Top of the World Opens

15 Jul 2014

By Dominic Wrapson

To the delight of many - especially those hoping to escape the sweltering heat of Fitz and Garbo zones - Whistler Bike Park opened their Top of the World trail in the Peak Zone on Friday July 12, 2014.  Perfect blue skies and scorching sunny conditions (we're in a 30˚C every-day spell) meant endless views of snow-capped peaks, and flowy dusty trail all the way down.

The Black Tusk, even more distinctive against a winter backdrop

For those not familiar (we have a breakdown of TOTW here on WorldBikeParks), Top of the World is 5km of alpine single track trail that snakes its way off the backside of Whistler mountain, overlooked by the Black Tusk, and works its way through ~350m descent to join the bike park at the Freight Train / No Joke wallride tunnel.  If you already have a ticket or a pass, a single ride up the chair will cost you $17, or if you need that too there is a special one-ride TOTW Express ticket for $32 which also includes a single ride up the gondola.

Word on the street was that the Bike Park coaches had the terrible task of being sent up daily over the last week to put in some laps and put tyres over snow patches to help it melt out in time for opening.  Well, it worked.

Working Friday meant Saturday was my first chance to get in the alpine, but not before I'd been for a sweaty morning pedal up to Whistler's newest trail and worst-kept-secret to get warmed up. After some loam, it was a quick bike-swap for a visiting friend on a rental and whose break lever needed some strategic taping to stay on the bike and we were in hot hot gondola cabins headed for the top.  Worth noting: Lifties at Olympic Station are now offering a hot-day misting service to passengers on the gondola. That was a welcome surprise I can tell you!

Once at the Roundhouse it's a quick minute-or-so on a Crank It Up-esque section of trail to take you to the Peak Chair.

In the bike lane headed for the summit

If it's your first time up, I'd recommend having a walk around the summit area to take in and photograph the views and hang out with the Inuksuk.  After that, there's a few hundred metres of access road to the trail head where it's game on.

Getting my first alpine #Enduro turns of the season

Lauren and Rob completing the train amongst incredible views

Huge thanks to Mitch and Logan at Coast Mountain Photography for the TOTW riding photos.

Greg roosting the alpine

One of the many great things loved about TOTW, apart from the incredible setting and fun of the trail itself, is the variety.  Starting in full alpine, it descends in to sub-alpine and then forest, with each section of trail different to that before it.  The very top is quite harsh, rocky, tight, steep in places and with a degree of exposure, but it soon opens out in to straighter flowier trail, whilst still quite rocky.  Turning back towards the park on Highway 86 (name of the ski run), you hit  forest, the rocks space out and the dirt is softer.

Tubeless won't necessarily offer immunity in the alpine.  Run higher pressures, or very thick tubes.

Fitted with a fresh tube and ripping

However, not everybody makes it as far as TOTW's newest section in forest climes for there are options on the way down.  Today we had started atop Whistler with trail bikes rather than the regular DH bikes of the park, as we were taking ourselves outside of the patrol and bike park boundary in to a backcountry trail known as Khyber Pass.  This wonderful section of trail is definitely trail-bike territory, and, whilst it's seen its fair share of traffic in recent years with the WORCA Four Kings and last year's Enduro World Series Round 5, it still offers fantastic riding and is a favourite of many locals.

BE WARNED: If you go outside the patrol boundary, they will not come to your rescue. Carry everything you may need to treat and evacuate a serious injury, bring bike spares else it is a LONG walk down, and have a charged cellphone with coverage in case you need to call Search and Rescue.

Picture from a couple seasons ago, it's flowy singletrack top to to bottom

After 1,500m (almost a mile) of vertical descending, there's few options better than a Samurai Sushi lunch, then heading straight to the lake to cool off.

Alpha Lake is one of the colder options for open water in Whistler, but it's damn refreshing after a long descent from the peak

Comments