Whistler Blackcomb

Superb snow

Our week at Whistler was excellent.  We had not skied on such consistently good snow since 1962 in Austria.  The big dump the week before we arrived had set all runs up well and the cold weather kept the snow excellent.  Unfortunately our first day was the Saturday of Presidents Weekend so getting up the lifts for the first ride wass orrendous, but once high up the crowds seemed to evaporate and the lines were not long.  Peak to Peak hs joined the two resort areas very well and the variety of slopes makes for enjoyable skiing over a week or more.  With good snow this is a first rate resort with plenty of restaurants and shops for the apres.

Overcrowded

My wife and I are keen skiers and have elected to ski Whistler -Blackcomb during the 26th of January to the 9th of February of this year. The accommodation (our favourite) The Pan Pacific Mountainside was up to its usual standard and being returning guests treated us to an upgrade.

Midweek skiing even during the day when we experienced rain showers up as high as the Peak to Peak Gondola was fine. Weekends were another matter entirely. W-B apparently has some great deals for the Vancouver locals and the crowds show the success of that. Having said that, once we got up the mountain things were not too bad appart from the behaviour of some of the snowboarders. One of them was so bad I threatened to wrap my ski pole around his head.

Great resort that offers something for all levels. Night life and restaurants are excellent. Plenty to do, even managed to see some movies we hoped to see. The quality of the snow given that it was mid winter was less than we hoped for, bit W-B is in the Coast Mountains and does get rain.  

Sunshine in Whistler

We did a 6 day trip staying at The Whistler Village inn. It was a very easy trip. Whistler connections were easy to find and gave us some good tips whilst driving us up the mountain.

The Whistler Village inn is not the flashest of hotels but they were clean, warm and you couldn''t beat the central location  

Happy 55th Birthday from Whistler Blackcomb

I checked in at the beautiful Legends Hotel at Creekside for my 2nd visit since 2008. After a geat birthday celebration at Hy`s Steakhouse in the village with my 22 year old son (who had been here since June) we hit the slopes the next day for a week of sun and blue skies along with my 19 year old twins and brother who had arrived from Hong Kong. The big storm hit Friday night Feb the 11th dumping 211cm over the next 7 days. On Valentines Day they opened Symphony Express after 2 days of non stop snow and we rode knee deep all afternoon. My 3 sons worked me through the glades and trees on Adagio and Jeff`s Ode to Joy until my legs could no longer take any more. Back at Legends that night relaxing  in the great outdoor spa, the snow continued to dump down I smiled at my 3 sons and said"At 55 it doesnt get any better than this".

I knew we were going to do it all again the next day!

Whistler wonderful

Such a variety of runs. So easy to quickly move between areas on mountain and between two big mountains.

Enough variety of top class apre ski for any taste.

Restaurants and liquor stores well priced again heaps of variety. Top skiing+top pubs+ good food=heavan.

Go looking for the smaller hidden gems of restaurants.

Whistler Delivers

Whistler always delivers, the terrain options are great - steeps, trees, groomers, moguls, some powder days and a hike to Flute Summit is recommended.  First time at Crystal Lodge and it was very good - great location, good room (single loft apartment)and friendly staff.  Really convenient to both Whistler and Blackcomb gondala''s.  Plenty of eating options, with everything from reasonable priced home style food at Gone Bakery (behind book shop in the village) to up-market restaurants.  Recommend Powder Mountain cat skiing (hire some powder skis for the day) and try the free demo skis available at the top of both Whistler and Blackcomb. 

Fantastic Family Accommodation

Perfectly located hotel to both ski gondola''s and to shops and restaurants. 

Hotel staff were very friendly and service was excelent. 

Kids loved the pool and the hot cookies and milk at bedtime!

Whistler Blackcomb is big mountain skiing

2 drawbacks to Whistler: Price. Crowds. A BIG plus: Choice. Crowds aren’t necessarily a drawback. If you’re going for a few drinks in a bar, for example, a crowd can provide atmosphere. But crowded liftlines are a bummer and Whistler has them, big time. But Whistler has so much choice of terrain, that when you finally get off the lift, you can find an uncrowded slope somewhere if you want to. Groomed trails. Bump runs. Terrain parks. Trees. Scary couloirs. Wide open bowls. And views. Amazing.

And when the skiing’s done for the day – whatever time that is - there is so much choice for food, drink and entertainment. Small cafés and coffee shops. Bars and restaurants. 5-star to no-star. There are also good food options on-mountain. But please, if you have too much to drink at Christine’s, don’t try to ski back down. Take the gondola. The views are great from there, too.

Where to stay? You choose. Whistler Village, Creekside, or surrounds. Hotels, B&B, private lodges. Four Seasons luxury or rustic. (Actually, there’s not too much of the rustic.) Room for 1? Or 21? It’s all there. You choose. Oh, yes. And did I mention the views?

Whistler -Tanalus Lodge

We have just returned from a fantastic family holiday in Whistler with our 3 young children.

The resort was it''s usual easy,convenient, friendly self with heaps of atmosphere and all the fanfare of the paralympics.

Whilst the snow quality may not always be top notch in Whistler it is so easy for a young family with loads of amenites, walking distance from lifts and 2 hour proximty from Vancouver airport where one can fly direct in 14 hours.

We were very happy with the Tantalus Lodge -it is more budget style but we were happy to save on accomodation given we would not be spending a great deal of time in our rooms. The staff were very accomodating and helpful, the hot-tub and pool was great and although the rooms were a little dated, they were a good size. The shuttle service was excellent to transport us to and from the base of the lifts each day which would be about a 500m walk. - We would certainly have no problem staying there again.

For a young family Whistler is awesome thats why we keep going back!  

"AWESOME"

Would definitely recommend to friends.

Hotel and staff were awesome.

Mountain was just amazing, great skiing, disappointed we didn''t see any bears though, hibernating.

Location of the Westin was perfect, close to everything.

Thanks to Anne Martin for all your help.