Mountain Biking - Anyone make it out to Whistler?

Im curious to see how the trails were. Everyone over at nsmb.com said it was pretty sweet. Anyone from here go?

I've heard that the DJ park is a$$ mazing, but that there were no new additions to the trails, that it was same as last year, but hey why change perfection :)

Opening day they never really open everything. By real opening day there might be one of two new things, garbonzo opens in june then the real stuff starts opening. The bottom half of the mountain will really be open by crankworx. Whistler always happens in stages. Very little is new on opening day.

The dj park pisses me off, only one table top line, that blows. I hate learning on kicker style gaps. Its a sick park butlimited.

Hey Mael, do you ever drive down to the north shore? How much different is North Shore from Whistler? It seems, from what I've found, that Whistler is much more commericalized while North Shore seems to be like a park, just like everywhere else. Is one better or worse than the other?

You are looking at several differences..

Shore is traditional. You pedal up you come down. Multiple runs don't happen. The terrain is also a temperate rainforest, and the setup is very slow and technical (slow meaning it isn't flowy in the traditional sense) One or 2 runs top is about it for the best of riders. Shore is also way more 'extreme'. Steeper, wetter, rootier and just more exposed (not to mention higher more difficult skinnies)

Whistler is a dh flow show. Technical, but everything is made to flow, everything has lines to play with to go faster. Garbonzo kind of changes as it is a different, higher, longer/steeper terrain. You come to whistler to rip and flow. You go to the shore to see what freeriding is in bc. (you go to Nelson and Kamloops too but those are hidden gems)

Shore isn't my style (especially after todays ride), you need to be on to ride skinnies. There are no mistakes, because if you make them your flow is gone and chances for a smooth ride suck (not to mention injuries go up)...in whistler, if you aren't feeling it, you turn it down a notch, hit a blue, get your flow back and go back up.

one isn't better than the other, just very different experiences

The shore looks so much fun. It's so huge and technical, I love technicality. I rode the downhill section on thursday at a local park and you're right, you need some grip strength or it's over. I did it probably 5 times and my grip was giving out and I'm a big strong guy. It's nuts with the speed and picking your line quick, I'm not good at it. I'd rather go slow and have a great technical trail.

It takes time. But seriously, the shore goes beyond what most people think of dh. Its a whole new breed of riding. I would ride whistler garbonzo first to get a feel for long and steep before hitting the shore. It would still be a shock :) (not saying don't hit it, but the shore is up there with some of the toughest dh runs in the world for being technical) Its an old saying but usually holds up, bad riders on the shore are good riders everywhere, great riders on the shore are the best. (not including full breed dhillers which have a TOTALLY different riding style)

Yeah, when I go off about grip, I am not lying, unless you experience 15 runs on a dh trail where you can no longer pick up a beer let alone USE your brake, a person really can't know what brake fade or hand fatigue is. I powerlifted for a number of years and have never felt that much pain in my forearms. haha