According to a recent plan released by Whistler, the resort plans to invest $345 million into a massive resort expansion that will include approximately 31 miles of new downhill trails that will effectively double the size of the existing bike park. This plan includes a long list of new facilities including an indoor waterpark, indoor action sports training center, new day lodges, additional mountain bike trails, and much more. The mountain bike expansion will begin at Creekside, which the park is now referred to as “Creek Zone,” making it the park’s fourth distinct “zone” in addition to the original Fitzsimmons Zone, upper mountain Garbonzo Zone, and the Peak Zone which made headlines in 2012 with the opening of the high-alpine Top of the World Trail.

The mountain bike expansion will take place in a series of phases, we are currently only aware of the details for Phase One.

Phase One:

• The first phase is centered around the new Creek Zone, which calls for a mix of technical singletrack and machine-built flow trails.
• The plan pushes for these trails to be accessible from the Creekside Gondola, the Garbonzo Zone, Upper Whistler Gondola, and even the Peak chair.
• The terrain is relatively steep in this area, but the plan calls for a mix of 5 to 10 percent beginner, 60 to 70 percent intermediate and 20 to 35 percent expert terrain.
• The plan calls for 5 trails that total 7 miles, including 1 Light Blue Machine Built Freeride Trail, 1 Blue Machine Built Freeride Trail, 2 Dark Blue Technical Trails, and 1 Black Technical.

The 5 New Trails:

Trail 1

• Difficulty: Advanced blue
• Trail Type: machine-built singletrack
• Length: 1.72 miles
• Average Grade: 11.5 degrees

Trail 2

• Difficulty: black technical
• Trail Type: hand-built singletrack
• Length: 0.7 miles
• Average Grade: 14 degrees

Trail 3

• Difficulty: blue
• Trail Type: machine built singletrack
• Length: 1.4 miles
• Average Grade: 8.4 degrees

Trail 4

• Difficulty: blue
• Trail Type: machine built single track
• Length: 1.6 miles
• Average Grade: 8.4 degrees

Trail 5

• Difficulty: dark blue
• Trail Type: excavated singletrack
• Length: 1.72 miles
• Average Grade: 10.2 degrees

Phase One could break ground within the year, depending on the approval of permits and other aspects of the plan, but there is no estimated completion date. This phase accounts for 7 of the 31 miles of proposed trails in this plan, so we can’t wait to see what’s in store for the rest of the trails.

“As soon as we get those approvals there’s five trails that we’d like to get built. At this point we’re not really sure what the time frame is on that,” says Rob McSkimming, Whistler Blackcomb’s VP of Business Development.