Discussion
Morning,
I'm after some advice/ideas regarding Whistler. I'm very keen to go, realistically it'll be 2016. I've seen lots of vids online and it looks like lots of huge jumps and drops, which I've not got the bottle for.
Is there some more tame riding? To put my riding in context, I ride a 140mm full sus, been to Morzine & Les Gets, (only green, blue & red runs) uplift day at Antur Stiniog, (just blue & red) plus all the usual trail centres, Cwmcarn, Afan, Glentress, Dalbeattie, Kirroughtree, Coed Yr Brenin etc.
Would Whistler be a waste of money for me?
Thanks for any answers.
Aaron
I'm after some advice/ideas regarding Whistler. I'm very keen to go, realistically it'll be 2016. I've seen lots of vids online and it looks like lots of huge jumps and drops, which I've not got the bottle for.
Is there some more tame riding? To put my riding in context, I ride a 140mm full sus, been to Morzine & Les Gets, (only green, blue & red runs) uplift day at Antur Stiniog, (just blue & red) plus all the usual trail centres, Cwmcarn, Afan, Glentress, Dalbeattie, Kirroughtree, Coed Yr Brenin etc.
Would Whistler be a waste of money for me?
Thanks for any answers.
Aaron
I went back in about 2006 and it was amazing. Thinking about it now I can't believe it was so long ago and I would love to go back.
When I was there it was set up from green runs (wide and flat that wind down the mountain) through blue, red, black and double black (striaght down technical or massive (and I mean massive, videos can't put it in context, poo your pants jumps).
Most of the time we stuck to a blue for warming up at the start of the day or after lunch then do the reds on the lower mountain (A-line, Dirt Merchant etc). Nearly all the jumps were tabletops so it didn't matter if you happened to come up short but it's unlikely that you ever did because of how the place is designed. Once we decided to get the lift to the top of the mountain to ride 'Freight Train'. I'm man enough to admit that after lauching off the first few jumps I was almost shaking with fear haha. I completely lost my bottle and stuck to the lower mountain from then on.
When we went we spent the first day walking around the town bike shops deciding where to hire from for the best deal and bought our passes etc so we were ready to start early on the next day. Definitely get insurance!!! It was only like $100 and we managed to do over 4x that between 2 people.
My bro destroyed a bashguard and chainset by coming down hard on a rock after a jump and I washed out on a corner which ripped the hose out of the rear caliper. There were also a couple of punctures and general maintence required. Each time we took the bike back to the shop and they handed us a new one so we could keep riding.
Don't underestimate how tiring riding for an entire day can be even though you do have an uplift. I think we rode for 3/4 days out of 7 and we were destroyed.
I would love to go back.
ETA: If you're comfortable in the Glentress freeride area then you be fine in Whistler. The jumps on a blue run were comparable to Glentress freeride area only the trail is much longer. The reds runs had bigger jumps but they flow better so not much more difficult.
When I was there it was set up from green runs (wide and flat that wind down the mountain) through blue, red, black and double black (striaght down technical or massive (and I mean massive, videos can't put it in context, poo your pants jumps).
Most of the time we stuck to a blue for warming up at the start of the day or after lunch then do the reds on the lower mountain (A-line, Dirt Merchant etc). Nearly all the jumps were tabletops so it didn't matter if you happened to come up short but it's unlikely that you ever did because of how the place is designed. Once we decided to get the lift to the top of the mountain to ride 'Freight Train'. I'm man enough to admit that after lauching off the first few jumps I was almost shaking with fear haha. I completely lost my bottle and stuck to the lower mountain from then on.
When we went we spent the first day walking around the town bike shops deciding where to hire from for the best deal and bought our passes etc so we were ready to start early on the next day. Definitely get insurance!!! It was only like $100 and we managed to do over 4x that between 2 people.
My bro destroyed a bashguard and chainset by coming down hard on a rock after a jump and I washed out on a corner which ripped the hose out of the rear caliper. There were also a couple of punctures and general maintence required. Each time we took the bike back to the shop and they handed us a new one so we could keep riding.
Don't underestimate how tiring riding for an entire day can be even though you do have an uplift. I think we rode for 3/4 days out of 7 and we were destroyed.
I would love to go back.
ETA: If you're comfortable in the Glentress freeride area then you be fine in Whistler. The jumps on a blue run were comparable to Glentress freeride area only the trail is much longer. The reds runs had bigger jumps but they flow better so not much more difficult.
Edited by Jayyylo on Thursday 9th October 10:47
Ok cool, thanks for the advice guys. Sounds like it's a possible goer. Certainly happy to ride table tops, I just start to get worried when there's a gap in the middle of the jump, or drops over about 2-3 foot.
Fancy taking my own bike as I'm very comfortable on it, but the lure of hiring a big DH rig is very tempting.
Fancy taking my own bike as I'm very comfortable on it, but the lure of hiring a big DH rig is very tempting.
Don't take your own bike. Hire something big and squishy which will take the abuse. And if it doesn't stand up to it or you run out of talent then you hand it back and say sorry.
Anology time: If I was going on a track day I wouldn't take my 6 series because it's not suited to the driving and I'd cry if I crashed. Instead I'd hire a Caterham so there is limited risk and I'd get much more enjoyment because it's designed for the track driving.
Don't forget the risk of airport handlers losing your bike too. A friend of mine bought a new Santa Cruz in California while on holiday but it never arrived with his plane and that was the last he heard of it.
Anology time: If I was going on a track day I wouldn't take my 6 series because it's not suited to the driving and I'd cry if I crashed. Instead I'd hire a Caterham so there is limited risk and I'd get much more enjoyment because it's designed for the track driving.
Don't forget the risk of airport handlers losing your bike too. A friend of mine bought a new Santa Cruz in California while on holiday but it never arrived with his plane and that was the last he heard of it.
It is as good, or better than the videos make it look!
Bike Park Riding - the 'Flow' Green and Blue Trails are easier than you might think, unlike the Alps the park is very close to 100% hard-park heavily man made surface which is grippy in any weather, you should hear the fuss they make about puddles that simply don't register to Brits - they're also MASSIVELY wide, unlike single track riding, if you get it wrong there's miles of trail either side to fix things and everything has been built with great care to allow it to flow at pretty much any speed and there's a chicken run for every obstacle on the Blues - it really makes for some heroic riding, which is probably why there were 3 guys in our chalet with broken bones, including a broken back.
There's Tehcnical trails which I found harder, but some of my friends found easier and of course the Black and Double Black Trails, I personally found A-Line to be great fun and not very intimidating after a couple of days of getting up to speed, again it's massively wide and there's nothing you have to 'make' I didn't fancy any of the double blacks - but I'm not the best rider in the world, some of my mates rode some of it, but it's all a bit serious for me.
There's a massive amount of riding outside of the park too - no lifts of course, more trail centre type stuff, I took my Shocker with me so I stuck to the park and still regret it.
Downsides?
It's much smaller than you might think, whilst it feels like the centre of the MTB world (and it is) in summer and you might spot some 'famous' riders about, Whistler is a pretty small town, and the Bike Park is all on one side of a mountain, if you enjoyed Morzine / Lets Gets taking lift after lift from Valley to Valley riding different things you might find it a shock - there's only two lifts really and they sit one above another - 90% of the park is fed by the lower one and the trails aren't massively long, Karate Monkey, Devil Club, Angry Pirate etc - they're sections, not trails - in a single descent you do three of them.
It's bloody expensive, lift-pass, lunch in GLC, dinner and 2 pints in Longhorn - that'll be £150, need a tyre? That'll be £80 - we went 2 years ago, flights, a week with Bear Back Biking (they're very good) and 2 night in Van on the way home and insurance came to about £2000 and I spent another £1000 there without living it up much - you could go to the Alps for almost a tenth of that and really, whilst I think Whilster is the better holiday, it's certainly not 10 times as good, it 'bit' better.
Bike Park Riding - the 'Flow' Green and Blue Trails are easier than you might think, unlike the Alps the park is very close to 100% hard-park heavily man made surface which is grippy in any weather, you should hear the fuss they make about puddles that simply don't register to Brits - they're also MASSIVELY wide, unlike single track riding, if you get it wrong there's miles of trail either side to fix things and everything has been built with great care to allow it to flow at pretty much any speed and there's a chicken run for every obstacle on the Blues - it really makes for some heroic riding, which is probably why there were 3 guys in our chalet with broken bones, including a broken back.
There's Tehcnical trails which I found harder, but some of my friends found easier and of course the Black and Double Black Trails, I personally found A-Line to be great fun and not very intimidating after a couple of days of getting up to speed, again it's massively wide and there's nothing you have to 'make' I didn't fancy any of the double blacks - but I'm not the best rider in the world, some of my mates rode some of it, but it's all a bit serious for me.
There's a massive amount of riding outside of the park too - no lifts of course, more trail centre type stuff, I took my Shocker with me so I stuck to the park and still regret it.
Downsides?
It's much smaller than you might think, whilst it feels like the centre of the MTB world (and it is) in summer and you might spot some 'famous' riders about, Whistler is a pretty small town, and the Bike Park is all on one side of a mountain, if you enjoyed Morzine / Lets Gets taking lift after lift from Valley to Valley riding different things you might find it a shock - there's only two lifts really and they sit one above another - 90% of the park is fed by the lower one and the trails aren't massively long, Karate Monkey, Devil Club, Angry Pirate etc - they're sections, not trails - in a single descent you do three of them.
It's bloody expensive, lift-pass, lunch in GLC, dinner and 2 pints in Longhorn - that'll be £150, need a tyre? That'll be £80 - we went 2 years ago, flights, a week with Bear Back Biking (they're very good) and 2 night in Van on the way home and insurance came to about £2000 and I spent another £1000 there without living it up much - you could go to the Alps for almost a tenth of that and really, whilst I think Whilster is the better holiday, it's certainly not 10 times as good, it 'bit' better.
P-Jay said:
It is as good, or better than the videos make it look!
Bike Park Riding - the 'Flow' Green and Blue Trails are easier than you might think, unlike the Alps the park is very close to 100% hard-park heavily man made surface which is grippy in any weather, you should hear the fuss they make about puddles that simply don't register to Brits - they're also MASSIVELY wide, unlike single track riding, if you get it wrong there's miles of trail either side to fix things and everything has been built with great care to allow it to flow at pretty much any speed and there's a chicken run for every obstacle on the Blues - it really makes for some heroic riding, which is probably why there were 3 guys in our chalet with broken bones, including a broken back.
There's Tehcnical trails which I found harder, but some of my friends found easier and of course the Black and Double Black Trails, I personally found A-Line to be great fun and not very intimidating after a couple of days of getting up to speed, again it's massively wide and there's nothing you have to 'make' I didn't fancy any of the double blacks - but I'm not the best rider in the world, some of my mates rode some of it, but it's all a bit serious for me.
There's a massive amount of riding outside of the park too - no lifts of course, more trail centre type stuff, I took my Shocker with me so I stuck to the park and still regret it.
Downsides?
It's much smaller than you might think, whilst it feels like the centre of the MTB world (and it is) in summer and you might spot some 'famous' riders about, Whistler is a pretty small town, and the Bike Park is all on one side of a mountain, if you enjoyed Morzine / Lets Gets taking lift after lift from Valley to Valley riding different things you might find it a shock - there's only two lifts really and they sit one above another - 90% of the park is fed by the lower one and the trails aren't massively long, Karate Monkey, Devil Club, Angry Pirate etc - they're sections, not trails - in a single descent you do three of them.
It's bloody expensive, lift-pass, lunch in GLC, dinner and 2 pints in Longhorn - that'll be £150, need a tyre? That'll be £80 - we went 2 years ago, flights, a week with Bear Back Biking (they're very good) and 2 night in Van on the way home and insurance came to about £2000 and I spent another £1000 there without living it up much - you could go to the Alps for almost a tenth of that and really, whilst I think Whilster is the better holiday, it's certainly not 10 times as good, it 'bit' better.
A bit further back with me (2003) but a similar experience. I hired a bike for a day during a 10 day trip to Vancouver and rode most of the stuff at the bike park in a few short hours. Great fun but there's not a holidays worth there. A bunch of mates went in 2005 for 10 days guiding and had a great time with Bush Pilot Biking. Bike Park Riding - the 'Flow' Green and Blue Trails are easier than you might think, unlike the Alps the park is very close to 100% hard-park heavily man made surface which is grippy in any weather, you should hear the fuss they make about puddles that simply don't register to Brits - they're also MASSIVELY wide, unlike single track riding, if you get it wrong there's miles of trail either side to fix things and everything has been built with great care to allow it to flow at pretty much any speed and there's a chicken run for every obstacle on the Blues - it really makes for some heroic riding, which is probably why there were 3 guys in our chalet with broken bones, including a broken back.
There's Tehcnical trails which I found harder, but some of my friends found easier and of course the Black and Double Black Trails, I personally found A-Line to be great fun and not very intimidating after a couple of days of getting up to speed, again it's massively wide and there's nothing you have to 'make' I didn't fancy any of the double blacks - but I'm not the best rider in the world, some of my mates rode some of it, but it's all a bit serious for me.
There's a massive amount of riding outside of the park too - no lifts of course, more trail centre type stuff, I took my Shocker with me so I stuck to the park and still regret it.
Downsides?
It's much smaller than you might think, whilst it feels like the centre of the MTB world (and it is) in summer and you might spot some 'famous' riders about, Whistler is a pretty small town, and the Bike Park is all on one side of a mountain, if you enjoyed Morzine / Lets Gets taking lift after lift from Valley to Valley riding different things you might find it a shock - there's only two lifts really and they sit one above another - 90% of the park is fed by the lower one and the trails aren't massively long, Karate Monkey, Devil Club, Angry Pirate etc - they're sections, not trails - in a single descent you do three of them.
It's bloody expensive, lift-pass, lunch in GLC, dinner and 2 pints in Longhorn - that'll be £150, need a tyre? That'll be £80 - we went 2 years ago, flights, a week with Bear Back Biking (they're very good) and 2 night in Van on the way home and insurance came to about £2000 and I spent another £1000 there without living it up much - you could go to the Alps for almost a tenth of that and really, whilst I think Whilster is the better holiday, it's certainly not 10 times as good, it 'bit' better.
I enjoyed riding my own bike there. It's hard to explain why though! I don't think it would have felt as good riding someone else's bike.
Although I did blow my forks up! The bike shops are great though, if expensive. They leant me some more forks so I could ride for the day while they fixed mine.
I remember some of the tracks on the top half of the mountain being quite tight and twisty.
Don't stop if you see a bear!
Although I did blow my forks up! The bike shops are great though, if expensive. They leant me some more forks so I could ride for the day while they fixed mine.
I remember some of the tracks on the top half of the mountain being quite tight and twisty.
Don't stop if you see a bear!
We just came back from 2 weeks there this summer whilst Crankworx was on, which was a cool experience. The downside was it was crazy busy, with huge queues for the lifts and the trails being smashed to bits. The trails crews don't have a hope of keeping up in the high season so you're going to get hammered on a trail bike out there if you just ride park.
As others have said though, there is plenty of variation of trails, and standards to ride on. The description of them is pretty accurate, and you would need to have a go on them just to get an idea of what you like.
They build a lot of tables there, and there is normally a bigger line into the same jump if you fancy it, their jumps in generally are pretty 'lippy' so encourage you to boost them. That said if you're going to be an A-Line nodder, it's not going to be much fun flat landing every jump in the middle and constantly watching out for people smashing fast laps in (which they will be on a black trail). Personally I rode A-Line twice in 2 weeks. I don't mind jumping, and will jump stuff to a reasonable distance, so most of A-Line is alright, the size of the jumps near the bottom are pretty monsterous though. Steep lips, steep landers & and 35-40ft between them. You need to be hauling to clear them properly.
However, Whistler isn't about the park IMO. If you go there and only ride the park, you need shooting. The trail network in the valley is massive. You can ride something different every day for 2 weeks and that's just the offical stuff. The riding is pretty tech too, pretty much what you see everywhere in the magazines. Huge rock rollers, giant wood structures in the middle of nowhere & just endless epic riding. There isn't a massive amount of 'easy' stuff, there is a lot of tech, and a lot of double black diamond 'Whistler XC' which isn't really comparable to anything in the UK.
A good comparison for your average trail would be having a look at some videos of the Enduro World Series out there, I raced that & we raced on a lot of similar stuff to the trails in the rest of the valley.
Prices wise, it's a good time to go, as the dollar isn't so strong now, so bike stuff is comparable to online in the UK here, food wasn't expensive, although beer was quite pricey still. Lift passes are cheaper than the Alps IME.
Hire bikes are expensive, but if you're not bothered about the cost it makes life easier than humping bikes half way round the world.
Whistler itself is a bit of an odd place, it's a bit like Disneyland for riders, all a bit tacky and plastic, but we didn't go for the culture, we went for the riding. It has been said it does cost significantly more than an Alpine riding holiday, the riding experience is pretty different though, sadly i'm probably on the wrong side of 30 for it really, but you really do get all sorts out there.
We are going back next year, for an extended period this time.
As others have said though, there is plenty of variation of trails, and standards to ride on. The description of them is pretty accurate, and you would need to have a go on them just to get an idea of what you like.
They build a lot of tables there, and there is normally a bigger line into the same jump if you fancy it, their jumps in generally are pretty 'lippy' so encourage you to boost them. That said if you're going to be an A-Line nodder, it's not going to be much fun flat landing every jump in the middle and constantly watching out for people smashing fast laps in (which they will be on a black trail). Personally I rode A-Line twice in 2 weeks. I don't mind jumping, and will jump stuff to a reasonable distance, so most of A-Line is alright, the size of the jumps near the bottom are pretty monsterous though. Steep lips, steep landers & and 35-40ft between them. You need to be hauling to clear them properly.
However, Whistler isn't about the park IMO. If you go there and only ride the park, you need shooting. The trail network in the valley is massive. You can ride something different every day for 2 weeks and that's just the offical stuff. The riding is pretty tech too, pretty much what you see everywhere in the magazines. Huge rock rollers, giant wood structures in the middle of nowhere & just endless epic riding. There isn't a massive amount of 'easy' stuff, there is a lot of tech, and a lot of double black diamond 'Whistler XC' which isn't really comparable to anything in the UK.
A good comparison for your average trail would be having a look at some videos of the Enduro World Series out there, I raced that & we raced on a lot of similar stuff to the trails in the rest of the valley.
Prices wise, it's a good time to go, as the dollar isn't so strong now, so bike stuff is comparable to online in the UK here, food wasn't expensive, although beer was quite pricey still. Lift passes are cheaper than the Alps IME.
Hire bikes are expensive, but if you're not bothered about the cost it makes life easier than humping bikes half way round the world.
Whistler itself is a bit of an odd place, it's a bit like Disneyland for riders, all a bit tacky and plastic, but we didn't go for the culture, we went for the riding. It has been said it does cost significantly more than an Alpine riding holiday, the riding experience is pretty different though, sadly i'm probably on the wrong side of 30 for it really, but you really do get all sorts out there.
We are going back next year, for an extended period this time.
Mr Gearchange said:
Do it. Do it. Do it.
I'd absolutely love to go there - but a wife and 3 kids that don't share my borderline obsession for MTB means I can't spend a week there rather than take the family away somewhere else.
I mean I could - but it would be pretty selfish.
If you can you should do it.
Thing is I've seen your pics from another thread of you at Tony Doyles place, and when I was there a lot of what was there I wouldn't ride, in fact none of what's in your pics I'd ride. So I do worry it'll be a waste of money for me.I'd absolutely love to go there - but a wife and 3 kids that don't share my borderline obsession for MTB means I can't spend a week there rather than take the family away somewhere else.
I mean I could - but it would be pretty selfish.
If you can you should do it.
Some of the stuff at Tony's place is quite large - my biggest fear wasn't the size of the drops it was riding out on the skinny bits of northshore 15 ft up in the air.
I don't think you'd have to be comfortable launching off big drops to have a blast at Whistler. As other folks have said the greens and blues will be super fast a flowy - and the lines like A-Line and Dirt Merchant looks pretty roll-able.
I can't go. You can. You should do it. It will be awesome
I don't think you'd have to be comfortable launching off big drops to have a blast at Whistler. As other folks have said the greens and blues will be super fast a flowy - and the lines like A-Line and Dirt Merchant looks pretty roll-able.
I can't go. You can. You should do it. It will be awesome
Another shout out for Tony Doyle - Did a day there in the spring and already lining up to go back next spring
He has an amazing set up that caters for all levels, lots of small drops/jumps/mini trail sections to build your confidence
I went with a group of friends (I hadnt been riding long at the time), we started off riding in circles and by the end of the day were doing 7ft gap jumps and dropping into verticle decents from a side approach - none of which I would have ever thought of attempting before
He has an amazing set up that caters for all levels, lots of small drops/jumps/mini trail sections to build your confidence
I went with a group of friends (I hadnt been riding long at the time), we started off riding in circles and by the end of the day were doing 7ft gap jumps and dropping into verticle decents from a side approach - none of which I would have ever thought of attempting before
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