A few weekends ago, I hopped across the border to spend a weekend enjoying soft, spring snow at Whistler Blackcomb. We had a lovely time, flying down blues and treacherously turning through piles of heavy snow on the more-advanced blacks.
Temporarily ignore the headline; despite it all, I recommend you do go.
The famous ski area is the largest in North America, spanning 8,000 acres and more than 5,000 feet of elevation, and boasting 200 trails and 17 restaurants. The ski area first opened in the 1960s when a group of Vancouver businessmen attempted to lure the Winter Olympics to British Columbia. In the 1980s, Blackcomb arrived, spurring a bitter rivalry between the two mountains. In 1998, they merged and in 2016, Vail Resorts stepped into the picture.
Skiers traverse the G.S. blue run as the clouds lift, revealing Garibaldi Provincial Park. (Hailey Hoffman/Cascadia Daily News)
To put it simply, Whistler is world class (I mean, they did host the Olympics in 2010), so it’s a breeze to find a dozen articles proclaiming the best things to do in the winter wonderland an hour and a half from Vancouver. So I’m going to dive into things you don’t want to do, based solely on my mild misfortunes.
1. If driving in, don’t underestimate traffic. While it’s no Lake Tahoe, you might be delayed by 30 or 45 minutes, wasting precious ski minutes to snag a spot in one of the day lots.
2. Don’t buy your lift ticket the morning you hit the slopes for the sake of time and price. Day-of tickets typically sit around $150 USD, which by Vail Resorts standards, is not insane (i.e, not $200+ for Vail or Breckenridge), but buying ahead on the website typically knocks off a few dollars. Additionally, if you really look ahead, Washington state residents can swipe an EDGE card for two, five or 10 days at Whistler for a cheaper ski day. Vail Resorts also sells the Epic Pass with additional discounts available for groups like military veterans and students.
Whistler Mountain offers extensive views of Garibaldi Provincial Park in British Columbia. (Hailey Hoffman/Cascadia Daily News)
3. Don’t start your day late. The mountain is huge, and you’ll want to explore as much of it as possible. Endless open bowls, groomed blue runs through the trees and even a glacial ice cave are accessible at this behemoth of a mountain.
4. Don’t forget a rubber scraper. Bring something better than a credit card to scrape off breath that has somehow frozen over your goggles. The other option is skiing blind, either because of ice on the lens or going without said goggles altogether in sloppy weather (speaking from experience).
5. Don’t go up to the top of Blackcomb if you still snowplow on steeper terrain. The popular Blue Line quickly turns into a steep bottleneck where I witnessed multiple crashes and skis flying as too many not-so-experienced skiers tried to traverse the more-advanced terrain.
6. Don’t miss out on Symphony Bowl if you like wide-open spaces. It takes multiple lifts and runs to reach the area on the far west side of Whistler Mountain, but the lack of crowds and snow is worth the trek.
7. Don’t forget to snag a map. Without it, you might be caught at a fork in the trail — or take the wrong one and end up in the entirely wrong village (Creekside) at the end of a long exhausting day. This means taking the gondola once again up another 2,000 feet in elevation and suffering down an endless green cat track as your legs scream to stop.
A father and son watch cars on the Peak 2 Peak Gondola pass by while heading to Whistler Mountain. (Hailey Hoffman/Cascadia Daily News)
8. If you have the chance, don’t miss out on the Peak 2 Peak gondola. It is beautiful, and it is worth it, and it is often closed due to poor weather in the winter.
9. Don’t get the burrito bowl at one of the many lodges. I simply did not like it. It might have been better had I not ordered the vegan “chicken.”
10. Reservations? Yes, required. If you’re wanting to eat anywhere in the village in a group with more than two people, don’t forget to make a reservation. Especially if it’s a Friday or Saturday night, you will be fully exposed to the chaos that is Whistler Village while becoming increasingly hungry.
All this advice might seem as though it comes late in the season, but thanks to Whistler’s high elevation and average 37 feet of snow, parts of the mountain stay open for skiing and riding into late May.
