My Whistler report as requested by Echo. 
I didn't take any pics (my camera sux balz), but I did a bunch of riding - 6 days straight. Very little on the Mtn, tho - mostly XC as my travel group are all XC-peeps. A bunch of others took pics and hopefully I'll get copies at some point.
My bike for the trip is my '98 Yeti Lawwill DH-6 w/ a 7" Boxxer, Ringle/D3.1 wheels, Hayes brakes and full XTR 8spd triple.
Some comments/hi-lites:
Fri/Sat (travel): Airline lost our luggage, including three out of four bikes. This put us about 1/2 day back while we waited for everything to arrive on Sat before leaving from Vancouver airport for Whistler. We were able to catch some of the Crankworks feastival Sat night.
Sun: rode River Runs Through It. Fun stuff. It was nice to ride ladders, bridges, etc built by people who know what they're doing rather than some of the stuff I've ridden on the E.C. Fell 3x during the ride. 1: in the concrete skate-bowl trying to get out after getting messed up by my friend riding into the end bowl just as I was trying to get out. 2: on the last of the 5 wood ramps on the fire rode - landed a table-top badly and tumbled over the side of the trail - it was pretty funny, although I got banged up a bit. 3: face-planted trying to roll that 1/2 Moon stunt at the end of RRTI but didn't have enough momentum.
Mon: Rode more XC. Forget which trails. Found a really fun, steep descent in the woods.
Tues: Rode A bunch of stuff including Lost Lake Park and Cut Yer Bars. Fun stuff. Tight, rocky single-track. Then hit the Mtn. First lift-serve riding of the year for me and it showed. Was also riding with my friend Chris on his XC bike (Ellsworth Truth) 1st run: Smoke & Mirrors into Heart of Darkness with a local we rode up on the lift with. 2nd: the infamous A-line. Nicey-nice. Unfortunately, Chris started to get a blister on his hand from riding the stutter bumbs with a 80mm Fox RLT pumped up too hard. 3rd: Garbonzo (coming down No Joke). NICE! Rode everything on it, but Chris' blister was full-on oozing by the end. We hit A-line for the second time on the way down and I cleared most of the doubles - even over-shot one of them. But with no upper-body strength and having already done a decent XC ride along with Chris' blister, I was done for the day.
Weds: Rode more XC. Forget which trails (I don't have a trail map here). We stumbled onto a steep and rocky bridge-work section used for the film The Collection (or Collective?) called 'Gargamel.' Absolutely insane. Then found more really fun singletrack. Steep climbs with fun descents.
Thurs: Did a helicopter-drop guided (www.freerideguides.com) ride from the top of Rainbow Mtn. For sure a high point of the trip. Not cheap, but totally worth it - about $170 CDN. 4000 feet of descending down the longest steeps I've ever ridden. We started above the tree line in the SNOW. The top section reminded me of Mt Snow - open, fast, set-in rocks and a few steep drop-ins. Then we entered the woods. Oh man... Imagine the steepest chute at Plattekill. Now imagine that chute dropping about 300 vertical feet at a shot - then you do it again. Then again. No rest for the weary. We dropped a lot of elevation REALLY fast. The only problem was the guy setting up the trip had down-played the technical aspects of the trail (to keep our more XC oriented group from backing out) so I had the Yeti set-up for XC (2.3 Conti tires, clipless, long post which only drops a few inches from XC height). He arrived fully decked out in his MX gear. I would have preferred my 2.5 Michies, flats, and the shorter post I brought for lift-serve riding. Not to mention a bit more armor - only wore knee/shin pads, my DH jersey and an XC helmet. Still, I rode everything including the one drop on the trail that only I and the two guides hit. About a 5-6 footer that dropped into a nice little chute - very Plattekill-esque. The run ended with some super-fast, mostly bermed, really fun switchbacks down the mtn. In a way, I felt bad for the guides. I think whoever got to lead had fun as they had me on their wheel (they switched at about half-way). The guy riding sweep, however, had to wait as about half our group walked down a lot of the trail as it was way over their heads. This ride was where my DH experience really separated me from the rest of my group as the drop and chutes were stuff they had never even imagined before, but was nothing new (just really long) to me. The guides said most of the people who take this trip have much more DH experience. We completly skipped one really tech-section called Jaws as it would have just been more walking for the rest and I would have preferred the Yeti in DH set-up. Thursday night, a few of us rented 4x4 ATV's for a guided trip to the top of Blackcomb Mtn for a salmon dinner. Tons of fun, but very dusty.
Friday: More XC. This time something called the Riverside trail. Very groomed - like a jogging trail in the woods. Tight, steep switchback climbs and descents. We split off from the others at the end of this as Chris' hand was really bothering him and another guy wanted to rent a DH bike and hit the Mtn. My second time on the Mtn was ok. I rode most of the time with my buddy and we stuck to mostly green and blue trails. At the end, he thought about going up the Garbonzo lift, so I took him down a black trail and that was the end of him - he crashed on a steep section and tweaked his ribs. I did hit that one rock drop under the lift. Wasn't too clean, but I would have been pissed if I hadn't hit it. I did one run down A-Line that was horrible. I was too tired and had no flow going so I was landing the jumps all off-kilter. Lost track of how many times I nearly died. Basically, six straight days of riding had caught up to me and my roadie arms/chest/back.
Sat/Sun: travel home. Airline lost part of my luggage again, but at least the bike made it to me. Had the clothes' bag delivered to my house at 6:40PM on Sunday. Turns out it had been picked for a random search and missed the flight out of San Fran. Next time, I'm taking more time off and driving out there... Plus, I would have really perferred my Chameleon hardtail on some of the stuff - especially River Runs Through It, A-Line and for playing in the DJ park.
No big technicals for me. One ripped rear tire on Friday from riding the Mtn on the XC Contis (yeah... I consider 2.3's to be XC tires...). Busted the Woodman steerer bolt (replaced with a start-nut for $4 at a local shop) trying to tighten the headset. The Yeti is creaking really badly now. I think the ovalized headtube may be beyond even what a King Steelset can fix. The entire bike needs to be broken down and re-greased. All of the trails were EXTREMELY dry and dusty. Lost a screw holding the buckle to my shoe, but was able to get a replacement at a shop. Otherwise, the Yeti performed well, but I think that frame's useful life is behind it. And while I was able to ride it on many of the stunts, it was too long to make some of the tight turns.
That is all...
Peace,
I didn't take any pics (my camera sux balz), but I did a bunch of riding - 6 days straight. Very little on the Mtn, tho - mostly XC as my travel group are all XC-peeps. A bunch of others took pics and hopefully I'll get copies at some point.My bike for the trip is my '98 Yeti Lawwill DH-6 w/ a 7" Boxxer, Ringle/D3.1 wheels, Hayes brakes and full XTR 8spd triple.
Some comments/hi-lites:
Fri/Sat (travel): Airline lost our luggage, including three out of four bikes. This put us about 1/2 day back while we waited for everything to arrive on Sat before leaving from Vancouver airport for Whistler. We were able to catch some of the Crankworks feastival Sat night.
Sun: rode River Runs Through It. Fun stuff. It was nice to ride ladders, bridges, etc built by people who know what they're doing rather than some of the stuff I've ridden on the E.C. Fell 3x during the ride. 1: in the concrete skate-bowl trying to get out after getting messed up by my friend riding into the end bowl just as I was trying to get out. 2: on the last of the 5 wood ramps on the fire rode - landed a table-top badly and tumbled over the side of the trail - it was pretty funny, although I got banged up a bit. 3: face-planted trying to roll that 1/2 Moon stunt at the end of RRTI but didn't have enough momentum.
Mon: Rode more XC. Forget which trails. Found a really fun, steep descent in the woods.
Tues: Rode A bunch of stuff including Lost Lake Park and Cut Yer Bars. Fun stuff. Tight, rocky single-track. Then hit the Mtn. First lift-serve riding of the year for me and it showed. Was also riding with my friend Chris on his XC bike (Ellsworth Truth) 1st run: Smoke & Mirrors into Heart of Darkness with a local we rode up on the lift with. 2nd: the infamous A-line. Nicey-nice. Unfortunately, Chris started to get a blister on his hand from riding the stutter bumbs with a 80mm Fox RLT pumped up too hard. 3rd: Garbonzo (coming down No Joke). NICE! Rode everything on it, but Chris' blister was full-on oozing by the end. We hit A-line for the second time on the way down and I cleared most of the doubles - even over-shot one of them. But with no upper-body strength and having already done a decent XC ride along with Chris' blister, I was done for the day.
Weds: Rode more XC. Forget which trails (I don't have a trail map here). We stumbled onto a steep and rocky bridge-work section used for the film The Collection (or Collective?) called 'Gargamel.' Absolutely insane. Then found more really fun singletrack. Steep climbs with fun descents.
Thurs: Did a helicopter-drop guided (www.freerideguides.com) ride from the top of Rainbow Mtn. For sure a high point of the trip. Not cheap, but totally worth it - about $170 CDN. 4000 feet of descending down the longest steeps I've ever ridden. We started above the tree line in the SNOW. The top section reminded me of Mt Snow - open, fast, set-in rocks and a few steep drop-ins. Then we entered the woods. Oh man... Imagine the steepest chute at Plattekill. Now imagine that chute dropping about 300 vertical feet at a shot - then you do it again. Then again. No rest for the weary. We dropped a lot of elevation REALLY fast. The only problem was the guy setting up the trip had down-played the technical aspects of the trail (to keep our more XC oriented group from backing out) so I had the Yeti set-up for XC (2.3 Conti tires, clipless, long post which only drops a few inches from XC height). He arrived fully decked out in his MX gear. I would have preferred my 2.5 Michies, flats, and the shorter post I brought for lift-serve riding. Not to mention a bit more armor - only wore knee/shin pads, my DH jersey and an XC helmet. Still, I rode everything including the one drop on the trail that only I and the two guides hit. About a 5-6 footer that dropped into a nice little chute - very Plattekill-esque. The run ended with some super-fast, mostly bermed, really fun switchbacks down the mtn. In a way, I felt bad for the guides. I think whoever got to lead had fun as they had me on their wheel (they switched at about half-way). The guy riding sweep, however, had to wait as about half our group walked down a lot of the trail as it was way over their heads. This ride was where my DH experience really separated me from the rest of my group as the drop and chutes were stuff they had never even imagined before, but was nothing new (just really long) to me. The guides said most of the people who take this trip have much more DH experience. We completly skipped one really tech-section called Jaws as it would have just been more walking for the rest and I would have preferred the Yeti in DH set-up. Thursday night, a few of us rented 4x4 ATV's for a guided trip to the top of Blackcomb Mtn for a salmon dinner. Tons of fun, but very dusty.
Friday: More XC. This time something called the Riverside trail. Very groomed - like a jogging trail in the woods. Tight, steep switchback climbs and descents. We split off from the others at the end of this as Chris' hand was really bothering him and another guy wanted to rent a DH bike and hit the Mtn. My second time on the Mtn was ok. I rode most of the time with my buddy and we stuck to mostly green and blue trails. At the end, he thought about going up the Garbonzo lift, so I took him down a black trail and that was the end of him - he crashed on a steep section and tweaked his ribs. I did hit that one rock drop under the lift. Wasn't too clean, but I would have been pissed if I hadn't hit it. I did one run down A-Line that was horrible. I was too tired and had no flow going so I was landing the jumps all off-kilter. Lost track of how many times I nearly died. Basically, six straight days of riding had caught up to me and my roadie arms/chest/back.
Sat/Sun: travel home. Airline lost part of my luggage again, but at least the bike made it to me. Had the clothes' bag delivered to my house at 6:40PM on Sunday. Turns out it had been picked for a random search and missed the flight out of San Fran. Next time, I'm taking more time off and driving out there... Plus, I would have really perferred my Chameleon hardtail on some of the stuff - especially River Runs Through It, A-Line and for playing in the DJ park.
No big technicals for me. One ripped rear tire on Friday from riding the Mtn on the XC Contis (yeah... I consider 2.3's to be XC tires...). Busted the Woodman steerer bolt (replaced with a start-nut for $4 at a local shop) trying to tighten the headset. The Yeti is creaking really badly now. I think the ovalized headtube may be beyond even what a King Steelset can fix. The entire bike needs to be broken down and re-greased. All of the trails were EXTREMELY dry and dusty. Lost a screw holding the buckle to my shoe, but was able to get a replacement at a shop. Otherwise, the Yeti performed well, but I think that frame's useful life is behind it. And while I was able to ride it on many of the stunts, it was too long to make some of the tight turns.
That is all...
Peace,
Reading it brought me right back to the place. Next year I'll have to try one of those heli-drop guided runs just for something different. 
. . .
!