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Living in Seattle or the pacific northwest gives one the luxury of driving to whistler for a few ski days and also availing the great discounts offered to Washington state residents. It is a four long drive from Seattle or a quick two hour from Vancouver to get to the middle of the winter action at whistler. It has slopes and pistes suitable for all skill levels and was our favorite choice given our rudimentary intermediate level of skiing.
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| Snow laden trees and powdery slopes, a welcoming sight. |
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| Now, thats a complete ski suit. |
Together with Blackcomb, the Whistler Blackcomb is the largest ski resort in North America. No wonder its also the most visited ski resort. This crown jewel of British Colombia gets huge average snowfall of over 160cms each year making for great ski conditions. Whistler also prides itself of hosting the winter olympics of 2010. The olympic rings right as you get off the gondola commemorate the same.
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| Mandatory picture with the olympic rings |
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| Ilanaaq, the mascot of winter olympics |
With blue skies and fresh snow from last night we couldn’t ask for a better welcoming sight when we arrived. Our hotel offered unobstructed view of the mountains and the lines of zealous skiers and snow boarders. This was the first time we were taking a gondola while skiing, ditching the chair lifts and couldn’t have been more excited to quick start the day. The gondola from whistler village brings you close to the top of Whistler mountain. You need to take another chair lift to actually get to the summit.
Our favorite intermediate lifts were the symphony and Harmony express and coming down via Jeff’s ode to Joy on the wonder route. The major highlight though was the Peak to creek run which brings one from the peak of whistler mountain to the creek side. The run is 7km long and will probably be the longest we will ever get to do in Canada. It combines the best of all whistler mountain has to offer in one single run. We did this at the end of the day to mark a fantastic finish.
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| Skiing makes for a happy couple 🙂 |
The next day was dedicated to exploring the sister Black comb mountain. A convenient way to navigate between Whistler and Blackcomb mountains is through the peak to peak gondola. Its a hair raising experience to be in a cable car at that height with a valley under your feet. Do look down through the huge glass windows. The ride provides amazing views of the surrounding mountains and lakes below.Getting off any of the chair lifts on the Backcomb side itself offers a panoramic glimpse of the pacific ranges. Not to miss run on this side would be Jersey cream run. If you are wondering what’s with all these characteristic names to ski runs, it really is a thing to have fancy names with ski resorts.
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| Thats the view from the peak to peak gandola. |
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| We did have a day of some cloud sun hide and seek |
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| spot the little red cable car? |
As the last gondola recedes down, the whistler village starts bustling. All the bars and restaurants turn super lively as skiers and snowboarders chatter animatedly their glorious tales of the day spent on the mountains. Whistler is a perfect ski destination for the beginner or the experts who want to tackle the nasty chutes.After skiing for half a week we felt we only scratched the surface. We left with a promise to return to this skiing heaven and explore much more.
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Wow, What a wonderful images of skiing places. I have visited it many of the times. I am very happy to see this great country. It is a home of great attractions. I would like to go there again and again.