Flowy Intermediate Trails in the Sea-to-Sky Corridor

Whistler, Squamish, Pemberton — the mountain bike destinations sprinkled along the Sea-to-Sky Corridor are famous worldwide as the home of the planet's best mountain bike trails... and some of the most challenging mountain bike trails. But the riding here isn't all vertical, gnarly, rock-filled insanity. If you know where to look, you can also find a slew of flowy intermediate trails that are guaranteed to put a smile on the face of any mountain biker.

This guidebook highlights flowy intermediate trails all up and down the Sea-to-Sky corridor in all three of these iconic destinations, but by far the most diverse destination—with the most intermediate trails on offer—is the town of Squamish. Squamish is home to an expansive trail system with a mind-boggling array of mountain bike trails. Hidden in the deep forests covering the slopes of the Coast Mountains are endless machine-built flow trails, many of which set the international benchmark for flow trail quality. It's incredible to be out on a pedal in the deep forest and to stumble onto a top-tier flow trail that's better than the flow trails found in most bike parks around the world... yet you were just riding around in Squamish. This happens all the time here.

Half Nelson is easily the most famous flow trail in Squamish and possibly on Planet Earth. It attracts hundreds of thousands of tires per year to its massive berms and sculpted tabletop jumps. But don't sleep on the other nearby hits: Pseudo-Tsuga is an absolute gem, and for a big ride, you can combine it with the lengthy Meadow of the Grizzly trail higher up the mountain. Miki's Magic and Slippery Salmon are both superb jump lines tucked deep in Alice Lake Provincial Park. Mad Hatter is even more remote but forgoes the jumps in favor of sheer speed. And there's so much more: Rollercoaster, Valleycliffe's cross-country trails, the ever-entertaining Man Boobs... the list goes on and on.

While Whistler's trail riding is, on the average, much more challenging, you can still find some flowy intermediate gems if you know where to look. High Side, Hi Hi, and Farside in the Cheakamus trail system are some of the easiest trails on offer. Lost Lake is one of the best intermediate rides in the region, but whether or not it's flowy depends on how much flow you can make out of it. Some of Whistler's epic trails leading to the alpine also peg on the flowier end of the spectrum, including Lord of the Squirrels and Chipmunk Rebellion.

Finally, Pemberton is renowned for its rockiness, but a few rides still offer some great flow (albeit with a few rocks still mixed in). The short Radio Tower -> Cross Town Jumps loop might be one of the most approachable rides, but Rudy's, Max Pains, and Back Pains also offer a fantastic fast, flowy romp down the mountainside.

If you've always wanted to visit the Sea-to-Sky Corridor but have been intimidated by all of the gnarly photos in bike magazines, don't be—there are plenty of fantastic flowy trails to enjoy!