Garbanzo Open!

Whistler Mountain Bike Park’s Garbanzo Zone Opened June 27th.

Bike Park in Full Operation with Wide Variety of Terrain for All Levels of Riders

WHISTLER, BC, June 28, 2008 – Yesterday, the Whistler Mountain Bike Park opened the highly anticipated Garbanzo Zone, kicking the summer season into high gear.  With the lower park open since May 17, the addition of the Garbanzo Zone puts the Whistler Mountain Bike Park in full swing.

“The Trail Crew and Patrol have been working hard to get us all up into Garbanzo as quickly as possible,” says Brian Finestone, Whistler Mountain Bike Park manager.  With the top of Garbanzo Chair at 5,453 feet and snow removal complete, there are still a few trails within the Garbanzo Zone in early season condition. Trail conditions will improve quickly with trail crews hard at work as well as dry sunny weather forecasted for this weekend.

The opening of Garbanzo Zone adds more then 2,000 vertical feet to the Whistler Mountain Bike Park as well as a variety of advanced trails.  The Garbanzo Zone includes popular trails such as Freight Train, Original Sin and Blue Velvet as well as Duffman, In Deep, Goat’s Gully, No Joke and Bear Cub.

“With the weather report calling for full-on summer conditions this weekend and three lifts open to access the trails, the bike park is going to go off,” Finestone continues. 

The Whistler Mountain Bike Park offers terrain for every level of rider from beginner to expert.  There are a variety of trails and skill centers throughout the Bike Park, as well as guided tours and lessons to get familiar with the sport and terrain.  Rental bikes and all the gear required to have an amazing experience in the Park are available at the base of the Whistler Mountain.

For more information on the Whistler Mountain Bike Park visit www.whistlerblackcomb.com/bike.

Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz clicked her heels together and said those iconic words, "There's no place like home." Dorothy lived in Kansas and although I have never been there I felt that same sentiment this week when I got home from holidays. I came home a few days before returning to work to climb and conquer Mount Laundry and to spend a few days as a guest in the Bike Park riding deep under cover so no one would recognize me and ask me work related questions bursting my holiday bubble. Holidays are fun but the punishment of opening your in-box on your first day back makes the memories fade fast. It seems the more fun you had, the larger the pile is that you have to wade through when you get back. I can imagine the sympathy I'm garnering is limited at best as you read this thinking "dude, your job is better than most people's vacations."

I was stoked to return and see all the work that went down while I was away. The Trail Crew and Patrol have been working hard to get us all up into Garbanzo for this week and we will be throwing open the door on Friday for your riding pleasure. Everything in the zone is open and pretty much good to go but riders should still take it easy up there because some of the trails have only seen limited maintenance prior to opening.

In the lower park "Double Vision" is now nicely ridden in and offers a really fun poppy course with all manner of berms, tables and step up / downs. Nice vision Pro and nice handy work Marty! The dual slalom track is being put together this week and will be a welcome addition and the icing on the cake to that ever changing real estate that is the lower mountain. Marty also gave some love to the final stunt in the Bone Yard so we can now crack the "Underpass" and get some people in the air to impress the tourists at the bottom as well as the patrons on the GLC Patio. Dirt Merchant's new section will be put into the mix this week now that it has had a chance to dry out, making a sweet thing even sweeter.

The Airdome retro-fit is also progressing quite nicely with the new roll-in and jumps all finished and being ridden hard by each day's batch of ramp riders. The big tables are the next phase and the first one is already 90% finished and was the focus of a good session last night. The second ramp in the line is being started today and should near completion for the weekend. The next item up for construction is the observation platform and drop which will get stared once we tackle the task of moving the foam pit a few feet. Once all these additions are complete there will be so much more to see and do in the Airdome and enough progression to keep you coming back for more! Oh, how could I forget, the new Kona Cowan DJ rental bikes are being built as I write this and will be available for rent at the Airdome this weekend.

With the weather report calling for full-on summer conditions this weekend I'm sure it will go off in the park but with tolerable lineups now that Garbanzo is open and the Gondola will be spinning for the summer.

See you in the lineup

-Brian

 

Anybody stoked? Ready for all that vertical? Word up here...