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Whistler Bike Park vs Rotorua
Hi guys, can anyone who has been to any of these two places for mountain biking, give me the plus & minus's of the places. I am trying to plan a trip to either, your help & advice would be appreciated.
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Whistler 1700 metres vertical with a chairlift 7 days a week. Rotorua 450 metres vertical with a shuttle bus twice a week. Canadian mountain biking is a head and shoulders above anything else - if you have the choice it's definitely Whistler. Rotorua is awesome don't get me wrong but Whistler is another level altogether.
It depends on how much money you have to spend. If you have the coin, go to Whistler, you may never get the chance to do it again. Where as Rotorua is only a couple of hours away and is not that expensive, so you can do it anytime really.
Been to both and it depends on what you want to ride.
Lift access Downhill/Freeride goes to whistler no contest - some the kickers/drops/step ups on the trails will scare the pants of you at first but after a couple days you will be throwing out huge whips off everything and generally oozing awesomeness (until you see some pro or local kid in a bear suit go twice as big with a casual 360 and wave to the camera thrown in).
If you're on a 5-6" bike looking for AM stuff to pedal up and have some fun on the way down then Rotorua is probably as far as you need to go. whistler has plenty of this stuff too - it's just not why you go there.
hope that helps.
Thanks guys, i have a 160mm All Mountain rig, not a fan of pedalling up hills, like the idea of shuttling or chairlift/gondola. My idea of fun is going downhill, not ready for jumps quite yet, want nice fast flowing trails. I am going to Rotorua for the long weekend, but planning a trip for mid next year, thus the questions. Also considering Les Arcs in the French Alps, i have been told that is great too.
then you don't need to ask!
Ride it. Enjoy it. Then make an informed decision against the colossal amount of info re Whistler available all over the interweb.
Sorry to jump into the tread like this but any ideas of were to ride NEAR whistler in winter?My girl and i are going to vancouver for 10 days early dec mainly for snowboarding but was hoping to do some biking as well.
Sorry guys, just trying to plan best destination for a 10-14 bike holiday? Only riding Rotorua for 2 days this weekend, cannot compare as have not ridden Whistler, thus the questions.
As others have mentioned here, you cannot compare Whistler to Rotorua.
It's like trying to compare the small ski resorts in Australia or NZ to Europe or the US... only worse: Imagine having to take a bus up the hill for every run!
@Slash, you said you don't like pedalling up hills. That's tough, because Rotorua is awesome, but... you'll have to ride up plenty of hills to get the most out of a visit there.
Sure, there's a shuttle at Rotorua but you cannot compare any kind of shuttle to a chairlift.
Sure, if you were riding a full on DH rig the chairlift is mandatory, but given you are on a 160mm AM bike, my advice would be to train up and embrace the hills.
Hills are your friends. Get tough enough to take them on and your overall riding will improve and be more enjoyable on every trail. There is nothing more satisfying than smashing down epic trails after getting to the top under your own power.
I managed to sneak a Saturday up at Whistler within a work trip to Canada/US. I haven't ridden anything like that before, typically just riding the dam, Red Hill, Oxford Falls etc. So I don't have much experience with jumps. But the runs are graded like ski trails and you will not encounter anything that can't be rolled on green or blue trails.
The green is a little boring, because they are just basic trails, but the blue runs (Blue Velvet and Crank it Up) are a lot of fun. The trails are basically single track, with burms on the corners, large rolling jumps and table tops with about a metre of flat on the top. The first couple of runs can be done without getting any air, but once you get comfortable and flow at the speed of the trail, you can very comfortably take the jumps.
Just make sure you pull up to the side of the trail when the faster guys come up behind you...
Thanks Rob & all others for your advice, i do ride up hills, but still seem to struggle with fitness. I do get you Rob, because i hike up hills to ski fresh tracks in places like Alta & Whistler in the winter, but i still prefer a good chairlift/gondola. Maybe i take the easy option to much! But i still have fun either way.
Whistler it is.
It has got to be Whistler. Although I have been to Rotorua and loved it, you can go on that holiday every other year. Whistler is a once off thing - if you can - do it now.