SEA TO SKY, BC: Squamish, Whistler and Pemberton
Physical Exertion: Intermediate+ / Technical Ability: Advanced – Expert
What to expect for our Sea to Sky trip: Technical trails with crazy lines, slabs, rocks, roots and lots of flow. Bring your A-game, this trip will challenge even the best riders.
New for 2023, we’re expanding our Squamish trip to include two other iconic destinations just up the road: Whistler and Pemberton! This trip will challenge even the best riders with some of the most incredible purpose-built trails you’ve ever laid eyes on. In addition to the slabs and steeps of Squamish, we’re now adding the steep raw trails of Whistler and the big-mountain rugged descents in Pemberton too. Over the course of 5 days of riding, you’ll be challenged with lines you could only dream of, but trust us- you’ll absolutely love it.
For this trip we’ll be based in Whistler; the plan over five days of riding (6 total) will be to spend two in Whistler, two in Squamish, and one in Pemberton… to us, the perfect combination of each location, and it’ll allow us to show you the best of the best without hurrying through the trail systems. The diversity of trails in the Sea to Sky corridor is something we’ve been admiring for years, and once we sampled the goods in Squamish in 2022, we knew we had to bring you back for more. With this trip, we’ve made that leap. We’re partnering with our friends at Arbutus Routes for the guiding element of this trip, to make sure we have the local knowledge of how to combine the best of the best!
This trip is for advanced to expert riders only. The trails we ride are gnarly, steep, technical and fast. Expect large slabs, consistently steep terrain, big exposure, man-made features, and just about anything else you can dream of. This trip is all about the descents, although we will have to climb to earn our turns. We’ll start one Squamish day with a shuttle, but otherwise expect to climb 2-3,000′ over the course of each ride.
Airport Options: Vancouver, BC (1 hour) – Seattle (4 hours)
WHAT TO EXPECT
Day One: Expect to arrive in Whistler by 5:30pm for a brief introduction, bike setup/build, and a welcome dinner and drinks at our lodging for the week. We’ll give you a breakdown of our trip itinerary, let you know what’s coming, and have everyone ready to go for the first day of riding tomorrow!
Day Two: Time to get a taste of the Whistler trails… and we don’t mean their world-famous bike park! Expect a morning warmup on some of the harder blues and easier blacks to get you acclimated to the terrain and your bike, before we get into it after a lunch stop. One of our favorite laps is off the “flank” across the valley from the bike park and includes Chipmunk Rebellion, Pura Vida, and Danimal… although we could treat you to something like Howler if you’re up for the challenge. All told today, expect to ride close to 20 miles with around 2500-3000′ of climbing.
Day Three: This morning we’re heading about 40 minutes south to the Alice Lakes area for our first day of riding in Squamish. We can’t think of a better testing ground for your skills than the likes of Pamplemousse, Leave of Absence and Rupert before working our way up to black diamond trails like Credit Line, Entrails and the bucket-list slab lines of In-N-Out.
You’ll get a little bit of everything today with slabs, steep tech, flow trails and more. All told, expect around 18-20 miles with 2500′ of climbing during today’s ride.
Day Four: Today we’ll drive half an hour north to the sleepy town of Pemberton, BC… but make sure you’re ready for raw, rugged steeps! The trails in “Pemby” are know for being more natural and “big mountain” style, with typically longer descents and steep, loose terrain. The climbs tend to be a bit longer here, but with purpose-built climbing trails, we can settle in and enjoy the beautiful forest on the way up.
Expect a trail like Rudy’s for a warmup, but then we’ll get into it with black diamond descents like Rusty Trombone, Creampuff, Overnight Sensation, and Meat Grinder. If the group is feeling strong, we’ll head back up for a second shorter lap and maximize our time on these incredible trails. The best part? The trails drop out on the back step of Pemberton Brewing, so we’ll cap things off with a cold beer on the patio!
Day Five: Today starts with a nice 2,500′ shuttle ride up to the top of the Diamond Head trail system in Squamish, where we’ll drop in on a trail like Cakewalk to begin the day. The Diamond Head trails tend to be longer, steeper, and more natural than Alice Lake; a perfect place to test your comfort level on rugged, rowdy terrain!