback biking. The chalet accomodation was very good as was the food. Trail wise we had 3 days in the park and the rest riding trails around whistler. The park is great fun but unless you jump well you wont get the most out of it, it is just a great big trail centre on steroids!
The trails around the valley are good but can be very short, for instance kill me thrill me is only about 4km long. So if you are expecting big climbs then big descents as in the Alps then you may be disappointed.
We had a great holiday and there certainly is a nice buzz around whistler village but I must say I would rather ride in the Alps or the Pyrenees as for me Whistler seemed to lack the big mountain feel.

Posted 7 months ago #
wrecker - Member

Bloody hell, kill me thrill me is only 6.5K!
It's at least an hour for mere mortals though.

Posted 7 months ago #
Konastoner - Member

Hire an RV, I did last year and drove to ride all the main spots. Whister, Pemberton, Squamish, there's loads of riding wihtin an hour or 2 driving distance of Whistler. Loads of campsites too (Their not like the crap we have over here), good facilities etc.

Size wise Whistler (not just the bike park) is similar to both Morzine & Les Gets combined. Loads of shopping (Especially for bike / Ski stuff) and sight seeing.

Posted 7 months ago #
jamescoulson - Member

Do you need to drive from the village to the lifts like some US ski resorts or is it all in one place?

Whilst I'm sure we'd not necesarilly be getting the best out of the area in some people's view, would predominantly go for uplift action rather than XC or touring - am I reading from the above posts that the DH options are limited??

Posted 7 months ago #
Ewan - Member

Lifts are in the centre of town. Ride there.

Posted 7 months ago #
TroutWrestler - Member

IMO you'll need 2 bikes to get the best out of Whistler. One for the bike park and a lighter one for the trails. Last time I took Scott Gambler and a Giant Reign. The bike park is harsh on bikes.

There is plenty of riding for all abilities both in the park and in the valley in general and you'll find more than enough to stretch you.

To concentrated only on park or trail is to miss the point IMO.

Get some guiding/speak to other riders. There is loads to get stuck into. If you clean A River Runs Through It first time I'll buy you a pint.

Posted 7 months ago #
grum - Member

Check out this video of the Khyber Pass trail - looks amazing.

http://www.pinkbike.com/news/trek-session-99-gwin-whistler-2011.html

Posted 7 months ago #
wl - Member

Agree with Ewan - do a few days in Whistler, then check out Squamish, North Shore, Pemberton, Chilcotins (if you like backcountry epics) and Nelson if you've got bags of time. You'll need to rent a vehicle though. Actually, you could probably spend a bit longer in Whistler if you do all the epics like Khybers etc, not just the park. And defo check the stuff from Garbanzo down - heaps of folk miss it out, preferring the flowy, jumpy BMX-style riding of A-line etc. Within the park, Garbanzo is where the techy natural stuff is.

Posted 7 months ago #
wl - Member

PS - I reckon one bike is fine for pretty much everything in BC, so long as it's something like a Patriot, Alpine 160, Nomad or similar. You'll want 160mm forks and reliable, robust kit. 2.35 or 2.5 tyres. You'll need to be reasonably fit though, if you're heading outside of the park.

Posted 7 months ago #
carbon337 - Member

Looks bloody brilliant to me:

http://www.vimeo.com/27743457

Posted 7 months ago #
domino - Member

Did a BC road tri over the summer and rode in Cumberland on Vancouver Island, Terrace, Smithers, Kamloops, Whistler and Squamish. This year we didn't bother with the bike park at all (Crankworx was on and town was busy). Rode the Zappa trails, Kill Me Thrill Me and some trails round Creekside. The trails down at Squamish we're ace though - not lift assisted, I had to work for the downhills but it was brilliant. There is a "downhill pumptrack" called Half Nelson which I grinned all the way down, also rode Wonderland and White Rabbit - all of which were used in the B.C bike race.

Posted 7 months ago #
atlaz - Member

Don't forget to consider going south of the border into Washington. There's good riding along the I5 corridor down to Seattle (and the bike park in Seattle itself).

Posted 7 months ago #
wl - Member

If you're just looking at uplifts, you'll probably get bored after a few days unless you like riding the same trails over and over. Everywhere outside Whistler you'll need to shuttle or climb, but there's amazing riding to be had all over BC.

Posted 7 months ago #
P-Jay - Member

Went out in the Summer, it's fapping AMAZING!!!

Really wish I took a trail bike with me, tempted to rent one, but we'd bought a lift pass for everyday.

Anyway the Bike Park is really something else, as someone mentioned trail maintenance is way, way, way better than Morzine /Les but you still do get braking bumps on the most popular / warm-up trails like B-Line and Crank it Up.

You don't get to do great big multi-valley trips like you do in the Alps, it's two lifts, one feeds into the other, but there are plenty of trails, despite it's rep, I actually found most of them easier than the ones in the Alps, well perhaps easier isn't the right word - more accessible maybe (I'm no riding god by any stretch) Whistler isn't as steep as the Alps, not even close, plus the trails are mostly hard-pack so instead of sliding/flying down a mud covered super steep trail looking for places to scrub speed for turns etc you can start slow, pick up your speed when you want and really place yourself for the jumps and turns, they're all very nicely made and really confidence building.

There are ample opportunities to scare yourself half to death, there is stuff there that would NEVER get past British H&S, but everything is well signposted and if you end up getting out of your depth on a drop or gap you’ve no one to blame but yourself.

You will see a Bear or two on the trail, but they wont eat you, in fact you can’t move for nature out there.

And dare I say it..... a Mutzig in Bar Robbo after a day on the Mountain is nice, but it’s not a patch on a jug of beer in the GLC watching the drops or the Longhorn watching the Waitresses...
We stayed with Bear Back too, great staff, really friendly and a good laugh, excellent guides, great food and accom.

It’s bloody expensive though!!! £700+ for flights, £500 for digs, £250 for a 6 day bike park ticket, etc – spent £800 in a week, and that was without a single mechanical! Bike bits are UK LBS prices, (don’t forget everything is quoted “plus tax”) but tyres are stupidly expensive - $100 “plus taxes” for a basic 2.5 Highroller.

Posted 7 months ago #
oldfart - Member

A must is a float plane trip up at Lake Tyax in the Chilcotins .Gun Creek Trail is out of this world !Watch out for the grizzlies !

Posted 7 months ago #
_tom_ - Member

what you need is for _tom_ to reply on this thread, he's been out there for a while now and is LOVING it if his recent posts are anything to go by!

Yep the past 2 months have been awesome and I may have been a bit gushing Unfortunately I haven't been able to find a job and will probably be going back home next weekend The weather has been a bit crap since mid september though, hence why I'm sat in typing this rather than out riding - giving it a chance to dry up!

I've never been to the Alps (this is my first biking trip) but compared to any UK stuff it's in another world - so much so that riding mtb in the UK seems a bit rubbish in comparison, and when I return I'll probably be getting a bmx to get my jumping fix As has been said there are quite a lot of braking bumps and I'm very glad I brought full sus instead of my HT. There's a variety of trails, something for everyone. I prefer jumps and flowy trails, my current favourite combo is Freight Train > Dirt Merchant > Lower A-Line > GLC, but Crank It Up is awesome. The techy ones remind me of UK downhill but longer, steeper and rougher. I find that the jump trails are very well designed, and each jump sets you up perfectly for the next one. Just watch out on Crank It Up as when you get confident on it you can start to overshoot everything There's a new trail called Black Velvet which is insanely good fun in the dry - I rode it when it was brand new with no braking bumps and it was heaven.

Its not been that busy really, the busiest was a couple of weekends ago when the queues were out of the barriers:

Still got onto the lift in about 10 minutes.

Oh and the XC riding around here is pretty good as well, but I find it all a bit too "up and down" and I always feel like I'm riding the trails the wrong way. May be because I'm riding it all on a downhill bike though.

Posted 7 months ago #