Whistler thread no. 97879

S

Shredden

Knows his goats
Hey guys, know that there is already an crapload of whistler threads already, but I had a quick look and couldn't find anything useful.

I have the opportunity to go to whistler with a mate for 2 weeks next year, from june 11 - 25. I have a few quick questions:

1. Is this too early? Will lots of tracks be closed around this time? I don't mind riding in the wet but if they are closed that would suck.

2. Do I take my own bike or spend the money to hire one?

3. How much would I be expecting to pay all up, doing it on the mega cheap including airfares etc? Like $5000? Still at high school so money is a little tight...

Any help would be much much much appreciated.
 
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Dragonwoody

Dragonwoody

Likes Dirt
1. Yes and No.....The tracks at the bottom will be open at that time though depending on the season the upper tracks (Garbanzo) will be closed. They open more and more as the snow melts.

2. I would definitely take your own bike. I hired a bike for a day and paid roughly $110 (Specialized).

3. $$$ depends on your nights out and if your buying meals or cooking yourself. A lot of money can be saved by making your own lunch and dinners. Depending on your flight cost I reckon you could get away with spending $4-5K over 2 weeks.
 
sram001

sram001

Likes Dirt
I was there until the 24th june this year and all top tracks were closed. that being said, they did have a bigger then usual snow season. There's still loads of tracks at the bottom and you wont get board.

TAKE YOUR OWN BIKE!!! I have hired in 2010 and then took my bike for 2011. Even though I snapped my 951 within 5 days riding, I had WAY more fun as rental stores couldn't give a shit how the bike is set up specifically for you other except to swap the brakes over to right hand front brake. And the bikes cost a fortune.
 
kona_kona

kona_kona

Likes Dirt
Yea the rental places are for tourists. I think a lot of people don't realise, myself a little as well, how much of a 'resort' Whistler actually is. It's not some MTB Mecca that someone stumbled over, it's one of the worlds biggest and most popular ski resorts which converts to dirt in the summer and naturally, most of the 'services' are all tourist oriented.

Coming over for a week or 2 is exactly what the main rental places like and the vast majority of people who rent, haven't really ridden before. As you can imagine, having thousands of them come in and out over the summer and maintaining the bikes which they flog is enough without sitting down to do a custom bike fit for every chump.

Whistler is a resort town and you have to remember that most of the people here are idiot tourists (I don't mean travellers, I mean your moron tourists you want to punch in the face), so honestly unless you're a local or staying here long-term and make contacts/friends, then expect to be treated like one.

Also @ the post above, I think they opened Garb around that date, it was late June. It's primo now though. Since about 2 weeks ago, most of the top is open and the tracks are in reasonable shape. The won't get bored of the bottom in 2 weeks, but you'll definitely want to hit the top.
 
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A

ademb

Likes Dirt
Heres some average prices for ya, this is pretty upto date. I literally moved to whistler 6 days ago.

My flight was $2200 return, travel insurance for 2 weeks you could more then likely get for $150 or so, but id venture to say even slightly less. I paid for a larger amount so I dont know exactly on that. Make sure you get travel insurance, I dont want to jinx you, but it takes a harsh toll on riders here. The injury toll is quite significant among riders (I snapped my wrist here last year) so you want to know your covered. You will also need to make sure you have a bit of cash on standby to use incase you find yourself in the hospital, its an automatic $550 or something just to be seen by hospital staff.

Bring your own bike over, if you fly with Air Canada then it will cost you $50 and will take up one of your luggage bags, I ended up paying another $100 so i could go up to the excess baggage weight of 32kgs. Having your own bike is such a plus, it means you don't need to get used to riding a different bike so you can get straight into it.

You'd be able to get accommodation at the whistler staff housing dorms if your here for 2 weeks, its around $140 a week plus a damage insurance. Although its a minimum of 2 weeks booking. Food can be done on the cheap depending how you are in the kitchen etc. Drinks are pretty similar to Aus, although there are generally specials at most pubs/clubs, ie last night at the GLC i was drinking vodka (with 3 shots) redbull buckets for $13.50.

In regards to the top of the mountain been open, that is kinda seasonal. Whistler had its 3rd largest snowfall in the winter just gone, followed by a rather wet and miserable spring/summer so the melt was rather slow. Whereas when I was here last year in the same time it was dry and dusty as.
I wouldnt let that worry you though, there are alot of trails to shred in the lower mountain, plus alot of valley trails at lower elevation that you could ride outside of the park too.

Either way, you'll love the place and I assure you, you will want to come back again. Tonnes of great people, shitloads of awesome riding, great weed and lots of sexy ladies. Get amongst it young fella! :very_drunk::very_drunk:
 
whitey89

whitey89

Likes Bikes and Dirt
1. Is this too early? Will lots of tracks be closed around this time? I don't mind riding in the wet but if they are closed that would suck.
Typically the Garbanzo section wont be open yet (maybe when your about to leave) but still PLEANTY to ride

2. Do I take my own bike or spend the money to hire one?
Take your own, if you keep within the baggage weight limits it should be free to take it on major airlines.

3. How much would I be expecting to pay all up, doing it on the mega cheap including airfares etc? Like $5000? Still at high school so money is a little tight...
$5k should last you. Major cost will come down to accommodation, it will be much cheaper if you can manage to stay with other 4 or so people in an apartment to share the costs.
 
kona_kona

kona_kona

Likes Dirt
@ademb

I'm not sure where you're going for your booze if you're paying 'similar' to Aus.

A nip here his 60ml for starters and if doubles are on special you're getting a pretty strong drink for about $7. You can barely get a rum and coke for that at home.
 
Joel_32

Joel_32

Likes Dirt
SillyWabbit said:
"Still at high school so money is a little tight..."
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Along with all this talk about how much alcohol costs, keep in mind that the legal drinking age is 19 in BC, which I'm guessing if you're still in high school you may be pushing to reach this. It may end up being a positive though as you're costs will be great reduced if you arnt out partying at clubs each night.

Another cost to factor in is bike parts, not only can the park be tough on your body as mentioned above but be prepared to replace things like tyres, rims, deraillers, cranks, etc at a premium price in the event they fail along with the servicing of forks depending on conditions. Always good to have additional funds available in case something happens to yourself or your bike.
 
kona_kona

kona_kona

Likes Dirt
Joel_32 said:
Along with all this talk about how much alcohol costs, keep in mind that the legal drinking age is 19 in BC, which I'm guessing if you're still in high school you may be pushing to reach this. It may end up being a positive though as you're costs will be great reduced if you arnt out partying at clubs each night.

Another cost to factor in is bike parts, not only can the park be tough on your body as mentioned above but be prepared to replace things like tyres, rims, deraillers, cranks, etc at a premium price in the event they fail along with the servicing of forks depending on conditions. Always good to have additional funds available in case something happens to yourself or your bike.
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Yea for anyone else reading and thinking of more than a couple of weeks here, double your maintenance budget. I don't care what you think you'll need, what you think normally break or think you don't ride "all that hard" - double it.

If you're only here for a super short trip then it's not really an issue. Just don't say you weren't warned :p

Just to give you an idea, I've been here for 2 and a bit months and I in no way shape or form consider myself a hack or inexperienced or a 'hard' rider and my past 10 years of bike history support this.... but Whistler is a new ball game. I've gone through 2 whole sets of pads, snapped boxxer stanchions (very unlucky though), a few tubes, constant headset/pedal/pivot cleans and regreases, destroyed a whole minion 3C and the brand new bearing kit in my V10 feels about 2 years old already.

On top of this, it's been getting cleaned and maintained almost every day and I've done a half dozen fork rebuilds (09 boxxers) just to keep them going in and out a bit better than an old RST Gila.
 
A

ademb

Likes Dirt
kona_kona said:
Yea for anyone else reading and thinking of more than a couple of weeks here, double your maintenance budget. I don't care what you think you'll need, what you think normally break or think you don't ride "all that hard" - double it.

If you're only here for a super short trip then it's not really an issue. Just don't say you weren't warned :p

Just to give you an idea, I've been here for 2 and a bit months and I in no way shape or form consider myself a hack or inexperienced or a 'hard' rider and my past 10 years of bike history support this.... but Whistler is a new ball game. I've gone through 2 whole sets of pads, snapped boxxer stanchions (very unlucky though), a few tubes, constant headset/pedal/pivot cleans and regreases, destroyed a whole minion 3C and the brand new bearing kit in my V10 feels about 2 years old already.

On top of this, it's been getting cleaned and maintained almost every day and I've done a half dozen fork rebuilds (09 boxxers) just to keep them going in and out a bit better than an old RST Gila.
Click to expand...

Yeah 6 days in the park for me so far, my brakes are in dire need of a bleed. They were done 2 days before I flew over, my bike is making more funny noises as each day goes by, fork and shock are still feeling pretty good though. I reckon I might get another week or 2 before they shit the bed haha. I'd say im not too far off needing to replace my back tyre at least and my derailleur has had a few hits and gears all slip around haha
 
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