Well, after leaving the house at 5 am, a 3 hour flight, and 10 hours of driving from Seattle (due to the rock slide detour), we arrived in Whistler at 11 pm last night. In honor of those out there who have been to Whistler or those of you who are looking for inspiration or a reason to come up, I am going to post up one photo from each day...a daily dose (that way I don't have to do a whole RR until the end ) Enjoy... Day #1, dusk, driving from Lilooet to Pemberton Day #2, resting after hitting A River Runs Through It (a black diamond on the opposite side of the valley)
Thanks Steph! I look forward to more shots! You know I prefer XC. Are there good XC trails there? Worth that kind of trip?
There is a fair bit of xc in Whistler but its not what you would call xc in California. In coastal BC "xc" means "not ALL downhill" or that you can ride the trail in both directions. Trails are going to be technical, rocky, rooty, and will probably have some drops and ladder bridges. A River Runs Thru It is a great example of what is considered more an xc trail in Whis that wouldn't be anywhere else: http://www.imba.com/news/videos/whistler_bc_a_river.html Now all that being said there are some great trails in the bike park and in Whistler valley. But you would want decent technical skills for the valley trails. The bike park is designed purely for fun and has blue/green runs that are less technical and well maintained but a ton of fun. You just have to let go of the notion of earning your turns. Overall there's probably enough xc to make Whistler worthwhile. But if you want the motherlode of xc trails look north and east a bit, and not that far. The Chilcotins are a 2-3 hr drive NE: http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=40847 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ja8BgS904ZA&feature=related This is probably more what you expect xc to be. And there's a ton of that across the Interior of BC to Alberta and down to the border. You could easily fill 2-3 weeks by hitting up a few different areas. Of course you'd hit up Whistler as part of that trip. But all this other stuff is definitely worth looking into. I lived in BC for 10 yrs so I can give you some direction if you're interested.
Oh, we will get you some...don't worry ARRTI is definitely a trail I'd love to have my Yeti for...but, it was do-able on the Socom (just made more painful by the fact that it's only a single ring with a road cassette on the back). I had attempted ARRTI when I was here 3 years ago and it was so wet and slimy that we turned back after a short way. I put some flats on my bike yesterday and there I was, riding about 75% of the ladder stunts. (and anyone that knows me knows I don't like ladders...until now :lol For trail riding, Comfortably Numb is supposed to be good...Liz, if you like D'ville (and I've seen you ride...you ARE a great technical rider) I know you'd like the trails up here.
Thanks. That IMBA vid is great as are the Chicoltins! That's MY kind of riding for sure. Long endless singletrack. Pitter pat goes my heart!!
Thanks so much for the compliment. I'd like to go there some day for sure! Ladders I don't know about but what the hey, might as well give it a try if people are on either side to catch me! Look forward to your photo's Steph!!
An epic day of riding the bike park...weather was gorgeous! Bonus today was running into Carla and Eric up there... Day #3...Dan on the beginning of Dirt Merchant
