Whistler - the Ultimate Biking Destination

You can’t move within mountain biking circles for long without hearing about Whistler and its chairlift-fed downhill playground. I first visited this magic part of Canada B.C. in 2001 and promptly named it my favorite biking destination.

I promised myself I would go back. Maybe it was some sort of a seven year itch – but 2008 finally saw me return, and it was even better than I remembered.

Although it is renowned as a ski and snowboard mecca, the secret is out about Whistler’s summer playground. Of the 2.1 million annual visitors, summer visitors now outnumber the powder hounds. The Whistler Bike Park is the obvious epicenter of mountain biking and for good reason. On my first day I hopped off the chairlift at the top of the park feeling like a kid let loose in a sweet shop. 250km of trails sprawled out below me in a glorious pick and mix of 50 trail options. I calculated that if I did five whole runs top to bottom, I would drop around 5000 vertical metres, and cover over 50km of terrain. If I had a hankering for air time, in just over an hour I could do five laps of the A-Line and hit a total of over 500 jumps. I tried to imagine how many weeks it would take me to achieve these numbers back home and my mind boggled.

There is no denying the Bike Park is a mountain biker’s Disneyland. It’s easy to surrender to the ride and repeat of the beckoning lifts and endless park descents. If I was confined within its boundaries I would still be as happy as a clam, but I would only be scratching the surface of the true Whistler. This place has much more to it than most people realise.

Ride in any direction from the village and your curiosity will be rewarded. Before long you will see the style and flow of the local dirt jumpers as they session over 50 doubles in the jump park. There are jumps here for all abilities, but if the risk puts you off there is a safer option. The resort now boasts the Air Dome, a massive foam pit and indoor training centre for freeriders that stays protected from the changing moods of the weather. I was curious to see this facility that had elevated the skills of Whistler free riders. Local hero Ben Boyco was there perfecting some complex aerial trickery but I could see this place wasn’t just for the Pros. Part of the vision was to help beginners learn the basics of jumping and how to be safe in the air. I had to give this a go! I warmed up in the wooden quarter pipe before launching my first kamikaze flight into the sea of foam blocks. Yes, it is as fun as it sounds, but I didn’t imagine the struggle I would have clambering back out!

High energy types will find there is more than enough here to scratch their itch. A heavenly 160km of single-track and 80km of double-track criss-cross the valley. A great place to start is the Lost Lake cross country trails. Families were meandering on fire roads and manicured single-track but I was intent on following the more adventurous types into the Zappa Trails, named after Frank Zappa song titles. Undulating rocks in Peaches and Regalia contrasted with the curving cedar bridges of Pinocchio’s Furniture. By the time I carved through the smooth lines of Jelly Roll Gumdrop I had an ear-to-ear grin and was looping back around for a second lap.

While the Lost Lake was good for a quick spin, tales of flowing trails through towering pines and cedars, and over lush carpets of moss and ferns drew me into the more remote parts of the valley. Summer days here are long which is just as well, as there is sweet singletrack on the North, West and South sides of the valley which has to be seen to be believed including Whistler’s epic trail, Comfortably Numb. I ticked off less than half of what was on offer and am already planning a future trip to ride the rest.

Cycling on a roll in Whistler

Cycling has been heralded as ‘the new golf’ in New Zealand, and there seems to be a similar trend in Whistler. Golf has long been the resort’s major summer leisure earner, with no less than four championship golf courses, but in 2006 an economic impact survey unearthed some surprising statistics. The Whistler Bike Park bumped golf off its perch by creating almost NZ$22 million in visitor spending, and then on top of that the trail systems of the North Shore, Squamish and Whistler generated around NZ$14 million in a single summer. These headlines fueled the fire for trail advocates, and now instead of being impeded by red tape, they are being given the green light by Whistler’s Municipality.

Along with talented trail builders, Whistler is lucky to have passionate riders at the helm of decision making. These key people have a real insight into the bike culture and the psyche of the people who live and ride here. Such a company is Gravity Logic Inc. who supply trail design and construction services to the Whistler Bike Park. They are constantly upgrading and expanding the park. When it opened in 1999, 50 riders was considered a big day for the park. Ten years later 2,500 riders on a big day and 100,000 paid visits per year spells phenomenal progression. New Zealanders Adam King and Chris Martin are part of the 30-strong trail crew who develop and maintain the Park. They were instrumental in creating the new intermediate blue level trail, Ninja Cougar. I found its smooth berms and bridges were perfect on my five inch travel Giant Trance-X, and asked Adam why there weren’t more people on smaller travel bikes riding in the Park. “People can get the wrong impression by looking up at the Boneyard where all the big wooden jumps are,” he said. “They think the whole park is extreme jumps and drops like that, but 40% of the trails here are beginner or intermediate”. The crew plan to build more blue level tracks, but at a cost of NZ$40,000 per kilometer of trail, it is not an instant or cheap process.

Kokanee Crankworx

Kokanee Crankworx is a freeride festival which showcases Whistler’s biking scene. This was the event’s fifth year in Whistler and my first year to be drawn into the mayhem. The Canadian expression “Give ‘er” summed up the attitude here. For nine days everyone was giving it their all. Amateurs and pros were battling for prizes and over $130,000 CAD in cash, thousands of bikers and dedicated partygoers were getting their fix, and the expo and tech areas were humming with over 70 industry players showing off their latest and greatest gear. I don’t know if it was the gravity-induced adrenaline or the huge doses of free Monster Energy but everyone seemed to be on maximum revs, especially at the Monster Energy Slopestyle event which attracted 20,000 spectators to the mountain and an estimated 825,000 more who watched the live webcast from around the globe.

Ten events included 3 downhill races, 3 slopestyle/trick contests, 2 dual slaloms, a trials competition and a team’s cross country race. The Giant Slalom was my favourite event and best result. Giant Canada hooked me up a Reign X0 for the race, which was the perfect weapon to bag second place on the podium.

I didn’t want to waste a moment’s fun, but after three solid weeks of riding every day, and then the madness of Crankworx I finally surrendered to a rest day. It was torturous though -there was still so much left to ride! I couldn’t imagine another spot on the planet that could serve up this range of biking delicacies. Slowing down gave me time to absorb the wild beauty, green spaces and crystal lakes which define Whistler. I spotted some of the locals - black bears, blue jays, squirrels, and woodpeckers. Although I never managed to see any of the Whistling Marmots after which Whistler was named, I figure that’s just one more reason for a return trip to biking utopia.

On top of Whistler Peak - Photo by Stephen Wilde