Exciting new items and a plethora of well-known favourites are on deck from April 7 to 13 at the World Ski and Snowboard Festival (WSSF).
Multimedia events will shift to the Whistler Conference Centre (WCC), which offers roughly three times as much capacity as previous venues at the Westin Resort and Spa. Organizers are partnering with Red Bull to set up daily video gaming tournaments featuring Riders Republic and Street Fighter 6, while local artists and pro athletes contribute to an art exhibit made up of old skis and snowboards. Expect performance brands DUER and Ruroc Helmets to spearhead an array of pop-up stores.
Free local speaker series Coffee + Creatives will be part of the lineup, giving action photographer Blake Jorgenson, Magnafire Media founder Darren Rayner and Pro Photographer Showdown entrants a chance to share their experiences with guests of all ages and backgrounds.
Also new for 2025 is the Battle of the Bands. Sea to Sky punk rock outfit Last Reminisced Heroes (LRH), who released their debut album in July 2023, overcame Rivers in Violet in the final and earned their chance to open an April 10 concert on the Skullcandy Stage for Ruby Waters.
"There's so many talented local musicians in the Sea to Sky … and we did want to provide a platform for certain bands," says festival director Brittia Thompson. "When we launched this contest, we weren't expecting to see all the newer bands and the names come through, but we're more than thrilled because this could be one of the biggest performances for some of them and they're really just making their way onto the scene."
Sports fans reading this won't want to miss out on The Grind: a new street-style snowboard and ski competition between April 10 and 12 that promises to deliver elite athletic talent.
Signature events
Novelty is great, but time-honoured classics shall continue to form the core of WSSF programming.
Aaron Schwartz, Paris Gore, Zoya Lynch, Morgan Maassen and JB Liautard are featured in the Pro Photographer Showdown, which for the first time will split its prize purse evenly amongst all contestants. The overall winner is getting some extra boons nonetheless: a featured spread in the September 2025 issue of Forecast Ski Magazine, Arc'teryx gear and a trophy carved by Redmond Q̓áwam̓ Andrews of the Squamish Lil'wat Cultural Centre (SLCC).
"This year, there was such a demand to bring back the Pro Photo [Showdown]," explains Thompson. "It's really established itself as a platform for mountain culture photographers specifically to come and show their work. Historically, a lot of photographers have [slingshotted their careers] after winning this."
If motion pictures are what's up your alley, check out the 72-Hour Filmmaker Showdown and Intersection. The former asks participants to craft a three- to five-minute movie within three days and 100 kilometres of Whistler, and it currently remains to be seen if Two Dontas, One Proctor will attempt a third straight victory.
Intersection, meanwhile, is an electrifying highlight reel of action short films. The Reserves, led by Joey Kraft, are back to defend their overall and People's Choice titles from incumbent runner-up crew Shmobb and other worthy challengers like Airtime, Friendly Fire, Baked Goods and the Buck Hunters.
"With 72-Hour, you get all levels of people competing. You get people who just want to try and make a film with their friends, and you also have people who've graduated from internationally-known film schools. We never know what we're going to get—the ideas that emerge are just all over," Thompson remarks. "Intersection is just wild. You have some of the most talented athletes, filmers … and there are quite a few new up-and-coming crews in this one. Some of these crews have athletes that just threw down in Natural Selection."
Providing the soundtrack to all of the aforementioned fun and more is a star-studded Live Outdoor Music Series featuring local legends (A Whole Lotta Led), Canadian content (Shred Kelly, Waters) and international musicians (Fort Knox Five Live).
Thompson elaborates: "Kristen Robinson, who also produces the [Resort Municipality of Whistler] concert series, was crucial in creating the lineup. I think this lineup is a really good mix of tying in mountain culture with global names.
"I always like to say we're putting the 'world' back into the 'World Ski and Snowboard Festival' and making it a signature event not only for Whistler, but for all mountain culture enthusiasts, athletes and artists. Our goal is to have it become a global signature event one day."
For more details, visit wssf.com.
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