BC road trip, planning questions (biking next summer)

[zion zig zag]

I'm in the early planning stages of a road trip from Utah to British Columbia for some riding next summer. This would be primarily for the benefit of two 16 yo boys who will be entering their senior year. We would have up to 9 days to drive, camp and ride. I originally intended to hit the eastern side of BC (Fernie, Golden, Kicking Horse, etc.) but am starting to wonder we'd be remiss to skip Whistler.

Some considerations:
-I would be renting bikes for the boys, so we would need shops nearby that offer that. It's been my experience that bikes from shops are in better shape than bikes from resorts. I'll have a SC tallboy LT and I planned on using that, but I could rent too if it's not conducive to lift served riding for days on end.
-Although I'm sure they see themselves as Cam Zink, I think intermediate trails would be more our speed. Flowy, bermed, low amounts of air. Trails that are doable on 5-6 inch trailbikes for hacks.
-Best camping and scenery
-Maybe stuff to do on down days?
-Although they both race MTB in school and are capable of pedaling, their preference is lift served.

I've got plenty of time to think about this, and I know it's dead in here this time of year, but throw out your thoughts and suggestions.

[mntlion]

lift serviced for BC: fernie, kicking horse, panorama (each 2 hours away from each other) Silverstar, whistler (am I missing somewhere else)?

UT to fernie is a one day drive (12? hours) so once you drive, you have 7 days biking. 2 days at each place, plus a day off, Maybe a day of lifts, and a pedal day at each town?

good rentals in town for all 3 areas too.

[island_boy81]

Sun Peaks has some pretty decent lift-served too (Kamloops).

[kootenayskier]

No way you can do it all, unless you want to spend your whole trip driving. A loop through the Kootenays would be scenic, relaxing, affordable etc. and each of the towns and bike parks have their charms, but for two 16 year olds looking to rent bikes and ride park, take them to Whistler. The park riding there is magnitudes better and more extensive than anywhere else, you'll have endless diversions to keep them occupied, and there's actually some pretty sweet camping not far out of town. Don't waste your time on the tall boy, just rent everyone a full-on down-hill rig, with armour, full face etc. and you'll be doing more than you ever imagined possible in no time.

[bagtagley]

If their preference is lift served, take them to Whistler, rent some DH bikes and prepare to be favorite parent.

Whistler has something for everyone. Hacks or no, that place is fun, and after a week there, you will all have progressed more than you thought possible.

[XXX-er]

BC is huge the highways suck and 9 days ain't much time, even tho i hate the fucking place you should probably go to whistler 1st then its a 3 or 4 hr drive to sunpeaks another 2-3 hrs to silver star depending on how much time you got left from there

[zion zig zag]

Sounds like Whistler is the better option then?

[WaistDeepGroomers]

Whistler DH trails are pretty amazing, but IMO, you could spend a lot of time on Crank It Up and then it's something of a step up in terms of feature size to something like A Line. But a pretty epic intermediate line would be to go way up the gondola and ride Una Moss to Blue Velvet to Crank it Up to the dual slalom course. That run was about 45 minutes of pure fucking smile factor.

If they can tolerate some pedaling though, you'd be remiss not to hit Squamish. Half Nelson is far and away the best "flow trail" I've ever seen/ridden, and out of all the riding I did on my Vancouver trip this fall (North Shore/Squamish/Whistler), that's where I wish I spent more time. I put together a TR here you can read/view:

http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/s...ff!?highlight=

still missing the Whistler section, though...

[jm2e]

What are safe months to plan a Whistler MTB trip? Is it worth bringing bikes if I fly there? Wondering if some days on familiar 6" bikes would be a good mix with renting (for the first time) DH bikes......

[WaistDeepGroomers]

What are safe months to plan a Whistler MTB trip? Is it worth bringing bikes if I fly there? Wondering if some days on familiar 6" bikes would be a good mix with renting (for the first time) DH bikes......

From what Lee told me before I went, beginning and end of season provide better dirt w/more moisture and less people. Trails can get blown out pretty hard mid-summer. I would have felt comfortable on most trails on my usual Slayer but I will say it was awesome having a heavy dual-crown bike to case jumps on when I was trying to work up to all the gaps on A-Line. There were about 75,000 people on new Nomads though so I think you'd be alright.

[LeeLau]

Sounds like Whistler is the better option then?

I'm going to be controversial and even though I'm a WBP ambassador and all that kind of stuff based on what you said

"I think intermediate trails would be more our speed. Flowy, bermed, low amounts of air. Trails that are doable on 5-6 inch trailbikes for hacks.
-Best camping and scenery
-Maybe stuff to do on down days?"

and your timeframe being constrained I'm going to suggest

- Silver Star
- Sun Peaks
- Revelstoke/Golden

Down days in lakes either around Revy or in the Salmon Arm area. I've written an assload about those areas other than Golden which Sharon/I owe a visit so look for those articles on Pinkbike.

It'll take you another 6 - 7 hours just to get to Whistler. Frankly you don't really have the time and just be cheating yourself anyway that's because of what Dunfee said below

the kids will love Silver Star - I guarantee it

Whistler DH trails are pretty amazing, but IMO, you could spend a lot of time on Crank It Up and then it's something of a step up in terms of feature size to something like A Line. But a pretty epic intermediate line would be to go way up the gondola and ride Una Moss to Blue Velvet to Crank it Up to the dual slalom course. That run was about 45 minutes of pure fucking smile factor.

If they can tolerate some pedaling though, you'd be remiss not to hit Squamish. Half Nelson is far and away the best "flow trail" I've ever seen/ridden, and out of all the riding I did on my Vancouver trip this fall (North Shore/Squamish/Whistler), that's where I wish I spent more time. I put together a TR here you can read/view:

http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/s...ff!?highlight=

still missing the Whistler section, though...

Like I keep telling you could've spent a month here and ridden every day and not ridden the same trail twice

What are safe months to plan a Whistler MTB trip? Is it worth bringing bikes if I fly there? Wondering if some days on familiar 6" bikes would be a good mix with renting (for the first time) DH bikes......

September is IMO the best month. Rent the DH bikes. Bring your 6" bikes to ride trails

[jamesp]

There is awesome trail riding all the way up the Columbia valley from Fernie, Cranbrook, Kimberley, Invermere, Golden. As mentioned, lift served in Fernie, Panorama (Invermere), Golden. If you get bored you can spend a day heading across to Revelstoke or Vernon (Silver Star). Hiking in Rogers Pass (between Golden & Revy) for non-bike day stuff.

You can get to Fernie in ~12hrs drive from Utah so only 1 day drive. Driving to Whistler will waste 2 full days from your trip, ~12hrs from Fernie area each way.

[zion zig zag]

Wow, BC is kind of overwhelming in options I guess. Looks like Sun Peaks/Silver Star takes as long to get to as Whistler but Fernie is much closer.