Whistler Mountain and Blackcomb Mountain face each other. Their physical connection at the base would suggest similarities between them. But, this is a story of how two mountains can create two completely different skiing or snowboarding experiences. A view from the valley foreshadows the mountain's stories.
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For guests with jibs and jumps in their blood, Whistler Blackcomb’s 99 acres of terrain parks, sprinkled with over 100 rails, countless tabletops and wall rides-a plenty, is likely calling their name. With two mountains worth of terrain to choose from, the options aren’t exactly limited.
Outside of spending nearly 24,000 hours maintaining the parks for visitors of Whistler Blackcomb, the Terrain Park Rangers are also at the forefront of more than a few monster competitions and events, ranging from the monthly The King of the Rail jib sessions to the Showcase Showdown with its intense snowboard slopestyle at the base of Whistler Mountain. The icing on the cake, however, was when the team built a step-over-style jump with a 75 foot gap between the Roundhouse Lodge on Whistler Mountain with the PEAK 2 PEAK Gondola in the background, capturing epic footage and photos for film partners Sandbox and Voleurz. For the Terrain Park Rangers, it’s all in a day’s work.
The Big Easy Terrain Garden on Blackcomb Mountain features smaller rails, rollers and mini-hits destined for those who want to get some air, but stick close to the ground in the process
The Nintendo Terrain Park on Blackcomb hosts beginner, intermediate and advanced terrain and ups the ante a bit, acting as a stepping stone to its big, and we mean big brother, The Highest Level Park.
The Snow Cross Track is also located off the Nintendo Terrain Park and is a favourite spot for those with the need for speed. The track pushes high-speed free-riding skills to the limits, but rookies can also hit the course at their own pace if they’d like to go for a fun test run.
The Highest Level Park on Blackcomb boasts the kinds of spines, rails and jibs that make jaws drop and knees quiver. But for those with the need-for-speed, they can consider themselves covered.
The Habitat Terrain Parks on Whistler Mountain include a beginner to intermediate section (S-M) and an intermediate to advanced section (M-L). Both parks contain features inspired by nature’s finest, including tree jibs, bonks and more.
Brian Finestone is the man with the vision when it comes to Terrain Parks at Whistler Blackcomb. Every rail, every jump and every jib has his stamp of approval on it. He leads the Parks Crew on their quest for grooming perfection all winter long and his ideas are crucial to the progression of the sport at WB. Since he’s such a big deal around here, we thought we’d ask him a couple of questions:
I planned to take a year off from University to shred and shoot photos to get it “out of my system”, it is now 20 years later and I’m still not quite sure if it is out so I better stick around to make sure.
Skiing since Glen Plake had his first Mohawk and snowboarding before it was allowed on ski hills.
I inherited the Parks program from Stu Osborne who selfishly held onto it for 14 years before handing it over (kidding) I rode the original hand shovelled ditch halfpipe on Blackcomb in the early 90’s and jumped on the job when it came up.
I am a fan of the pipe. I never get tired of riding pipe and there is always something to learn no matter how old and stiff I get.
I would love to take parks out of the Parks and see regular ski runs groomed with more rollers, transitions and fun features so they flow more. I also want to create the best training facility for athletes so the progression of slopestyle, pipe and cross grow organically from here and we see more of the world’s best athletes come out of Whistler Parks.
All of this, of course, wouldn’t be possible without the help of the Whistler Blackcomb Terrain Park Rangers. With over 30 “top three” Park and Pipe Awards since 1996, they’ve built a reputation for themselves as the world’s finest. When the team sets out to build and fine-tune every nook and cranny the parks have to offer, perfection is always in the air, and visitors of Whistler have to agree. Transworld Snowboarding readers ranked Whistler Blackcomb’s terrain parks as number one in the Top 10 Best Parks category, for 2008.
For the latest photos and video from Whistler Blackcomb’s terrain parks visit www.whistlerblackcomb.com/parks
