In 1989, at the age of 17, Ian Ritz moved to Whistler, and got involved with the relatively new sport of mountain biking. What was it like back in the good old days, when Whistler was still largely regarded as a ski resort? Was there resistance to this new summer incursion to local hills?
“It may have seemed that way at times, but I think Whistler was very progressive in its adoption of mountain biking,” says Ritz, founder of Whistler bike manufacturer Chromag.
“Even in the early ’90s we had some world-class events here, and Whistler has long held a reputation for being ahead of the curve in its extent of trails, bike park development and mountain bike events. There have been hiccups, for sure, and at times the resort has been conflicted, but overall I think this has been one of the most progressive places when it comes to mountain bike adoption.”
Dan Raymond, lead trail builder for the Whistler Off Road Cycling Association, or WORCA, was about 10 years behind Ritz in his arrival here in Whistler, but as he says, it was still early enough that he benefitted from the “old guard”—the first generation of mountain bikers.
“I got here in 1999, but the first mountain bikes here started in the early 1990s or earlier,” he says. “There was this community here that I benefitted from, who showed me where to go. There was no internet, no apps to download, so I was lucky to have that community.”
Tony Horn moved to Whistler from Montreal in 1992, although he had gotten into mountain biking a few years prior to that. Since moving here, he has never looked back. In the mid-’90s he joined WORCA, becoming first trail director, then president, and then later race director.
“The area has done a great job of selling the Whistler lifestyle.” says Horn. “Riding has made it a great place to live year-round, so I’m not surprised mountain biking got so big.” And while he calls Whistler home, he’s not “in the bubble,” so to speak. He does get out there, and has explored what the rest of the world has to offer for mountain bikers. His verdict? There’s no place like home.
“I’ve travelled the world, and these are the best trails for riding … the Sea to Sky as a whole is the best in the world. The next best is still in B.C, on the Sunshine Coast or in the Nelson area. The quality of our trails are just the best, that’s why we’re a mountain biking mecca.”
Raymond agrees, noting he has watched the sport steadily grow in popularity since the ’90s.
“The biggest change since I first came here is the increased popularity in mountain biking. When I’m asked if mountain biking will surpass skiing in the winter, my gut response is that it already has. Whistler is one of the great ski resorts of the world, but for mountain biking we’re No. 1. All the other ski resorts are looking at us as the standard. We’re where everyone wants to go—we’re iconic for mountain biking.”
COME FOR THE SNOW, STAY FOR THE SUMMER
Ritz isn’t so sure mountain biking has eclipsed skiing or snowboarding, but says that day could come.
“It really depends on how you look at it. From a sheer numbers standpoint, I’d think it’s hard for mountain biking to rival the crowds we see on the slopes during peak ski season,” he says. “However, if we’re talking about the local population and what people who live in the corridor are doing year-round, then yes, I think mountain biking is starting to give skiing a run for its money.”
Raymond says the summer lifestyle in Whistler is becoming the reason people stay here long-term, or at least year-round.
“People come here for the snow but stay for the summer,” he says. “I prefer the summer for biking, and in my 25 years here, the difference in the summer season is day and night. You can go to the lakes, and they’re certainly crowded, but then you get out on our trail network and you don’t get a crowded feeling.”
The success and popularity of mountain biking in Whistler begs the question: could it become a victim of its own success, or is there still room to expand?
“The pragmatic answer is yes—we have enough real estate to continue to expand the network,” says Raymond. “Philosophically, do we have enough trails already? Maybe, but WORCA membership for the past 10 years has been asking for easier trails. We have lots of Black trails, but most of WORCA’s membership is asking for easier.
“In the past three years we have elevated trail criteria to the adaptive standard, wide enough to be more inclusive. And overall the membership wants Blue stuff.”
Horn says many people who come to Whistler often don’t experience all it has to offer, which has its own effect on reducing potential trail congestion.
“The bike park is kind of an anomaly. So many come here to ride it, and then don’t leave the park. Lots do, but you don’t see them out on the trails,” he says. “But we do see trails getting blown out, although they get fixed, [and] the trail infrastructure is maintained. We’ve always celebrated our trail builders, although we have moved on more to the era of trail stewards.”
AN ARMY OF VOLUNTEERS
That’s perhaps what has done the most to popularize the sport in the valley: the creative trail builders of the past three decades, and the army of volunteers who maintain the routes.
“WORCA has done very well with trail building and maintenance. Our list of volunteers is over 300 and 1,760 hours were put into trail building—money can’t buy the kind of synergy we have with volunteers and the community we have,” Raymond says. “People here have a feeling of ownership, a connection to the trails, and that’s hard to replicate. I’d say the closest example of that sort of community would be the Hood River (in Oregon) for kite boarding/wind surfing.”
That volunteer dedication makes it hard for other areas to compete with Whistler.
“Even if you throw money at trying to do what we’ve done in Whistler, it can’t replace the time it’s taken to build our trail network,” Raymond says. “Up north or in other smaller communities they’ve spent a lot of money in creating amenities for mountain bikers, but it takes a lot of work and that just takes time.
“That sense of community becomes infectious and it helps grow our membership.”
Horn, who was himself awarded the Governor General of Canada’s Sovereign’s Medal for Volunteers in 2017 for his volunteer work with WORCA, agrees on the importance of the volunteer community in Whistler. He says WORCA has really been key to expanding the sport here.
“WORCA is really good at bringing in the next generation of riders. They keep pushing races, trail building, keeping everything breathing, growing—it’s a real testament to the scene here,” Horn says. “The difference between WORCA and SORCA (Squamish Off Road Cycling Association), is, first of all, SORCA followed us. Although they moved into trail building first, and had a master plan for their trail network, Whistler developed more organically… but ultimately both organizations are hoping to bring in the people for trail building and trail maintenance.”
Plus, adds Raymond, Whistler has the bike park, which as Horn mentioned, does reduce some of the strain on trails.
“We’re lucky to have the bike park, so we don’t need more jump trails—but it’s always challenging. Where do we go next, are we meeting our potential?” he says. “We have accomplished a lot, but you have to go other places and check them out; like Smithers or Burns Lake, where I’m headed later this summer, and see how other trail networks develop and exist.”
SELLING WHISTLER TO THE WORLD
As a mountain biking mecca, Whistler has also evolved a mountain biking industry, or at least contributed to B.C.’s industry in sports recreation.
“It’s really incredible how many B.C. bike companies have sprung up. I mean companies in Europe and the U.S. have good product, but [B.C. is] competing with them,” says Horn.
He singles out Ritz’s Whistler-based company, Chromag, as a prime example.
“Ian Ritz at Chromag took what Whistler is and sold it to the world, which is pretty cool,” he says.
Ritz has heard that praise before, but remains unsure what to make of it.
“In a way I had a hard time relating, because it sounded like I was making Whistler snow globes and selling them off, but I think I understand what he means. [It’s] that Chromag is kind of built around the spirit of Whistler and that a lot of how we came to be, and how we appear to our customers, is kind of a reflection of the mountain biking lifestyle that exists here,” says Ritz.
“I also see it as Whistler providing all the nurturing elements to help build Chromag into something special. Whistler is obviously a great place for riding, and when it comes to creating relevant products, you have this extensive knowledge base, a testing ground, and so many riders to gather feedback from. You also have this tight-knit community here, and when I started Chromag, everyone was incredibly supportive. That support helped make the brand visible to anyone who came here to ride, which is another benefit Whistler provided: a continuous flow of aspiring visitors who could discover us.”
Ritz started Chromag in 2003, after seeing all sorts of broken bike parts coming into the bike shop he co-owned at the time. Seeing a need, and having a desire to fill it, he set out to create his own bikes, based on what riders in Whistler and the Sea to Sky were telling him they wanted.
“I wasn’t sure if it would succeed or if I was just starting an expensive hobby, but eventually, I started to make progress and it felt like something that might actually work,” he says. “I worked out of my home for three years, designing, coordinating with manufacturers, and assembling products on my kitchen table, until I moved into a small warehouse in Function Junction. Today, we are in our 23rd year of business and we’re a team of 22, making 14 models of bikes, a broad range of components, and an apparel and protection line. Our main business is in Canada but we ship globally.”
DEFYING TYPE
That said, what is the typical mountain biker these days, either here in Whistler, or worldwide?
“I think one of the coolest things about mountain biking is that there isn’t a typical rider. It’s a sport that attracts such a diverse group of people,” Ritz says. “Whether you’re fitness-focused or gravity-fuelled, whether you’re into short lunch-break laps or multi-day epic adventures, mountain biking has room for all kinds of riders. Some people wear spandex, others rock jeans and a T-shirt. You can even be different things at different times. There’s no ‘one way’ to enjoy the sport.”
Then there are e-bikes. From Squamish to Pemberton there are those who would like to see e-bikes banned entirely from trails. But can changes in technology, even ones that might fundamentally change the sport, be halted?
“I have one myself, mostly for commuting,” says Raymond. “They are banned in certain places, but it’s very few, and it’s the province that’s limiting people in the alpine—the first limit was motorized access. And I can attest that renting a motorized bike to a less experienced person here can cause problems with wildlife and potentially search-and-rescue issues. E-bikes can encourage people to get up to areas where they can’t handle the descent. But the province makes the decision. We have no power to change the policy.”
But Raymond certainly understands their appeal.
“E-bikes are fun though. It’s changing the sport, or maybe the sport is just changing,” he says. “In my 35 years of mountain biking, the grit element, that you have to hack it, isn’t there as much.”
Horn agrees that you can’t halt progress.
“E-bikes allow people to do more trails in a day. It’s another tool,” he says. “The analogy for people taking e-bikes on trails is like if all of a sudden people who have skied, but never that high, suddenly want to see the snow cave on Blackcomb Glacier. Now they have to use the T-bar, which causes problems, plus they have to hike in skis, which they’re probably not used to. But they get to see the snow cave on Blackcomb Glacier, which is pretty cool.
“So that’s what e-bikes are like—it opens the door to a world that some riders wouldn’t see normally.”
Ritz says while the sport has changed, the community that was built up around mountain biking here in Whistler, and the rest of the Sea to Sky corridor, hasn’t.
“Mountain biking has gone from a fringe sport to widely adopted. Whether you look at the ways bikes have advanced, or what people can do on them, it’s been constantly changing,” he says. “Trail infrastructure, bike park development, and participation have grown so much and transformed the sport into something that anyone can relate to. You could cite so many things that have changed, but to me, what really stands out is the community here.”
Where mountain biking used to be a “second” sport to skiing or snowboarding, “now people move here because of their love for riding bikes,” Ritz says. “An incredible community of people has formed and if you ride a bike here, you are part of something bigger than the sport itself.”
A MATTER OF PREFERENCE
And Ritz most certainly does still get out there, riding not just Whistler, but trails up and down the Sea to Sky.
“I like riding all over the Whistler Valley and in Squamish and Pemberton. My preferences are often based on the season and what’s good at the time,” he says. “Working in Function I tend to ride the Westside and Cheakamus a lot, and living in Emerald, I get into the No Flow Zone, or out to Wedge often. I don’t spend much time in the bike park but it’s fun to ride there, too, or maybe get a Top of the World lap in. I love Pemby in the spring, Whistler in the summer and fall, and Squamish in the winter.”
Raymond admits his preferences in trails have changed over time.
“As someone who hangs out with the ‘old guard,’ I can say we’re less thrill-seeking than we used to be; more endurance than adrenaline,” he says.
“I ride almost every trail, but mostly in the Wedge zone these days, like Out There, or Bring on the Weekend. Also Java Time in Cheakamus. It’s very technical but I can do it in about 45 minutes. There’s also Chipmunk Rebellion, which is a Blue trail on the west side of Stonebridge.”
Horn says he has a very specific trail style he looks for.
“For me, I like trails people have put a lot of work into, like Slaybertooth Kitten—trails like that are a work of art. Lord of the Squirrels is another one. It was supposed to be a Blue trail but it’s not anymore, with erosion. It’s hard here, we just have steep forests. It’s just how it is. Bring on the Weekend is also one of my favourites, and one of the great things about Whistler is you can do loops off of different trails.”
Horn reflects that while Whistler has certainly changed, that’s not such a bad thing in the end.
“I guess I was part of the generation that saw the scene blow up. But things change. That pioneering spirit to get out in the mountains and do crazy things gets diluted; it gets diluted by Vail [Resorts], by people getting older. That hardcore element is diluted,” he says.
“The counter point to that is, I’m not leaving Whistler. Yes, Whistler has changed, but it’s still awesome, because guess what? We can still go into the backcountry, and then we can come back and go see a free concert at the Olympic Plaza. The lifestyle here is still pretty awesome.”
