Whistler, the Premier MTB Destination
- by Bryan Louviere, NWSA

WHISTLER, British Columbia - The Whistler Blackcomb Mountain Bike Park posted its busiest day ever on Saturday, August 6, and thousands of spectators bore witness to the incredible talents of Crankworx 2005's athletes. With

perfect weather, the industry's biggest pros, and arguably the best mountain bike park in the world as its stage, Whistler Blackcomb, Tourism Whistler and the Resort Municipality of Whistler must view Crankworx 2005 as an unequivocal success.

"With the playground of Whistler as its backdrop, Crankworx

2005 is a festival that brings the mountain biking community together for good times, serious events and an amazing atmosphere. Through this whole event I have heard athletes consistently describing Crankworx

2005 as the best freeride event in the world ," says Eric Fremont, Crankworx 2005 Event Manager.

You might expect to hear such a statement from the event manager, but world class pros like Marla Streb, US National DH Champion, are showering Whistler’s with praise. "It’s my first time here and it has been so good to discover Whistler. This mountain is so well-designed.” Her sentiment is echoed by many of the professional riders including Cedric Gracia

who won the Jim Beam Air Downhill race for the second time in as many years and Brian Lopes who won both the Nissan Biker X and the Garbanzo Enduro Downhill races.
	Cedric Gracia and The Jim Beam Girls

So what makes Whistler the premier MTB destination in North America, if not the world? After talking with a number of the key individuals responsible for the mountain biking operations, I would sum it up in a word, passion. The individuals who design, build and operate the mountain biking park are all passionate about making Whistler the best mountain biking resort in the world. Rob McSkimming, VP Business Development and one of the early proponents of

	adding Mountain Biking, described the mentality of the operation best, “build it and they will come”. In fact, Whistler has a staff of over 30 trail builders and routinely brings in professional riders for design and flow of key trails. Most recently Richie Schley designed downhill trails and
Rob McSkimming, Whistler

the Slope Style Park. John Cowan has provided his knowledge in Dirt Jumping to design the Kona Dirt Jump Park. In addition, Whistler has developed business partnerships with the biking industry manufacturers, such as Kona (whose bikes are primary rental vehicle at the park). These business relationships provide invaluable knowledge to both parties such as manufacture provided training for mechanics in the Whistler bike shop and a test bed for various vendors’ equipment on world class mountain trails.

Since 1999 Whistler has brought an industry and a resort community to the table to create an offering which peaks the interest of riders and families from around the world. In fact,

mountain biking has become Whistler’s biggest business draw for families seeking activities during the summer months. Started initially as another way to capitalize on an active summer hiking community and an availability of chairlifts, the Mountain Biking
	4-Wheel Mountain Biking

business has proven to be a successful return on the resort’s investments. And, according to McSkimming they have a lot more opportunity to grow. “We are currently only using 2 of the 30 lifts available in the park.”

While Whistler Blackcomb’s current Mountain Biking market draw is mainly from the Vancouver-to-Seattle corridor they are

beginning to see more and more visitors from Europe and Asia. Australian bikers are beginning to show up in large numbers, often taking advantage of opposite weather seasons. Even more exciting are the growing number of parents and children biking together, often competing

for who can end the race wearing the most dirt or showing the biggest smile.

Whistler is owned by Intrawest Properties, who also own 12 other mountain parks across Canada and the U.S., including Blue Mountain, Mountain Creek, Mammoth, Panorama Mountain Village, Stratton and others. Most of their parks have watched Whistler’s success and are at various stages of developing their own Mountain Biking Parks.

So why haven’t more resorts in North America and specifically the Pacific Northwest adopted this model to better establish themselves as a four season family resort? We think it’s only a matter of time. Market forces, will hopefully speed up the creation of more locations for families to find full four-season activities.

As Marla Streb said “Other resorts should be coming up here to take a lot of pictures because this is how things should be done."