We’ve all been there.
One minute you’re vibing to Chris Martin’s sultry and sweet modern-pop-rock poetry at the Coldplay concert, getting all up on your HR mistress, not a care in the world. The next, you’re exposed as an overconfident cheater, the embarrassing video of your infidelity going viral like it’s 2013.
These days, it’s somewhat rare for clips like the cheating Astronomer CEO to go as spectacularly viral as this one did (if you haven’t seen it yet, or a recreation of it, you likely don’t have an internet connection)—almost like a throwback to a simpler time. Harlem Shake anyone?
But it’s nice to know there are still things we can all unite behind in today’s increasingly fractured political climate. And this week it had us reminiscing about some of Whistler’s more famous “viral” moments from years and decades past.
Without further ado, here are just a few of the most memorable.
BIKE PARK FREAKOUT
The most recent on our list, this spectacular bike park freakout involving an adult man and three teens—and a bike being tossed off a bridge—occurred just last month, and made the rounds on news sites and social feeds near and far.
As of this writing, the original video, in which a grown man casually assaults some minors for seemingly no reason, has amassed more than 30,000 likes and 22,500 shares on Instagram, and been viewed hundreds of thousands of times. That’s basically OJ in the white bronco in terms of small- town crime visibility.
Last week police confirmed the man was arrested, with a date to appear in court. So let that be a lesson for all of us: aggressively assaulting children on camera = bad idea.
AIR JORDAN RUNNING MAN
If we’re talking viral moments in Whistler, using the mountains is almost cheating. It seems every other week there’s another clip of something awesome and/or terrifying making the rounds, whether it’s a death-defying drop or just a mountain biker being chased by a bear.
But the recipe for a real viral moment almost always involves something going hilariously wrong. And if that’s the viral content you’re after, look no further than Whistler Mountain’s Air Jordan.
The big-time drop-in from the very top of Whistler Mountain is made all the more famous for the audience it attracts—the line for the Peak Chair treated to a show while they wait for their own shot at fame.
Then-18-year-old Jaden Legate had one of the most memorable sends down Air Jordan in 2022, when his “running-man” style bailout made the popular @jerryoftheday Instagram feed—where it racked up more than 1.6 million views.
“I just was flailing in the air to try to get my balance so that I wouldn’t land funny … but thankfully the landing was really soft, and there was tons of snow,” Legate told Pique at the time. “I was a little bit shocked that I was OK, because I was totally fine—like, I didn’t even pull a muscle.”
Oh, to be young again. Meanwhile, I pulled my groin walking up a slight incline the other day.
THE PEAK 2 PEAK BASE JUMPER
In early February 2014, renowned BASE jumper Graham Dickinson made headlines around the world when his “reckless” stunt in the resort went viral.
In an attempt to recreate a 2008 stunt by the late Shane McConkey, Dickinson, with the help of a female accomplice, BASE jumped from the Peak 2 Peak gondola… causing an estimated $10,000 in damage in the process when they had to wedge the doors open and hold them while the gondola was operating.
Videos of the incident and related news reports racked up hundreds of thousands of views in short order.
Ontario woman Kathleen Adams eventually pleaded guilty for her role in the stunt, and was sentenced to 18 months’ probation. Dickinson himself allegedly fled the country afterwards, and never saw his day in court.
He was tragically killed in a 2017 wingsuit incident in China.
PIÑATA STEVE
In the summer of 2017, all of Whistler was captivated by the tale of Piñata Steve—the mascot of local DJ Billy Shearer, a.k.a. Billy the Kid, which was stolen from a house-party gig one fateful June night.
When Shearer made a public appeal for Steve’s return, he was greeted less than an hour later with the social-media equivalent of a ransom note.
“Two guys in real shitty black clothes and ski masks holding Steve with a ransom letter,” Shearer told Pique at the time. Their demand? That Shearer post a provocative photo of himself to Facebook within 24 hours, or the pinata would perish.
The hostage-taking took on a life of its own after that, with everyone and their dog getting in on the meme. In the end, it all culminated with a three-day bender and an epic foam party at Tommy Africa’s.
“He came back a bit worse for wear,” said Alex Mitchell, one of Piñata Steve’s original captors. “They pillaged his guts for candy.”
HONOURABLE MENTIONS
In researching this hard-hitting piece of local historical commentary, we came across more (semi-)forgotten viral moments than we could ever fully explain in a single column—many of which will be recognizable to long-term locals with the mention of a single word or phrase, and some that are better left unexplained.
Patchy. Build the halfpipe. Kali the lost dog. Cooked. The Whistler Village rock jump.
Or that time a couple were photographed mid-sex-act atop the roof of the Whistler Conference Centre.
Stories for another day.
