Hi fellow Mountain Bikers, just looking at organising a trip for myself and some friends to go to either the Alps or Whistler next year and really was looking to get some advice in regards to which would be best, overall cost of trip, should I take my bike or rent and any useful info/ links you might have. Going to Whistler is been a dream of mine for year but it can be a very expensive affair and questioning if it’s worth it as I have heard before that the Alps have got just as good trails. Please any feedback and advice will be appreciated. Many Thsnks
Matt

My 2p – the quick version.

Whistler – very expensive, long haul flights, jet lag, Bike Park is amazing, feels like the centre of the MTB world, surprisingly acessable for most riders on bigger bikes (not always DH bikes) on most trails, but there aren’t any lifts outside the park so you need to pedal, which is good but means less riding than letting the lifts do the hard bit and it is a holiday. A 7 trip to Whistler and 3 days in Van riding mostly Park and not going super deluxe cost me £3k I don’t regret it for a second.

Alps – lots of em, but for first trip you can’t go wrong with Morzine / Les Gets, cheap both to get there and stay, massive, whilst the summer lift network in Whistler is 2-3 lifts covering 1 big bike park, PDS offers a whole network, 3 bike parks, lots of DH and Enduro runs out of the parks and endless trails in between. Weather can be iffy, trails get rough by mid-season, it’s a long drive, not much in it time wise as flying to Whistler, feels like the centre of the MTB world in Europe. Costs a fraction of Whislter £600 for a week all in.

Pretty much what pjay says.

If I had the choice and money wasn’t an issue, whistler every time for me.

I have heard before that the Alps have got just as good trails.

The answer is, it depends massively on what you want.

I’ve ridden over a lot of the Alps, some good & been fortunate enough to do a few trips to Whistler.

The expensive bit is getting to Whistler. The costs out there are IME cheaper than the Alps. Especially in recent times with the exchange rates. £3k is a huge amount of money to spend in 10 days there – I don’t think 3 months out there cost me much more in a private apartment on Blackcomb. Of course you can spank a fortune there, but we lived normally, eating out a few times a week & it wasn’t expensive, at all.

The thing with Whistler & the valley is, there is nothing (not even close) to the Alps that has the volume, and quality of trails in such close proximity. There are plenty of places with good trails, a lot of dross, and a lot of stuff totally battered (Morzine for example).

If you go, and it’s your thing – be prepared to get frustrated by going anywhere else after.

What the Alps doesn’t have is massively wide, almost mirror smooth trials with perfectly judged jumps and berms that make you feel like an absolute hero – the level of trail maintenance they put in is on a whole different level to the Alps, it feels like your bike was designed especially for there and it might well have been.

But if you think trail centres are fake then prepare yourself for a shock!

£3k was transport, accom and spends.

£600 was the same for Morzine.

What the Alps doesn’t have is massively wide, almost mirror smooth trials with perfectly judged jumps and berms that make you feel like an absolute hero – the level of trail maintenance they put in is on a whole different level to the Alps, it feels like your bike was designed especially for there and it might well have been.

Only if you ride the flow stuff in the park. Ride the tech & it’s totally the opposite, even more so up in the Garbo zone.

And of course, the valley trails (or ‘Whistler XC’) vary from hard, to outrageous.

Did a fair bit of maths on this and basically, a week in whistler was mentally expensive, but a fortnight in one go worked out not so different from 2 (separate) guided weeks in the alps.

In the end I figured I’d probably still choose the two weeks, because of the absolute inevitability of spannering myself on day one of any 2 week holiday, but it did make it feel more affordable.

It’s all been said above.
I spent 5 years going to Morzine and have had a place by Leogang for 5 years. Went to Whistler last Summer.
No other bike park comes close.
Look for flights with Air Transat and a package with Bearback.

£3k does sound a lot. I used to do ski trips for two weeks in Whistler for around £1.5k (4 in group though), but was a while back now (and lift ticket prices have gone through the roof, plus pound is rubbish now). Though not sure what’s the peak season. I remember skiing in Banff and was told apparently summer season is their peak. But then Whistler is a massive ski mecca as much as MTB.

One thing you’d probably find with anywhere North America is two weeks is not massively more expensive than one, and you’ve got more time to deal with jet lag.

Europe though can be done way cheaper. Also if you can share costs driving, it may be an option to consider. If you’re down south nearer the channel it may not be that much more door-to-door than flying once you consider transfers to/from airports, parking, 2-3 hour check in before flight, plus flight time and then inevitable delays in baggage, if not flight itself. £200 cost each between two with petrol, tunnel and tolls.

I’m also nervous about bikes on planes turning up in one piece or at all (from past experience with skis and luggage going awol and getting battered).

colp – Member 
Look for flights with Air Transat

Watch out with their cheap options and cancellation/rebook policy. Folks had to try to re-arrange flight months in advance due to unforeseen issues and flat refusal, even trying to reschedule and accepting a fee may have to be paid. Only option was cancel and lose the entire money. This despite the fact they will likely resell the seat with that much notice and profit twice. Their excuse is budget seats can only be offered cheap on that basis. Want flexibility, pay loads more up front.

Whistler is also just one corner of the immense riding available in BC. Squamish and Pemberton just up the road, North Van an hour away, and Sunshine Coast pretty close, Chilcotins for proper backcountry (float plane uplifts if you’re feeling flush!). Would make for a pretty amazing roadtrip.

Westjet from Gatwick can be really cheap (<£300), and took good care of my bike last time.

I’m not sure how it came to £3k, but as it seems to be a bit of a bone of contention I’ll try to break it down, this was 2011 (Jesus THAT long ago)

Flight £800
Bike on flight £80
Week with Bearback £700
3 nights in Van £300
Week bike park £200

That’s over £2k without a penny of walking around money – and at least when I went Whistler village and Van is very expensive compared to France.

Plus I think a spent a bit too much on a day long Quad Bike trip and we rented a speedboat in Van so perhaps we did go a bit ott 😉

I think you have to factor in the Obligatory Helidrop Ride

(floatplanes are an acceptable alternative)

Yeah they’re cheap 😉

(We tried, but left it too late, I’d never think it would sell out!)

Thank you all for the replies guys. Much appreciated. Whistler definitely sound like the place to go to but on the other side £3k are lots of money. I better start saving!

Done the alps a lot and Whistler once

Without doubt Whistler every time

My tips, hire a bike and Bearback are ace.

Thanks for the shouts above.
Drop us a line with any questions. We have plenty of guests that do a holiday with us, then a holiday in the Alps/Europe and alternate year in year out.
Sure it’s more due to the flight, but as above, the density of quality riding available in the sea to sky corridor is simply incredible.

We are already booking for 2018 so there’s no harm in looking already. Also, the pound is on an upward trend against the dollar right now which is good news!

I’d also say £3k is very expensive. I’ve done whistler a load of times (6?) and the alps a similar number of times. a 2 week trip in whistler can easily be had for £2k – self catering, cheapish flights (£500), eat at home, there’s a good few places in town to get lunch for under $10.

it is worth it. I wouldn’t bother spending any time in Van unless you’re injured, or riding the north shore – its a nice enough place but not that good. I’ve done heli-biking, float plane, raced the test of metal, uplifted squarmish in a pickup, hit the north shore for days on end and hit Coast bike park a couple of times, but I think the best excursion was 2 days in each of sun peaks and silverstar. I’ll be doing similar when I’m out in 2018 (baby called it off this year)

If you are after wild riding rather than groomed runs, take a peek at Fernie. Its the most chilled place ever and the riding is awesome. Fernie does not suck your wallet dry and has some of the best singletrack I’ve ridden and so much double track you can ride to Montana and back without crossing your tracks.
If its bike parks and perfect take off and landing ramps you crave, Fernie is not in the picture.

Whistler, BC is literally awesome, the best family holidays we have done, worth being broke and living in a shit house for 🙂

…the density of quality riding available in the sea to sky corridor is simply incredible

I think Bearback hits the nail on the head but there’s a downside as well as an upside to it. Sure, there’s a huge choice of trails in the bike park but there’s also a lot of riders to cram in, so if you’re looking for “solitude” and “space” look elsewhere.
I’m guessing those people who did Whistler on the cheap probably rode the bike part the majority of the time with maybe a couple of days in ‘the valley’ but you could easily travel further afield for more breathing space and different types of riding but it could ramp up the cost.

I’ve given up riding in WBP even though I only live 1.5 hours away as you always have to on the lookout for other riders as trails merge or, god help you, you have a crash or mechanical and ‘spoil’ someone’s run down A Line…

(Sun Peaks and Silver Star bike parks are so much more laid back in this respect)

I’ve done lots of riding in Alberta, BC, Alps

if I could pick 3 to return to
Nelson BC
Fernie BC – Off piste
Maritime alps above San Remo

i spent a couple of days in Whistler, as part of a longer road-trip. i had a great time, but i’m not rushing to go back.

If you want chairlifts, you’re in the park, you can’t use a chairlift to launch a longer xc/trail ride.

The easy (blue) tracks were knackered. The harder tracks were smoother, but the jumps were too big for me, it was made clear that i was in the way, and unwelcome.

within the park, i had most fun on The Orient express – a fun link-up of shorter trails.

The Zappa trails at Lost Lake were great fun. It’s a mix-and-match bi-directional trail centre. get a map from … Cross Country Connection and go explore, there’s at least 2 days worth of techy xc trails in there, no guide needed.

Planning a trip to Whistler if you’ve never been to The Alps seems a bit odd…

Done a few BC trips (Whistler, Nelson, Squamish, Chilcotins, North Shore, Pemby) and loads of Alps trips to Verbier and area around there. For the money and hassle, I say Alps. Best bet for an all-round great time (including maximum ride time on amazing off-the-beaten-track trails) is http://www.bikeverbier.com. Lots of very satisfied guests of theirs on this forum.

ahwiles – Member 
The easy (blue) tracks were knackered. The harder tracks were smoother, but the jumps were too big for me, it was made clear that i was in the way, and unwelcome.

That’s my concern. If Whistler is only really going to be worth it if you’re a jumping god, then it’s not for me.

If Whistler is only really going to be worth it if you’re a jumping god, then it’s not for me.

By no means is this true. Within WBP, the trails have always been graded by expertise level but they also differentiate between fast & flowy or tight & technical.
The jumping gods will be on the fast & flowy trails.
Having said that, it will help enormously if you are technically competent as otherwise you’ll get frustrated (though stick at it and your skills will improve)
Outside WBP, you’re self propelled and out of the domain of the jumping gods…

One of the aspects of the WBP to consider is there aren’t any Red graded trails – it’s Blue to Black and it’s a bit of a leap sometime, but I don’t recall any unavoidable doubles or massive drops, not on most of the trails anyway – some of the bigger famous ones have terrifying looking stuff, but it’s not really the norm.

I fancied that jump up onto a shipping container, but chickened out.

the shipping container is pretty easy – it can cause a few people to go into a bit of a nose dive, but the gap is small, so even if you hang it up it’s fine. the scarier bit is coming off the other side, the landing is blind till you’re about a foot from the edge..

Whistler has (from memory) 40-something trails (the number is higher, but a lot of them are 1/2 runs or whatever). of those, a handful have lots of doubles (fade to black, dirt merchant, d1, freight train, crabapple hits, dwanes and whatever they’ve built for the slopestyle that year). Of those, most are short (only dirt merchant and freight train are ‘full runs’) and only d1, slopestyle and fade to black aren’t rollable at a low speed. There are doubles on other trails (the 25′ stepdown under the chairlift springs to mind), but they’re well signposted, and pretty few and far between. There are no reds, but there’s also a minimal difference between the hardest blue and the easiest black (they just don’t have red on their grading system) – the trails are listed in order of difficulty so you can work your way through them, doing more and more. The only thing I haven’t cleared is the crabapple hits, and I’m not that good at jumping.

if you like more natural stuff, the creekside trails, too tight, top of the world, and things like goats gully are pretty close to UK trails. There’s more techy trails than freeride trails by a fair margin- have a look at the listing on the map here http://bike.whistlerblackcomb.com/~/media/Files-Bike-Park/Trial-Map/2016bikeparkMAP.ashx

You can get out and about cheap as well – most trails in the area are pretty well signposted, car rental is pretty reasonable, so you can make your own way around.

there aren’t any Red graded trails – it’s Blue to Black and it’s a bit of a leap sometime

Technically in the park we have
Green flow
Green tech
Blue flow
Blue tech
Black flow
Black tech
Dbl black flow
Dbl black tech
Pro flow
Pro tech

The flow or ‘freeride’ trails are machine built dirt, tech are more natural trails. There is a good spectrum of trails within the blues and many that are hard blues but not quite black.
As a cheeky promotion, what you find with our guides both in and more importantly out of the park is that they will guide based on guest progression with trail choice made to help you improve. You will go home a better rider.

Yeah, the lack of ‘red’ grade trails is misleading. Blue is broadly similar to the red in the UK overall.

A week in Whistler doesnt really make sense, 2 weeks would be ideal . Maybe a week with BearBack to get acquainted with the riding here and a week on your own. Trailforks also makes getting around and working out what the trails are like a lot easier. It’s incredible the amount of riding you can do right from your doorstep in Whistler. Everything from UK style red trails around Lost Lake to full on steep and tech, in and out of the park.

As someone mentioned above, the park is mostly fine on even a smaller enduro/all mountain bike, you just need to have a little more finesse. There’s very few mandatory doubles, Fade to Black (a lot easier than it looks), D1, Dwayne Johnson come to mind, but you wont be riding a black grade trail and suddenly come across a blind double.

If you hire a car then riding in Pemberton, Squamish, North Shore are all options too.

The Alps is also a great option, guided with the likes of BikeVillage or a week in Morzinne/Les Gets/Les Arc will defiantly be cheaper, with a different style of riding to Whistler too, I’d say. Whistler doesnt really have many high alpine trails, with all that entails.

whatnobeer – Member 
Yeah, the lack of ‘red’ grade trails is misleading

It’s just the North American grading system which follows the ski grade system. No red trails. Green, Blue, Black and Double Black.

Comparing to Europe in skiing, American black/double-black kind of spans the black grade of Europe, though often a black can be more like a European red but not always and varies on conditions. I would guess it’s similar with bikes.

European grading is same as in UK, but what they call a red is often far different to a red in the UK. The former often being a lot more technical and longer. For trails that is. Bike parks are different and BPW is more comparable grading.

been to Whistler and regular visitor to Alps. (also ridden in other spots around the world too: Utah Deer Valley/Park City is pretty good too)

it depends what kind of rider you are – if you like steep, technical and authentic then some areas of the Alps (outside of bike parks) are awesome. I ride in the Bourg St Maurice/Les Arcs/Moutiers area that has over 500km of trails and an enormous lift network as part of the Paradiski area. The downside of the Alps is that you’ll probably need a guide (a french one because the Brits have largely been run out of the area (with notable exceptions e.g. Ben Jones MTB))

Whistler is more “themepark” trails; great customer service (I stayed at the Chateau hotel at the bottom of the trail – there are cheaper places to stay) and bustling nightlife. Some parts of the Alps feel a bit quiet in the summer. If you go to Canada late in the summer, take some extra cash and buy your rental bike for pennies in the pound but be aware that a bike that feels amazing in Whistler might feel a bit crap when you get it home.

my advice is RIDE BOTH CANADA AND ALPS.

Love Whistler, I think it has a laid back vibe.

I agree with most of the above, and checking out an uplift day in Squamish or Pemberton is a must. Very varied trails.

The valley trails are pretty amazing and you do t have to pedal to access them all. Trip to Top of the world then you can go down Kybers, Babylon by bike, Kush, ride don’t slide etc, feels like real backcountry riding!

Thing with the alps… it spans multiple countries and area’s been to areas and never seen a proper trail sign let alone a grade and had an amazing time.

If you want park/easy to navigate/tab A slot B riding the PDS is great

The downside of the Alps is that you’ll probably need a guide (a french one because the Brits have largely been run out of the area (with notable exceptions e.g. Ben Jones MTB))

For me this is the upside, with the right guiding outfit including a driver you can get to and ride anything really, lifts closed, no problem, weather changed we will go here, your not quite up to those trails no problem here is Plan B.
If your time is tighter guides get you much more for you day/cash

Assuming you’re looking at mostly bikepark style riding, nothing in the Alps comes close to Whistler, NOTHING!

It truly is mecca.

I’ve been to Morzine several times and although it’s a nice holiday it doesn’t deserve to be mentioned in the same breath IMO. It’s still fun, and i’ve had a great time, but if it’s a choice (and money no object) it’s Whistler every time.

Conversely if cash is a concern Morzine is a good time at great value, you’ll have fun, ride loads and progress quickly.

I disagree with some of the sentiments above about being unwelcome if you aren’t ‘good enough’. Yes, if you’re messing around on Aline at 2mph you’ll be warned you’re in the wrong place, but that’s because you’re a very real danger, both to yourself and to others.

But there’s no reason to be there until you’re ready, there’s a whole host of trails for you to ride and get comfortable and safely work your way up to the bigger and faster sections.
Including trails with smaller jumps to gain confidence and experience (think Crank it up etc), which are great fun in their own right.

Do be aware that some of the trails are a big step up in skill, for me Dirt Merchant (dbl black) is more than one step above A-line(black) to be comfortable)

(For reference I’m by no means an awesome rider, and happily went from shitting myself on crank it up as i’d never done jumps before, to hitting Aline, freight train and Dirt Merchant with confidence in a fortnight).

Whistler has a recommended trail list progression with relative difficulties comparing each trail to the next.
Slower riders have right of way on all trails up to and including blue, faster riders have right of way on black and above and slower riders should yield.

My other half did a few of the womens nights (bike hire, lift pass and coaching for a few hours for $25, her 1st time on any mountain bike) and had a great time, at the same time as I was lapping Aline with my biking mates.

A much cheaper way to visit Whistler is to go in the Autumn, they do a discounted lift pass that covers the end of the season, think it was around $250 and was valid for Sept-Oct, so if you go for more than a week the end of season pass is cheaper, accommodation is also much cheaper then and the park is quieter.

Wherever you go, have fun, it’ll be ace 😀