# New Whistler Trail



## craigstr (Sep 19, 2003)

They were building a new trail between A-Line and Ninja Cougar the whole week I was there, they opened it on the last day and Dominator13 and I were among the first few guys down. Short but SWEET! Sorry about the poor video quality, I edited the vid with some crappy software while waiting for my flight out of Vancouver.





Fade to Black from Craig Manning on Vimeo.


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## Err (Mar 21, 2005)

That looks like an awful lot of fun. I walked up into the trees and had a look while I was there but missed the opening.


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## coldsteele (Jul 9, 2004)

If only the FS would let something like that that be built at Trestle.


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## noparking (Apr 28, 2009)

looks like so much fun


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## freaknunu (Jan 19, 2009)

That trail looks really great! :thumbsup:


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## Tim F. (May 22, 2006)

Sweet! Is Gidean up ther with you guys? I know he was planning on being up there at some point. You guys need to try making Redbull Rampage this year.


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## SHIVER ME TIMBERS (Jan 12, 2004)

man that looks fun.....


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## joelalamo45 (Aug 3, 2006)

coldsteele said:


> If only the FS would let something like that that be built at Trestle.


The FS wouldn't have an objection to something like that I don't believe... It's more of a risk management issue. That's why the make all the drops with roll-arounds at Trestle.


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## LeeL (Jan 12, 2004)

A bit greasier today

http://www.pinkbike.com/v/159113


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## gticlay (Dec 13, 2007)

AWESOME. It looks like all the gaps are meant to be cleared unlike the trails on my mountain that they call "sniper doubles" which are a table top with a lip on the backside so you can either hit them slow and be OK, hit them MEGA FAST and be ok or if you try to hit them and miss you are f-ed because you will endo and flip at some high speeds.


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## LeeL (Jan 12, 2004)

The wooden ladders give you lots of room to get speed into them if thats what you mean. You actually dont need much speed


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## gticlay (Dec 13, 2007)

LeeL said:


> The wooden ladders give you lots of room to get speed into them if thats what you mean. You actually dont need much speed


Yeah, that's exactly what I was asking. Just flow it and it's all good. :thumbsup:


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## mikesee (Aug 25, 2003)

I was amazed by how well built it is. No herculean efforts required to clean any of it, other than commitment. The grades are such that if you mostly stay off the brakes you'll fly everything clean. Even with minor scrubbing you can still fly everything clean.




While we were taking pics there was a patroller hanging back in the trees just sorta keeping tabs on how many people were riding it, and how many were flying it vs. taking the easy outs around the hits. We chatted for a bit and he left me with one gem of a comment: _"This is exactly what we needed. We've got tonnes of double blacks but they're all steep skidfests. I like those too, but this (Fade to Black) is what's happening in the real world. This is what people are building, and this is what people want."_




It was the 'real world' part that got me. In the world I live in, land managers and trail access groups keep shoving designed-for-beginners bench cut trail down our throats, but only after two years of meetings to get to that point, followed by milking volunteers for the labor to get it all built.


Thank god that Whistler Bike Park exists. Not only do they do it right, but they set a proper precedent for others to (hopefully, eventually) follow.

MC


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## gticlay (Dec 13, 2007)

I just need someone to follow for speed and I'm good on many features. This looks like it's at the top end of what I'm willing to do, but fun.


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## mikesee (Aug 25, 2003)

joelalamo45 said:


> The FS wouldn't have an objection to something like that I don't believe... It's more of a risk management issue. That's why the make all the drops with roll-arounds at Trestle.


There are roll arounds for everything on this one, too.


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## coldsteele (Jul 9, 2004)

mikesee said:


> There are roll arounds for everything on this one, too.


Yea but at Trestle you can roll down all the drops, except for one on B all ucan B.


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## climbingbubba (Jan 10, 2007)

wow, that looks sick. 

its always hard to tell from pics/vids but how big (tall/far) are those drops?


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## SHIVER ME TIMBERS (Jan 12, 2004)

LeeL said:


> A bit greasier today
> 
> http://www.pinkbike.com/v/159113


great vid


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## SHIVER ME TIMBERS (Jan 12, 2004)

mikesee said:


> I was amazed by how well built it is. No herculean efforts required to clean any of it, other than commitment. The grades are such that if you mostly stay off the brakes you'll fly everything clean. Even with minor scrubbing you can still fly everything clean.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


nice pics to show the distances


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## ryan_daugherty (Oct 8, 2006)

I saw this when i was up there, can't wait to ride it... dang looks great!


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## 8664 (Oct 17, 2005)

super nice!


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## genemk (Sep 15, 2009)

After riding Post Canyon and Black Rock locally I felt like those kinds of features were the weakest link at Whistler (not that it's not super fun though). Stoked to see they're expanding in that direction.


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## Brodiegrrl (Jan 12, 2004)

That step up is HUGE! 

The structures have to be built beefy cause there will be LOTS of traffic on this trail and in the winter it will be covered in heavy snow ( hopefully).


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## LeeL (Jan 12, 2004)

genemk said:


> After riding Post Canyon and Black Rock locally I felt like those kinds of features were the weakest link at Whistler (not that it's not super fun though). Stoked to see they're expanding in that direction.


Just don't go killing yourselves on it and risk-managers will sign off on it. It looks bad to have broken clients all over the place


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## mikesee (Aug 25, 2003)

LeeL said:


> Just don't go killing yourselves on it and risk-managers will sign off on it. It looks bad to have broken clients all over the place


That's where the well-built part comes in. Sure, you need to have skill and judgment and also have a good day to ride this stuff. But a well-built trail goes a long way.

Great stuff.

MC


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## Demo9 (Nov 20, 2006)

Rode the trail yesterday. Very fun trail. You really don't need to go very fast. The drops and step up are no harder than the drop and step up on Dirt Merchant.


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## genemk (Sep 15, 2009)

LeeL said:


> Just don't go killing yourselves on it and risk-managers will sign off on it. It looks bad to have broken clients all over the place


Fair enough, although I'm not sure it's more dangerous than plenty of other trails/features up there. Hopefully the trial period goes well.


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## backshift (Nov 26, 2008)

sick! I noticed them working on it before labor day weekend


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## LeeL (Jan 12, 2004)

genemk said:


> Fair enough, although I'm not sure it's more dangerous than plenty of other trails/features up there. Hopefully the trial period goes well.


I think its totally in keeping with most of the features. Someone else pointed out its like the step up on DM. Another example is that the gaps are also like the step down on Schleyer with the wood ramp - just doesn't have the wood ramp. I really like the fact the wood won't be that compromised by rain. But having said that i'm personally not going to charge that in the rain.


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## ryan_daugherty (Oct 8, 2006)

genemk said:


> After riding Post Canyon and Black Rock locally I felt like those kinds of features were the weakest link at Whistler (not that it's not super fun though). Stoked to see they're expanding in that direction.


Agreed - BR and Post are my local trails. I love the wood features and when i was up at Whistler I definitely missed riding them.

this trail looks great.


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## Internal14 (Jan 21, 2004)

Anyone know how long it takes them to build that section of trail? And how many people they had working on the project? I'm just curious....


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## zx6roxy (Nov 20, 2007)

F2B was a sick trail.

We were at Whistler last week -- I hit every feature on that trail except for that first trail gap (yep, I pussed out).....Now, everyone is telling me the last drop in the "drop to step up to drop" combo I cleared, was way bigger...


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## iguanabartola (Aug 24, 2006)

First day at the park and was wet, muddy but FUN! DM was just amazing, WOW.

Fade to Black is closed, looked like some additional work was done on the landings and take offs. Looks amazing and very doable but first road gap is a bit scary. apparently no much speed is needed but the lander is steep, and never done one of those. 

Will check again today as not raining. The ground dries so quickly, amazing. 

DM action pic


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## Largextracheese (Feb 4, 2004)

*Exacly.*

This IS what Whistler needs. I just went up a few weekends ago for the first time in two years. It was awesome as usual but I just kept thinking about how little it had changed and how they need to shake it up abit up there to keep a seasoned rider wanting more. I rode the newly buffed Dirt Merchant. That trail should be coated in concrete and left alone. I did see the Fad to Black and got excited. I hope this is a sign of things to come up there.


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## Uncle Cliffy (Jul 7, 2006)

Cool stuff.

On an off-topic question, does anyone have some footage of the improved Dirt Merchant?


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## KRob (Jan 13, 2004)

That does look fun.

My buddy just built a step up gap to platform to drop like the one in this pic except I don't think it's that big (maybe five feet off the ground), but the platform is narrower and doesn't have the safety railing on the side.

The rolled lip on the front edge is a nice idea. The first time we hit ours Kel-E cased the platform and broke out the first 2x6.... then tumbled off the end. D'oh.


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## craigstr (Sep 19, 2003)

*Looks way harder then it actually is*



Uncle Cliffy said:


> Cool stuff.
> 
> On an off-topic question, does anyone have some footage of the improved Dirt Merchant?


Fade to black was fun, I think they need a whole trail of that stuff not just four features. I imagine there is more in the works. Here is some DM footage, for some reason my audio files are coming out choppy but. This was our last run of five days at the park, Dominator 13 and I busted out a top to bottom DM to Lower A-Line run, I could hardly hold on by this point.


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## mikesee (Aug 25, 2003)

KRob said:


> That does look fun.
> 
> My buddy just built a step up gap to platform to drop like the one in this pic except I don't think it's that big (maybe five feet off the ground), but the platform is narrower and doesn't have the safety railing on the side.
> 
> The rolled lip on the front edge is a nice idea. The first time we hit ours Kel-E cased the platform and broke out the first 2x6.... then tumbled off the end. D'oh.


So are you back on the bike?

We're riding up here two more days. Gotta be home Saturday night. We might be able to be coerced into checking out the trail/feature you described above on our way back through. Maybe Friday night, maybe Sat AM?

But first and foremost--hope you're back out riding.

MC


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## mikesee (Aug 25, 2003)

iguanabartola said:


> First day at the park and was wet, muddy but FUN! DM was just amazing, WOW.
> 
> Fade to Black is closed, looked like some additional work was done on the landings and take offs. Looks amazing and very doable but first road gap is a bit scary. apparently no much speed is needed but the lander is steep, and never done one of those.
> 
> ...


Fade to Black reopened at about 4PM today. Unfortunately I'd called it a day at about 3:55 and headed back to the condo. Dohp.

I've watched ~30 or so people hit the first road gap. Some are hitting it with tons of speed but punching the bike down. Some are hitting it with moderate speed and popping to get across. A few are hitting it too slow and casing the crap outta the landing. Saw one guy shear his frame in half by casing it.

I haven't hit the road gap yet, but I've hit the rest of the trail twice. Someone else commented that the last step down was bigger than the road gap, but I don't think so. The last step down has almost zero chance of coming up short, and it'd be very, very hard to overfly it. Much less margin for error on the first road gap.

MC


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## mikesee (Aug 25, 2003)

Largextracheese said:


> This IS what Whistler needs. I just went up a few weekends ago for the first time in two years. It was awesome as usual but I just kept thinking about how little it had changed and how they need to shake it up abit up there to keep a seasoned rider wanting more. I rode the newly buffed Dirt Merchant. That trail should be coated in concrete and left alone. I did see the Fad to Black and got excited. I hope this is a sign of things to come up there.


Agreed on all. Hard to beat DM to lower A-line for sheer speed and fun factor. Hard to beat F2B for well-designed and built pucker. Mix in an occasional Angry Pirate to Crabapple Hits and you can burn half a day without wishing for much else.


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## KRob (Jan 13, 2004)

mikesee said:


> So are you back on the bike?
> 
> MC


I may have used the term "we" a bit loosely. My buddies have hit the new feature several times now. I've only been able to look at it longingly. I got the clearance from the doc to start riding today, but I don't think _that_ kind of stunt is what he had in mind. He said something about going "easy".

I would be happy to take you guys on a ride featuring this and some other trinkets (they will seem very mundane after whistler, I'm sure) but will have to pass on the fun stuff myself.

Shoot me an e-mail if you want to stop and stretch your legs abit.. Friday evening or Saturday morning (or both) would work for me.


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## mikesee (Aug 25, 2003)

KRob said:


> I may have used the term "we" a bit loosely. My buddies have hit the new feature several times now. I've only been able to look at it longingly. I got the clearance from the doc to start riding today, but I don't think _that_ kind of stunt is what he had in mind. He said something about going "easy".
> 
> I would be happy to take you guys on a ride featuring this and some other trinkets (they will seem very mundane after whistler, I'm sure) but will have to pass on the fun stuff myself.
> 
> Shoot me an e-mail if you want to stop and stretch your legs abit.. Friday evening or Saturday morning (or both) would work for me.


Pretty chaotic the next few days, so we'll be flying by the seat, so to speak. I'll ping you ASAP if there's any chance of this happening. Thanks for the offer. If we don't see you on this one, let's plan a fall trip to Moab or St. G, eh?

MC


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## whoda*huck (Feb 12, 2005)

mikesee said:


> Fade to Black reopened at about 4PM today. Unfortunately I'd called it a day at about 3:55 and headed back to the condo. Dohp.
> 
> I've watched ~30 or so people hit the first road gap. Some are hitting it with tons of speed but punching the bike down. Some are hitting it with moderate speed and popping to get across. A few are hitting it too slow and casing the crap outta the landing. Saw one guy shear his frame in half by casing it.
> 
> ...


They closed it about 4:00 today. Finally hit it today in the rain in a train behind Airwreck and ebxtreme. Hit it a second time and got shut down on the third attempt. With the right speed it's butter. Glad I got to hit it....last day of the trip.:sad: I hear there's talk of dumbing it down for the masses.


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## JoeBMX (Apr 7, 2007)

This trail is awesome. So glad friends and I got to catch this just before we left last Friday.


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## Rb (Feb 28, 2007)

JoeBMX said:


> This trail is awesome. So glad friends and I got to catch this just before we left last Friday.












And yeah, that's me on the neon green bike eating sh*t over the bars. :lol:

That trail is just too much fun...


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## whoda*huck (Feb 12, 2005)

Craigstr and JoeBMX, what camera are you using?


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## craigstr (Sep 19, 2003)

*Vio Pov*



whodaphuck said:


> Craigstr and JoeBMX, what camera are you using?


But I used Windows Movie Maker to make the video while sitting in the Vancouver airport, it wouldnt let me choose the resolution to save the clip as so it downgraded the quality quite a bit. The VIO shoots at 720x480 so its not HD. I need to pick up a Countour 1080 for my next trip.


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## whoda*huck (Feb 12, 2005)

craigstr said:


> But I used Windows Movie Maker to make the video while sitting in the Vancouver airport, it wouldnt let me choose the resolution to save the clip as so it downgraded the quality quite a bit. The VIO shoots at 720x480 so its not HD. I need to pick up a Countour 1080 for my next trip.


Friend had a VIO and an non HD Epic. VIO was definitely clearer and handled the bright sun to shade much better but he had it on his bars and it was way too shaky.


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## JoeBMX (Apr 7, 2007)

GoPro HD > * 

The audio on the Contour HD is just miserable. Picture quality is about the same, however, the GoPros have better mounting options. I use Vegas 9 to edit.


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## whoda*huck (Feb 12, 2005)

I'm looking at the Drift HD170 closely. Chest mount would be hard but with the velcro you could have multiple helmet and frame mounts.


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## mikesee (Aug 25, 2003)

whodaphuck said:


> They closed it about 4:00 today. Finally hit it today in the rain in a train behind Airwreck and ebxtreme. Hit it a second time and got shut down on the third attempt. With the right speed it's butter. Glad I got to hit it....last day of the trip.:sad: I hear there's talk of dumbing it down for the masses.


Our last day was the day after your last day. They never reopened it all day. Each time up the lift we could hear excavators in the woods on Ninja Cougar, and each time down Upper A-Line we could hear hammers banging nails on F2B. So, it 'sounded' like you're right.

Bummer, that. But I bet it'll still be fun.

MC


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## LeeL (Jan 12, 2004)

whodaphuck said:


> I'm looking at the Drift HD170 closely. Chest mount would be hard but with the velcro you could have multiple helmet and frame mounts.


The video I posted was with the Drift HD mounted on the side of a full face with a modified mount. Frame mounts possible with same modification. Review forthcoming later this month


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## whoda*huck (Feb 12, 2005)

LeeL said:


> The video I posted was with the Drift HD mounted on the side of a full face with a modified mount. Frame mounts possible with same modification. Review forthcoming later this month


Quick review, thumbs up or down?


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## hncreature (Jun 27, 2008)

JoeBMX said:


> This trail is awesome. So glad friends and I got to catch this just before we left last Friday.


This one made me the most nervous of the bunch...because of the crash or so close to the person in front of you I'm not sure...either way it had me sweatin' -- Great vid...hope you were OK


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## whoda*huck (Feb 12, 2005)

Crappy vid (Dr. K's VIO, non hd, zip tied to his bars), but shows how slick the wood was in the rain. Watch Airwreck spin out....




Fade to Black First Time With Airwreck Spinout from Todd Melton on Vimeo.


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