2nd World Technical Skiing Championships, World Masters Alpine Open, Westbeach Snowboard Classic, Whistler Cup, Couloir Extreme Race and a ski industry symposium. Subsequent festivals expanded to include the Whistler Concert Series, World Skiing Invitational, World Snowboarding Invitational, World Snowboarding Championship, Kokanee Boardercross, Salomon Skiercross, Pro Photographer Showdown, Filmmaker Showdown, Brave Art, State of the Art, Fashion Exposed, Multiplicity, Intersection and many others. The World Ski & Snowboard Festival has included Canada's largest free outdoor concert series with 50 live acts per festival. Acts on the WSSF stage have included The Black Eyed Peas, Justin Timberlake, Nickelback, Michael Franti, Nas, Toots and the Maytals, and others. From 2001 through 2006, the World Ski & Snowboard was televised as a four-part series on the Global Television Network and was syndicated to 122 countries. In 2018, the World Ski & Snowboard Festival was acquired in full by Vail Resorts, Inc. upon its acquisition of Whistler Blackcomb. Vail Resorts announced WSSF would continue under new management, Crankworx Events Inc., in a shorter 6-day format, running April 10–15, 2018. Tourism Whistler relinquished its 22-year part ownership of the property. 2018 also marked the return of the Saudan Couloir Ski Race Extreme after a 20-year hiatus. In 2019, Vail Resorts, owner of Whistler Blackcomb, announced the World Ski & Snowboard Festival would be shortened to 5 days, running April 10–14. In November 2019, the World Ski & Snowboard was acquired in full by Gibbons Whistler from Whistler Blackcomb. The 2020 and 2021 Festival were cancelled due to COVID-19, and returned with a scaled-down weekend format in 2022. References External links World Ski and Snowboard Festival Snowboarding Annual events in Canada Festivals in Whistler, British Columbia Arts festivals in Canada Music festivals in British Columbia Art festivals in Canada 1996 establishments in British Columbia Recurring events established in 1996