WHISTLER, BC July 18, 2017 – After many years in the planning and approval process, crews finally broke ground on 15 kilometres of new mountain biking trails in the Creekside Zone of the Whistler Mountain Bike Park. Once complete, the first phase of the Creekside expansion will include five new trails, designed to appeal to a variety of ability levels and riding styles, and will increase the amount of lift accessible riding in the Whistler Mountain Bike Park by 20 per cent. It is anticipated that all five new Creekside trails will be ready to ride for next summer’s planned opening of the Creekside Gondola in June 2018.
“The new trails in the Creekside Zone are being built to be suitable for both all-mountain and downhill mountain bikes,” says Brian Finestone, Whistler Mountain Bike Park manager. “The goal is to create a variety of experiences that will be welcoming for intermediate riders as well as trails that are challenging enough to keep advanced riders coming back for more.”
"The new expansion will be split between three of the world's premier trail building teams. The Whistler Mountain Bike Park Trail Crew will be tackling the main machine-built low intermediate trail as well as teaming up with Gravity Logic on a low footprint machine-built single track. Gravity Logic will build two additional trails including a hand-built single track and another low footprint single track trail accessed from Highway 86. Joyride Bike Parks will be taking the final trail and making it a machine-built intermediate freeride. The purpose of this all-star build team is to ensure the trails are built with individual flavours allowing for the most diversity and a fresh approach. Each will be uniquely built giving riders a new experience on each one.
The long-term Master Plan for the Creekside expansion includes 56km of trails that stretch from the tree line to the valley floor. Riders will have multiple options to connect into and out of the existing park and it will be possible to reach the Creekside trail network from the top of the Whistler Village Gondola and the Peak Chair. In anticipation, the Whistler Mountain Bike Park trail crew are developing several new trails within the existing bike park for this purpose.
Riders arriving to Whistler this season can currently access the Whistler Mountain Bike Park from the Creekside Gondola and take advantage of free, secure underground parking, delicious BBQ at Dusty’s Bar & BBQ, bike repair and shopping at Garbanzo Bike and Bean Creekside, and fewer lift lines.
For more advanced riders, the iconic Top of the World trail is set to open July 22 and will provide an additional access point in to the Creekside Zone.
For more information about the Whistler Mountain Bike Park, please visit http://bike.whistlerblackcomb.com/
Guests looking to plan a trip to the consistently rated No. 1 Mountain Resort in North America can visit whistlerblackcomb.com/purchase/deals-packages or call 1-888-403-4727.
About Whistler Blackcomb
Whistler Blackcomb, the official alpine skiing venue for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, is situated in the Resort Municipality of Whistler located in the Coast Mountains of British Columbia 125 kilometres (78 miles) from Vancouver, British Columbia. Whistler and Blackcomb are two side-by-side mountains which, combined, offer over 200 marked runs, 8,171 acres of terrain, 16 alpine bowls, three glaciers, receive on average 1,170 centimetres (461 inches) of snow annually, have one of the longest ski seasons in North America, and are a part of the premier mountain resort network, Vail Resorts. In the summer, Whistler Blackcomb offers a variety of activities, including hiking and biking trails, the Whistler Mountain Bike Park, and sightseeing on the PEAK 2 PEAK Gondola.
Proud to be a venue for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games
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About Vail Resorts, Inc. (NYSE: MTN)
Vail Resorts, Inc., through its subsidiaries, is the leading global mountain resort operator. Vail Resorts’ subsidiaries operate 11 world-class mountain resorts and three urban ski areas, including Vail, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge and Keystone in Colorado; Park City in Utah; Heavenly, Northstar and Kirkwood in the Lake Tahoe area of California and Nevada; Whistler Blackcomb in British Columbia, Canada; Perisher in Australia; Stowe in Vermont; Wilmot Mountain in Wisconsin; Afton Alps in Minnesota and Mt. Brighton in Michigan. Vail Resorts owns and/or manages a collection of casually elegant hotels under the RockResorts brand, as well as the Grand Teton Lodge Company in Jackson Hole, Wyo. Vail Resorts Development Company is the real estate planning and development subsidiary of Vail Resorts, Inc. Vail Resorts is a publicly held company traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: MTN). The Vail Resorts company website is www.vailresorts.com and consumer website is www.snow.com.