In a typical summer, hundreds of thousands of tourists travel to Whistler from all over the world to ride this resort's epic trail network.
But those trails didn't magically appear in the middle of a forest. What some of these riders might not consider while cruising down a section of singletrack is just how much work goes into making these trails so legendary.
For that, they have the Whistler Off-Road Cycling Association (WORCA) and its tireless crew of volunteers to thank. And with National Volunteer Week celebrated from April 19 to 25, Pique thought it was a great time to recognize some of our volunteers.
Each spring and fall, the association hosts weekly trail nights every Tuesday, inviting volunteers to come help spruce up a section of trail. It's an initiative that avid biker Luke de Jager jumped on when he first made the move to the Sea to Sky about seven years ago. After working as a professional trailbuilder in his native New Zealand, "part of the reason behind coming to Whistler was to experience the world-famous trails and get ideas for my trailbuilding work," he explained, adding, "I used to do a lot back home with my local club, trailbuilding and volunteering with them, so it was just kind of natural to help out in my new hometown."
Like most imports who call the Sea to Sky home, B.C. life—and WORCA's trail nights—hooked him in. During the season, de Jager drives down from Pemberton for the weekly trail nights, in addition to volunteering closer to home with the Pemberton Valley Trails Association.
So, on most normal spring Tuesday evenings, you can find him and around 20 other volunteers, on average, digging out a line set out by WORCA's trail crew.
"I've got a lot of experience doing rock work, so [WORCA's lead trailbuilder] Dan Raymond usually finds me a good rock work section to build. Also, with my experience, I also help out and mentor some of the other newcomers to the vollie nights," said de Jager, who now makes his living as a carpenter.
"Normally it's a pretty good crew. We do a few hours of building and then we have a beer afterwards, a good chat. It's a pretty good time."
De Jager, as Raymond explained in an email, "is one of our most dedicated Tuesday Dig Night volunteers. He is passionate about trailwork and has developed impressive skills. I always set aside a more complex project for Luke to take on. Not only does he perform beautiful work, he also gladly shares his craft with others: spreading a culture of pride in a job well done."
This might be why the organization has named de Jager as its trail-night volunteer of the year "too often to count," Raymond explained.
For de Jager, that pride usually comes into effect when hearing feedback from other riders about a newly built trail or line. "They just get really stoked on it, so that kind of gets me stoked too," he said.
So, what would de Jager's advice be for newcomers looking for an introduction to local trails and how to properly build them?
"The easiest way is to come out and join on a Tuesday night—it's open to everyone," he said.
"Get out there and help out as much as you can. Every little bit helps. From back home, trying to organize races and stuff like that, trying to get volunteers is always really hard. So anyone who wants to help out, it really makes a difference."
There's a huge amount of work that goes into Whistler's trail network, he added. "With all the volunteers and the paid trail crews, there's hundreds of hours [of trail work] every year. The trails wouldn't be able to stand up to the amount of tourists who are coming without all that help."
