Trails Update: Nov 06, 2020
2020 greatest hits
This spring, some COVID budgetary cuts really rocked our 2020 trail crew plans. It looked like we would only get 8 weeks of trailwork this year.
Amazingly, word spread of our financial shortfall and donations started pouring in!
I want to thank the WORCA members and sponsors who participated in fundraisers as well as the WORCA Board’s brilliant pivots to keep the trails maintenance program going straight through to Halloween!
Props to our crew members for sticking it out through this season’s uncertainty. They showed up everyday devoted to making a difference.
Gavin, Jaden, Matthias and Riley: The Chipmunk Rebellion would not be complete without your hefty digging and rock whispering. Our backs thank you!
Liam and Pat: Thanks for the extra support and thinking outside the box. We’d love to have you all summer! BTW: You both get employee of the week!
Benoit and Renee: As always, your expertise shone bright! Your ingenuity and perseverance solved the toughest terrain that Whistler has to offer. You’re fun to wander in the woods with and inspire me to elevate my work too.
For 2020, our philosophy was to showcase full renovations on select trails. This season, there was a lot of chainsaw carpentry: 39 bridges (totalling 361 metres!) and a lot of sticking sharp tools in the ground: 1972 metres of new or fully re-constructed tread.
Here are this season’s highlights:
Runaway Train: Getting this early spring ride out of the canals required a hefty 300m re-route, 8 bridges and over 100 pounds of nails!
Cheap Thrills: This Westside classic was ready for fresh cedar. We replaced 10 wood structures and stuck to its double-black rating: higher and skinnier to narrowly elevate the thrills.
Pura Vida: This well loved trail got top-to-bottom surgical treatment: meticulous root armouring. We also added a (130m) ride-around to skip the burly loose chute.
Danimals: These popular low elevation trails got hammered by keen wet weather riders this spring. All of the danimals got some serious “de-muck-ification” and drain upgrades.
Industrial Waste: After 3 seasons, it was time to tune-up the duff sections. With 4 new recruits, we fully benched and armoured this crucial artery.
Chipmunk Rebellion: We started by adding 2 flowifying bridges to the lower half (opened in 2019) while the upper portion was still a blank canvas. We completed the new 1100m ribbon with 6 weeks of trail crew muscle, 1 gritty volunteer trail day and 8 “field-classroom” days for Whistler Adventure School students. This build was strewn with off camber bedrock fingers and wide waterway crossings. The trail crew outdid themselves with stunning work through puzzling westside terrain.
Legalize It: Serious armouring brought this trail back into single-black technicality.
Lord of the Squirrels: 3 bridges were added to the lowest section in the spring and some tread repairs were conducted at higher elevation just before the snow fell.
Get Over It: This important lower valley connector was in dire need of new woodwork. We managed to replace some of the carpentry with longer lasting masonry.
The trail crew can only be in one place at a time. Thankfully, Whistler is blessed with devoted trail gnomes!
Here are some 2020 Volunteer highlights:
Trash: Ken and Dwayne’s amazing rockwork set the bar for a season of expert level Tetris.
Danimal North: Andy worked wonders choking and armouring the trail to make it tight again.
Prowler/Howler: Zander’s machine work and Tony’s armouring have greatly improved this popular after work combo.
Far out/ Flashback: It took 3 years to navigate the bureaucracy before ground breaking on this Cheakamus project. Props to Seb and Zander for corralling Tuesday dig night volunteers through COVID times.
Tunnel Vision (re-vision): Thanks to Tim, Alex and the Zep crew for chipping away at this great connection. (to open in 2021…)
A shout-out also goes out to all of the “rake and reporters” that served as our eyes all over the valley!
And the WORCA Board of Directors! Powering through Zoom meetings for us.
Finally, I must express a heartfelt thank you to the community at large for trusting us to care for one of Whistler’s most cherished assets: the trails.
See you next spring! ...on the trails.
Dan Raymond
WORCA Lead Trail Builder
