MOUNTAIN BIKE PARK
Bike Park Trail Stats
| Lift Serviced Vertical: | 1,500 m / 5,000 ft (guided bike tours from the Peak) Vertical 1,175 m / 3,855 ft (unguided from top of the Whistler Village Gondola) |
| Top Elevation | 1,850m/6069ft (Unguided) |
| Terrain Type (beg/int/adv) | 17%/23%/60% |
| Lift Access and Capacity | Whistler Village Gondola - 450 riders/hr Fitzsimmons Express Chair - 1,300 riders/hr Garbanzo Chair - 1,300 riders/hr |
| Skill centers | 3 (beg/int/adv) |
| Giant Slalom | 60m/200ftvertical |
| World Cup Caliber DH Course | 335m / 1,100 ft vertical |
| Jump Park | 4 graduated table tops |
| Drop Off Park | 4 graduated drop-offs |
| Boneyard Slopestyle Course
|
Urban assault features, designed by Paddy Kaye |
Trail Breakdown
Total – 57 trails
Green/Beginner – 5 trails
Blue/Intermediate – 19 trails
Black/ Advanced – 16 trails
Double Black/Expert – 17 trails
Bike Park Trail Maps
Whistler Mountain Bike Park Video Gallery
Bike Park Terrain Zones
Skills Centers
The Whistler Mountain Bike Park features three skills centers:
- Green Skills Center – features are built close to the ground for riders just learning to navigate obstacles and ride planks.
- Blue Skills Centre – features are raised and narrower and there is tightening of all constructed elements.
- Double Black Skills Center – For expert riders only. This area includes a dazzling display of North Shore-style obstacles.
Slalom Course
The new single rider course was located along the side of the Boneyard and in 2011 featured a flowing, yet technical ride that tested the high-speed skills of each rider. Tight rhythm sections at the top, high-speed berms and a full complement of jumps keep things interesting.
Crystal Viper Pump Track
The Crystal Viper Pump Tracks is an endless loop of steeply banked corners, doubles, gaps and rollers. Riders drop into this compact, and spectator-friendly, arena and accelerate by pumping aggressively with their legs and arms rather than pedaling. In competition, two riders work the course in a head-to-head race to complete a set number of laps.
Joyride Slopestyle Course
The Joyride Slopestyle Course was the crown jewel of the Whistler Mountain Bike Park in the summer of 2011. Red Bull and Kokanee Crankworx professional riders Darren Berrecloth, Brandon Semenuk, Mike Montgomery, Thomas Vanderham, and Cam Zink joined forces with world-class course builder Paddy Kaye of Joyride Bike Parks to create a series of features that would allow for maximum expression and flow from start to finish. The result is a course entirely inspired and designed by professional mountain bike athletes that incorporates much of the natural terrain.
Airdome
This 8,400 square foot facility is jammed with a 3ft, 4ft and 5ft jump; a 12ft drop and a slopestyle size 8ft kicker into the foam to practice aerial manoeuvres; 12ft and 4ft box jumps; and quarter pipes from 8ft to 26ft in range.
Athlete Team List
Allow us to introduce our Whistler Mountain Bike Park sponsored athlete team. These athletes have the skills and dedication to make us look good so we returned the favour by hooking them up with full rides from all of our sponsors. Look for them in our ads and featured videos as well as Phat Wednesday races and Crankworx. They will be the ones riding the Park almost daily and with huge smiles on their faces when you see them in the lift line.
Whistler Mountain Bike Park Race Team
These local athletes are the riders seen day in and day out at the Whistler Mountain Bike Park. They are also often seen on the podium of the Bike Park’s Phat and Phast Wednesday events as they work their way to the pro level.
- Tristan Merrick
- Peter Matthews
- Lula Darquier
- James McSkimming
- Trevor Berg
Introduction
The Whistler Mountain Bike Park is considered the No. 1 lift accessed downhill bike park in the world, and for good reason. The Whistler Mountain Bike Park boasts more terrain than any other bike park in North America with 4,900 vertical feet of lift-serviced descending trails, ranging in difficulty from green runs for beginners, to blue and black diamond runs for intermediate and advanced riders. Biking terrain ranges from gentle banked cruisers through the Coastal forest to tight and twisty single track - perfect for intermediate and all-mountain riders. The Whistler Mountain Bike Park is perhaps most well-known though for it’s machine-built trails; high speed thrill rides infused with jumps, banked corners and wooden features designed for the ultimate in flow. The Whistler Mountain Bike Park is open May to October.
Whistler Mountain Bike Park is the most vertical compared to any other bike park in North America
With the introduction of this summer's newest mountain bike trail, the Whistler Mountain Bike Park has the most vertical of any bike park in North America. Top of the World is befitting of its name as this new trail increases the Bike Park's vertical by 1,091 feet to a total of 4,946 feet. Top of the World is the Whistler Bike Park's first ever lift-accessed alpine mountain bike trail. It is accessible from the Peak Chair, descends from the summit of Whistler Mountain and eventually leads riders into the Garbanzo Zone of the Whistler Mountain Bike Park
New Kids-Specific Downhill Mountain Bike Rental Fleet
For the first time ever, Whistler Blackcomb will be adding downhill mountain bikes designed specifically for kids to their rental fleet. GIANT Bicylces, one of the industry’s leading mountain bike manufacturers, has developed the Yukon, a brand new kids’ mountain bike specially designed for the Whistler Mountain Bike Park and the little rippers that like to play there. The 24-inch dual suspension bike allows for a smooth ride and enables kids to have a seamless first experience in the bike park. Also new this summer, Norco’s kid-specific mountain bike, the Ninja, will also be available to rent. Norco’s Ninjas are outfitted with a rugged aluminum frame and dual fork suspension.
Velvet Trails Make Garbanzo Zone More Accessible To Intermediates
Every summer Whistler Blackcomb invests over $200,000 in trail building in the Whistler Mountain Bike Park. In the summer of 2011 the trail crew, led by Whistler Mountain Bike Park Manager Brian Finestone, built eight new trails representing all ability categories.
One of the stand-out terrain additions to the bike park’s already impressive roster of trails is Black Velvet, the continuation of last year’s new trail, Blue Velvet.
“Blue Velvet and Black Velvet are machine-built flow trails that are in the intermediate ability level,” says Finestone. “It is a really innovative addition to the Garbanzo Zone, an area characterized by technical singletrack and mostly expert terrain.“
Blue Velvet flows from the top of the Garbanzo Express and travels about three quarters of the way down the Garbanzo Zone before merging into Black Velvet. By next year the hope is to be able to lead Black Velvet all the way to Crank It Up, creating a flowing, intermediate biking experience from the very top of the bike park to the very bottom.
Next Level At Whistler Mountain Bike Park
Whistler Mountain Bike Park Manager Brian Finestone noticed Benny Phillips because the Australian rider was basically living in the Airdome, coming in day after day to dial in huge tricks with determination and skill. This got the wheels turning in Finestone’s head and the next thing Benny knew, he was invited to compete in the Teva Best Trick Showdown at Kokanee Crankworx 2011. Amazingly, the unknown, sponsor-less rider took the Session One win and $4,000 with a 360 Double Downside Whip. Benny Phillips shared the Teva Best Trick Showdown podium with Cam Zink, winner of Session Two and one of the best slope riders in the world.
The Airdome is one of the biggest game changers in the area of slopestyle progression. This 8,400 square foot facility is jammed with a 3ft, 4ft and 5ft jump; a 12ft drop and a slopestyle size 8ft kicker into the foam pit to practice aerial manoeuvres; 12ft and 4ft box jumps; and quarter pipes from 8ft to 26ft in range.
Add to this mix one of only two Diamond level slopestyle courses in the world, created for the Red Bull Joyride event at Kokanee Crankworx, and it is easy to see why Whistler local Brandon Semenuk was crowned Freeride Mountain Bike World Tour Champion 2011. From local kids exposed to world class terrain and top notch coaching from day one, to the Cinderella stories like Benny, the level of mountain biking, especially in the area of slopestyle, is sure to ratchet up exponentially year after year because of the Whistler Mountain Bike Park.
