Spending a Summer in Whistler Biking
Posted on March 9, 2012 at 11:18 am

I took the Peak Leaders mountain bike instructors course in 2011. I was quite apprehensive about going on this course as I did not think my Downhill skills were up to scratch as I had only been riding downhill for around 6 months but had been riding cross country for about 3 years also I was doing the course with my brother who is a very experienced Downhill racer riding at the top level. When I arrived however and met Dahj, the Group Leader, Dom, our Coach/Guide and some of the other guides I was instantly reassured. Everyone was welcoming  and filled with enthusiasm, which totally rubbed off on the rest of the group. The accommodation was amazing, our own garage for the bikes with plenty of space, a huge living area and kitchen, a nice big hot tub also made it even better. The house was also situated plenty close enough to the lift so riding there each morning was no problem.  Having our own personal chef 4 days a week was also brilliant and the food was fantastic.

Onto the course itself. We started out with a few days of the guides accessing our skills and giving us pointers and helping us progress our own skills, I found this very useful as did other people on the course, I even think my brother learned a thing or two . After this we moved onto the course itself and began with a few days of CTC Trail Leader, we met Bob Campbell who had come over from the U.K in order to deliver this qualification. This gave us a few days out of the park and onto theLostLakeXCtrails. Bob focused on teaching us and accessing our leading ability one by one. The nights consisted of a little bit of light theory work and between this we all got in plenty of runs in at the park. After this it was back into the park and onto the IDP level 1 where met Mike Johnstone. The guy who was going to be teaching us and accessing us in the IDP level 1 and 2. Level 1 was all about guiding people down the trails in the park and what beginners need to be taught and how to keep people safe when riding in the park. We were split into groups and all took turns in leading for the assessment with Mike watching closely. These sessions went from 10am to 3pm each day, so after a day of learning there was still 5 hours to hit the park and get in plenty of runs. After the level 1 assessment we moved onto level 2 which was a fairly big step up and involved the teaching of jumps, drops, high speed corners and how to generally keep people safe when doing these activities. The progression in these skills made sense to everyone and Mike made everything clear and understandable so we all knew what we had to do to pass. The sessions again went from 10am to 3pm.

In-between all this learning and riding we had a week off for Crankworx, which was pretty awesome, watching the world’s best riders in every kind of mountain bike discipline also there was plenty of fun times on days off from trips down rivers in dingies with beers, to house parties and endless BBQs. Once Crankworkx was over it was onto more learning and eventually the assessments, a few days of practice for all and away we went. After a few days of assessments we were finished and I had passed IDP level 1 and 2 and was pretty chuffed. My riding had also come on leaps and bounds; every trail in the park was very ride able.

A few more days of riding after this and one awesome snow ride where we got to go a chairlift higher than the Garbo zone, which hailed epic views and some funny moments also a 5000+ft decent was pretty nice! Then it was onto the goodbyes and packing which led to I think everyone saying they can’t wait to come back.