Freeriding - Whistler Makes Freeriding Work

Mountain BIking Success Stories

IMBA Trail News
Volume 16, Number 2
Early Summer 2003

Whistler, British Columbia, is a great place to be a freerider. Actually, it's a great place to be a mountain biker period, but it's had perhaps more success than anywhere in North America at legally and sustainably incorporating the heavy-bike set. It helps that there are 180 miles of user-dispersing trail in the Whistler municipality alone. It also helps that in a town of only 10,000, the IMBA-affiliated Whistler Off-Road Cycling Association (WORCA) has an astounding 1,000 members. But the single biggest factor making Whistler a freeride Eden is undoubtedly Whistler Mountain's Mountain Bike Park - a gravity-fed bonanza for big-travel bikes with innumerable stunts, jumps and skills parks stretched over 120 miles of trails and 4,800 feet of descent.

As Keith Bennett, Whistler Director of Parks Operations and Director at Large of WORCA, says, "When (freeriders) have lift-serviced access to great trails it's tough to want to go anywhere else."

WORCA has also done a great job bringing freeriders into the fold. Bennett explains, "We saw that mountain biking was moving away from just racing and cross-country riding, so we created a position (WORCA Freeride Director) to help recruit freeriders and to create several skills parks in town." As an added incentive for joining WORCA, members also receive discounts on passes for the Whistler Bike Park.

It helps that Whistler is a recreation-focused tourist town. Many members of city government besides Bennett are avid riders and they openly declare their desire to become one of the "top bike towns in North America." It's this desire to become a premier mountain bike destination that led to what may become Whistler's greatest contribution to the sport - the Whistler Trail Standards.

The genesis of the standards came at the 2001 IMBA-sponsored British Columbia Mountain Bike Summit in nearby Squamish. Clubs, land managers and municipalities all wanted written standards to assist their advocacy efforts and offer liability protection. The resultant Whistler Trail Standards provide detailed technical and non-technical trailbuilding guidelines and provide a thorough trail difficulty rating system based on those found at ski areas. Once implemented, the standards should make it easier to sustainably accommodate freeriding and make Whistler an even greater place to ride.

More Success Stories:
Freeriding

Boulder City, Nevada: 36 miles of XC and downhill specific trails with shuttling. Designated an IMBA Epic ride in 2000. More info: www.imba.com/epics/bootleg_canyon.html

Palm Beach County, Florida: IMBA affiliate Club Mud helped create a freeride park, including stunts, with land manager approval. More info: www.clubmud.com