I am Planning on moving from virginia, to somewhere out west, in early May. My plans are to get a job at a ski resort and work from May-December. Right now i am in the process of applying for my student Visa, which would potentially allow me to work At Whistler, however i hear that it can be hard to get a job up there (contrary to what the employement department at whistler tells me). So, if i dont end up in whistler, who has the best bike park out West (CA, utah, colorado, washington, montana, oregon, whever)? I ride at snowshoe in West Virginia right now. I prefer technical riding over super smooth high speed stuff. Rain doesn't bother me too much either. I also dont know if i would like riding in really dry stuff like at Mammoth. I am equally interested in Downhill as i am in freeride style trails, so a little of both is good. Who has the most trails, most diversity in terms of trail style, biggest verticle, nicest atmosphere, and best park overall? What do you guys think? I am open to anything, but i also want to keep winter in mind, in terms of skiing conditions. If you can, give me a brief summary of what makes each resort good. Thanks!!
Best bike park out west?
- Thread starter KevinR86
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If you ended up in the portland oregon area you would have a ton of great riding and lifts within a few hours. alot of shuttle trails and whistler is still about 4-5 hours away. mt hood has some good stuff, the coast rips, central oregon has some insane shuttle runs. north cali has a a handful of good resorts but nothing like whistler. oregon washington has some of the best freeride north shore stuff around. you could never live long enough to hit all of it.
I doubt that you'll be able to afford the cost of living anywhere on the west coast if your only source of income is working at a ski resort, or anywhere on the east coast for that matter. Cali is stupid expensive, Seattle is not far behind, Utah is cheap if you want to buy a house, but renting is expensive for some reason, I can't comment on Colorado, New Mexico or Arizona but I can say with some certainty that anywhere close to a resort will be pretty expensive, even in the summertime. Idaho might be a good option if you think a cross between "Ground Hog Day" and "Napoleon Dynamite" sounds like a fun summer.
Your best bet would be to get a job offer then move, trying to work it the other way around will make you poor really quick.
Your best bet would be to get a job offer then move, trying to work it the other way around will make you poor really quick.
can you say, whistler?
Keystone's nice!
keystone is amazing, but i'd say move to oregon and if you can tolerate foggied, wetter weather, northern washington is the place to be. california is so overrated, it's ok, but oregon kicks its ass and washington is even better imo. the oregon coast gives a mix of the washington kinda thing with california, so i'd move there if you like cali and washington but both in moderation.
Whistler
Post Canyon (hood river, OR)
Boobies
Those are the priorities in order. And I'm still not sure boobies deserve to be that close to post canyon.
We don't build bike parks in california anymore because mountain biking is dangerous.
Post Canyon (hood river, OR)
Boobies
Those are the priorities in order. And I'm still not sure boobies deserve to be that close to post canyon.
We don't build bike parks in california anymore because mountain biking is dangerous.
I don't know what they are all smokin but Cali riding is great!!!!
Mammoth, if you move there in the summer is not that expensive. You can easily rent a room for $400 and the crowd is really cool. Don't go to Oregon-sorry those of you who live there. My fam is from there and I did my time, but Cali is the place to be. Riding in Mammoth is epic, and there are more riders here than any other state. May would put you here in time for some races-Cal State and two Nationals. Don't mean to offend anyone here, but you should definitely come here. We have every type of riding you can imagine, plus every other sport within driving distance.
I tried to get a job in Whistler a while ago, too, and the whole visa thing is really tricky. You have to have residence in order to get a visa, but you have to have a visa to get hired.
Mammoth, if you move there in the summer is not that expensive. You can easily rent a room for $400 and the crowd is really cool. Don't go to Oregon-sorry those of you who live there. My fam is from there and I did my time, but Cali is the place to be. Riding in Mammoth is epic, and there are more riders here than any other state. May would put you here in time for some races-Cal State and two Nationals. Don't mean to offend anyone here, but you should definitely come here. We have every type of riding you can imagine, plus every other sport within driving distance.
I tried to get a job in Whistler a while ago, too, and the whole visa thing is really tricky. You have to have residence in order to get a visa, but you have to have a visa to get hired.
if you work ast whistler, youll be able to afford it. staff houseing is dirt cheap, something like 15-20 bucsk a night. and food/groceries out of the village (5min drive0 1-15 min ride are normal priced so you wont get shafted like you do in the village, and actually the grocery store in the vullage has fairly reasonable pricing. And the great thing about living in staff housing is that it has a stove you can cook youself, and you dont have to pay for lighting, heat or water, at least im pretty positive you dont 99.9 percent sure. And yea, youd have to get a work permit since its out of country, so if you cant work there maybe work at sun peaks? cop? or in the US keystone?
Eren
Eren
Actually, becuase i am an actively enrolled student, i can use a student visa to get a job. according to the whistler employment reps i don't need the work permit, which from what i undestand is the hardest thing to obtain. i did look into the prices of the housing which is part of the reason i chose to try whistler first-really cheap like you said. so hopefully i can get the visa and just live up there. that would be sick.
amen.
Can you name 3 trails that aren't the bike park that qualify as epic?
I'll give you rock creek.
The mammoth rock trail or the xc trails linking old mammoth road to the mountain from old mammoth is hardly what most people would consider epic.
If there's more I'll gladly give you a generous serving of your alcohol of choice if you show me where next time I'm in town
I've spent years going down there (work related) looking for places to ride. There really aren't any without poaching wilderness.
the sweet thing is, even if you dont work at whistler, but somehwere in the village, bike shop, grocery store, a little out of town, you can still stay in employee houseing at whistler, same price, just a 2 week minimum, hehe.
Utah has little in the way of lift-served riding (we're trying to change that...Deer Valley and Sundance are the only resorts with actual DH) and living is only cheaper than the coast (still pretty pricey - expect around 600/mo for a decent 1 BR, quarter million for a shanty not in the ghetto).
A whole sh!t-ton of XC riding, if that's your thing. Lots of winter riding about 4-5 hours away in St. George and Moab. I suppose if Silverton opens for riding this summer, that puts good lift-served stuff about 6 hours away...
I'd move to Portland, given the chance, as I'm not a huge skiing fanatic and would love the relative proximity to Whistler. If you love skiing, SLC is the place to be. Period. 7 resorts within 40 mins...
A whole sh!t-ton of XC riding, if that's your thing. Lots of winter riding about 4-5 hours away in St. George and Moab. I suppose if Silverton opens for riding this summer, that puts good lift-served stuff about 6 hours away...
I'd move to Portland, given the chance, as I'm not a huge skiing fanatic and would love the relative proximity to Whistler. If you love skiing, SLC is the place to be. Period. 7 resorts within 40 mins...
Dude, Uptown is epic.Can you name 3 trails that aren't the bike park that qualify as epic?
I'll give you rock creek.
The mammoth rock trail or the xc trails linking old mammoth road to the mountain from old mammoth is hardly what most people would consider epic.
If there's more I'll gladly give you a generous serving of your alcohol of choice if you show me where next time I'm in town
I've spent years going down there (work related) looking for places to ride. There really aren't any without poaching wilderness.
There are some pretty cool DH trails on the mountain though. Skid Marks-Bridge the Gap-Bullit is cool. 5 Boroughs at the end of course.
Riding down uptown is actually pretty fun because all the turns aren't blown out.
But that's bike park
back to the original question...don't move to Wa unless you like not having any lift served riding (whisler is close though) and you enjoy getting shafted by the man at every turn. There are a couple spots that are both fun and legal but whistler or perhaps keystone are really the places to be.
dude. move to NJ, cost of living ain't bad. go work at mtn creek in the winter, and ride at diablo in the summer.
i just moved out to cali from living on the east coast my whole life. sure there's tons of places to ride. but you need lots of money for gas. everything is so spread out. hell i don't even drive.
but i have a fun job and ton of places locally to ride.
maybe think a little more about what you're gonna do?
i just moved out to cali from living on the east coast my whole life. sure there's tons of places to ride. but you need lots of money for gas. everything is so spread out. hell i don't even drive.
but i have a fun job and ton of places locally to ride.
maybe think a little more about what you're gonna do?
What about Silver Star in Vernon, BC? Sun Peaks is close. Vancouver and the whole of the North Shore is a few hours away. Whistler only a couple more further on down the road. Word is that Silver Star is GREAT riding.
If whistler falls through I would definately say keystone. They are working hard on becoming whistler, CO. Plus less rain, and where as before it was alot of smoothish stuff, the new trails have added alot of technical, as well as jumps.
The thing is, getting a job at whistler insn't the hard part, its just getting a job in Canada as a U.S citizen that can prove to be difficult, so if whistler falls through its becuase of the Canadian Gov not granting me the required permits/visa whatever.
Sounds like people are pretty much agreeing oon Keystone. Hows the skiing there in the winter? Anybody local there?
1) Whistler
2) Silver Mtn., Kellogg, ID. Get a job working for Otis on the trails and you'll ride every day
2) Silver Mtn., Kellogg, ID. Get a job working for Otis on the trails and you'll ride every day
It's kinda like whistler, and everything else.
Try really hard to get there.
Try really hard to get there.
how old do you have to be to be on trail crew up there?1) Whistler
2) Silver Mtn., Kellogg, ID. Get a job working for Otis on the trails and you'll ride every day
^^Probably sixteen but I'm not sure. Call Silver and ask for Heather or Otis.
What are the bike park and riding scene like at silver mountain?
I'd have to give big sky montana my vote for really techy downhill and sweet freeriding as well. Lots of crazy shore stuff, big jumps and all that. the lift only runs for about 3-4 months though. Bozeman is about 45 min. away where there are lots of singletrack trails as well. It's a fun college town with lots to do and the skiing is awesome as well. Hmm..what more could ya want!
i just got a hint from a customer told me about this town in the mountains in nm...rui dosa prime oppurtinty ..i cant find much though
Probably cant find much because you are spelling it wrong. Ruidoso, NM.
Cloudcroft is close to there. I think they have a little chairlift riding. Its a cool town but i dont think I would rank it among the best bikepark riding in the west.
hopefully i'll be spending my summer in bozeman this year. what does like a season pass for big sky cost? is the riding scene pretty rockin up there?
i don't know what a season pass goes for these days, but big sky is on privately owned land...they do what ever they want, and there's tons of deadfall to work with.
ya, i'd say the riding scene is good, there's always people down to ride and there's plenty of good DH and FR. The bmx track and dj's in bozeman could be better, but anything goes as far as trail building in big sky. My family also owns a lot of land too where we build trails in the spring and fall, you can shuttle them all and there's lots of gap jumps and all that that are pretty fun.
Yeah i was actually looking at big sky, they have pretty good employee houseing deals and the skiing sounds sick. How many trails do they have on the mountain for DH? are they planning on expanding trail systems this year?
where are there some decent pics of bigsky, the resort page seems to have nothing
totally agree. i like mammoth area for the lift and BC skiing, but for mtn biking it starts to feel real limited real fast (although riding the mtn bike park is good). that's why i bought a house in tahoe instead of mammoth.Can you name 3 trails that aren't the bike park that qualify as epic?
I'll give you rock creek.
The mammoth rock trail or the xc trails linking old mammoth road to the mountain from old mammoth is hardly what most people would consider epic.
If there's more I'll gladly give you a generous serving of your alcohol of choice if you show me where next time I'm in town
I've spent years going down there (work related) looking for places to ride. There really aren't any without poaching wilderness.
re: whistler on low wages...i'm doing the math here in my head...20 bucks a night X 30 nights = 600 bucks a month for employee housing. is that cheap relative to the typical whistler peon salary? in the winter it seems whistler locals are renting closets to sleep in (2 per closet, fat guy sleeps on the bottom)...is the summer housing mucho better?
Theres quite a few riding pics on pinkbike of big sky and bozeman
I was in the same boat last year, wanted to move someplace where I could ride year round and be close to lift riding, shuttle riding and some more epic places like Moab and Virgin. I ended up in Phoenix, only because coming from Chicago, Phoenix seemed smaller, had work in my field and the cost of living is reasonable for a big city.
I got good riding right out my back door on South Mountain, everything from XC to shuttle run DH. Not to mention just about every mountain in the valley has trails of some kind on it.
Head north to Flagstaff and there is some great trails all over Mt. Elden, everything from AM to locals only shore style stuff.
3 hours north east is Sunrise Ski Resort, which is an up and coming resort that has embraced the MTB community and works to better their trails as much as possible.
Virgin and Moab UT are a 6-8hr drive, but in reality you couldn't live much closer without living in a small town somewhere along the way, or on a reservation.
Angelfire NM is 7hrs away.
So Cal is 4-5hrs away.
In the summer riding in Phoenix is best left to at night, which makes it interesting to go DHing with a headlamp
I got good riding right out my back door on South Mountain, everything from XC to shuttle run DH. Not to mention just about every mountain in the valley has trails of some kind on it.
Head north to Flagstaff and there is some great trails all over Mt. Elden, everything from AM to locals only shore style stuff.
3 hours north east is Sunrise Ski Resort, which is an up and coming resort that has embraced the MTB community and works to better their trails as much as possible.
Virgin and Moab UT are a 6-8hr drive, but in reality you couldn't live much closer without living in a small town somewhere along the way, or on a reservation.
Angelfire NM is 7hrs away.
So Cal is 4-5hrs away.
In the summer riding in Phoenix is best left to at night, which makes it interesting to go DHing with a headlamp