Request: Ski Advice - Whistler, Canada

Knubje

Knubje

Knubje

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Hi,

I am looking for some help! I am getting married in a few months and have been given the task of investigating honey moon destination.

We love skiing and are thinking that we might want to go to Canada as we have never been. Whistler in particular interests us because it is the KNOWN place to go. I have been taking a look online but would be interested to glean any knowledge from OcUK'ers who might have the experience.

Probably looking at April, but want a quiet time ideally avoiding such events as spring break and national holidays.We are thinking 7-10 days might be appropriate, given that it is a 9hr flight + 2hr drive roughly to get there, which is a hell of a lot more effort than France!

That being said, can anyone offer any recommendations or general advice that might help us narrow down our options?
 
Went in February 2012 with family, having previously been to the alps (Les Arcs) twice. We all walked away from it saying we would never go anywhere but Whistler again.

We stayed in the Whistler Delta Suites, they run a mini bus service for the small journey between the hotel and the base of the two lifts (Whistler and Black Coombe) which isn't a big walk at all, definitely doable as we did most days, but sometimes it was nice to get a lift there with all your gear, and always very nice to get one home in the afternoon!

There's a lot to the village, will type up a bigger reply when I'm on a PC tomorrow, in the mean time any questions you have do ask, drop me a message in trust if you'd like any pictures too :)
 
Whistler is awesome - the facilities are second to none based on my experience (including numerous popular resorts in Europe / NA). The only criticism I've heard is that it is very 'commercial', which my sister thought made it feel a bit short on character, but I think it has a fantastic laid back atmosphere. Just something to consider if you prefer a more quaint feel to resorts. It can also be extremely busy on national holidays and other popular times, but in April you should be fine (school breaks notwithstanding).
As you mentioned the long journey there... obviously the flight is longish, no getting around that. I do feel though that the transfers etc. tend to run smoother than in Europe though. The drive up there is very scenic too, so the 2.5hrs tends to go very quickly for me even after lots of trips there.
Depending on what kind of accomodation you're after, I have stayed in Delta Suites (mentioned by Voxination), which are nice spacious self catering suites, and a very easy walk to / from the lifts. Also the Hilton and Westin are hotels pretty much right by the lifts and both very nice. You've then got the Chateau Whistler and Four Seasons over by the base of Blackcomb. They're probably the most upmarket in feel, but bear in mind they are a short walk or shuttle bus ride to the main village, which may or may not bother you (probably less so in April as it will be warmer and therefore make the walk more pleasant).
TL;DR - I love it. Any more specific questions, just ask :)
 
Whistler is great. Went up there for new years with the family years ago and the whole village turns into one big party. The mountains are massive so you can always find a quiet slope to yourself if you go further up off the main drags.

Can't offer any help with logistics though!
 
Voxination said:
There's a lot to the village, will type up a bigger reply when I'm on a PC tomorrow, in the mean time any questions you have do ask, drop me a message in trust if you'd like any pictures too :)
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bledd. said:
Mr Stu lived there for a while. I'll ask him to post here..
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Thanks, would very interested to have more information!I really appreciate it! Ideally we are looking something that doesn't involve bus rides or massive long lifts to get anywhere in the morning. Would like to be as central as possible!

I once went to Italy on the cheap and getting up super early to get a 35min Gondola to the mountain daily, it was a tedious and I have become accustomed to better conditions in my older age and experience :)

I am thinking that maybe a 10 day break might be ideal, and perhaps do 6 days of skiiing and have the rest for an activity day or two. Is there much to cater for this? What sort of things are there available?

Looking online, it seems that other than Easter (leading into first day of April only) there are no national or school holidays in British Columbia in April. Therefore I'm looking at around Satuday 7th - Weds 17th April. Has anyone been this time of year? Will there be plenty of good snow? I know for France Mid-April really is getting very late in the season unless you are very high.

I'm looking for any recommendations; Hotels, Activities, Places to rent ski's, Restaurants - anything that people have done before and have tried/tested and liked!

I've heard the restort is pretty massive, I assume the Ski Pass has a few options of all encompassing or certain areas? My partner and I are intermediates really so like lots of variety. Any recommendations on passes?

other than that, happy to hear anything you guys have to say!

Cheers!
 
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I can't comment on the winter aspect of Whistler, but I can say that when the family stayed there in the summer 4 years ago, that the facilities and accomodation was excellent. The town is decent to walk around, and there are still plenty of activities you can do out of season. IIRC we stayed in the Four Seasons at the base of Blackcomb and were very impressed. There was a certain activity we did that I would recommend to anyone if they still do it, and that is a quadbike drive up one of the mountains all the way to the top, salmon bake supper at the top, and then quadbike all the way down. I forgot what the name of the event was, but it was brilliant. Not sure if they'd still do it in snow though.
 
I've been there twice (2011 and 2012). First time i stayed in the Westinn and the second in the Fairmont. Both claim to have 'ski to door' but in comparison to Europe are most defiantly NOT ski to door.

Whistler as a village is awesome, however, be prepared for the 'all american' or more accurately the 'all (North) american' experience. Whistler is a small town to be quite honest and is really busy. There are plenty of shops, restaurants and cafes to eat out but be warned, as with Europe it can be pricey.

My favorite restaurant was the Mongolie Grill but there are a few others that we can let you know about, should you choose to go.

Skiing:

My favorite mountain was Blackcomb and I know it extremely well. The lift staff are friendly and there are never any queues. People are polite and the safety staff actually care about your well being, asking if you are ok when you fall over, splash out big time. Lifties actually smile and genuinely ask how you are (most are from Australia as Canada had a large recruitment push a few years back.)

The snow:

Being on the west coast, the snow is wet. Now, I don't mean like in the SnoZone wet like slush, but its not like in land on the east coast or Europe. There is still plenty of powder, they usually have tons and tons of snow owing to their perfect location.

One thing I did find was that the skiing hours were a little reduced due to it being further north, so the sun sets quicker and raises later.

Your ski pass will allow you on both Whistler and Blackcomb mountain and the Peak2Peak gondola is a must!! Ski passes are quite expensive though, so be warned.

Plenty of intermediate skiing and plenty of 'slow zones' to practice carving or what ever you wish.

Suggestion:

If you're on Facebook, follow the WhistlerBlackcomb home page, they'll give you constant updates (as I keep getting that regularly upset me as I'm not going back there this year).

Have a look at a few of these videos that give you a taster of what Whistler was like last year in the build up to the season:

http://embedded.whistlerblackcomb.com/

What ever you decide, Whistler is probably one of THE best North American ski resorts and I thoroughly recommend it; its just a different type of skiing from what we're used to in Europe!

Hope that helps!
 
April is getting late in the season, but you can still expect to receive around a metre of snow that month. However it is all luck of the gods, you could travel half way around the world and ski hardpack ice for a week.

You want to stay in one of three places to avoid getting the bus to the mountain. Blackcomb base, Whistler Village, or Creekside. Whistler Village is the main location and should be your number one choice.

If you want to make you trip extra special, and gurantee some powder runs, I can thoroughly reccomend a days sking with these guys - Powder Mountain Cat Skiing. They will take you to the back country about 15km South of Whistler - it will be in the top 5 days of your life.

Whistler is not just about the sking, you can eat like a king. Sushi Village, Rimrock Cafe and Creekbread for dinner. Elements and Wildwood for breakfast. Seriously, the food in some of these places is excellent - Sushi Village is the best Sushi I've eaten, and the atmosphere is second to none.

My preference would be to get a 5 day pass. Spend 7 days in/around Whistler, giving 2 days for downtime. Then spend 2-4 days in Vancouver itself, its a great city. If you still have the sking legs you could visit one of the North Shore mountains just above the city. Grouse would be my choice for its unrivaled cityscape views... especially at night.

What is your budget for a hotel?

What is your skiing ability, I can suggest the best areas of each mountain to visit.

Also note that http://www.wssf.com/ is on during April, and it will get busy during this time. In fact Whistler is always busy on weekends, regardless of the date. However there is nothing better than having a lift to yourself on a Monday morning with 30cm of fresh below you.

Talking of fresh tracks, make sure you do the fresh tracks breakfast at least once. Tldr: Upload mountain before public, eat decent meal, and get 45mins of skiing in with no lift lines. Especially epic if its a powder day. Queueing starts early though ~6am.
 
Thanks for the last two posts, very informative!

April is a bit late Stu, although a lot of places say you can ski good even in May!! I appreciate it might not be the best skiing, but hopefully its still decent enough. I guess with a lucky dump we'd be alright?

Thanks for the hint on wssf, it starts the weekend of 12/13th, if I were to arrive the weekend before and ski Monday-Friday then that would mean I scrape in just before. So that weekend we could then enjoy the start of the event and finish our skiing, do you think?

I was actually thinking of possibly doing a few days in the city afterwards, depending on cost.

I guess budget for accomodation kind of depends, we are flexible but I wouldn't want to be spending over $150 a night for a room for us both. Ideally if there are any full board type places that would suit us a we could eat inclusivley, but maybe have a few meals out.

I think this would get us into the main 3-4 star hotels in the main village, hopefully! We'd both need Ski/Helmet Hire but my Mrs has her own boots so that will save some money. I've also been told by most people to ensure that everyone knows we are on our HoneyMoon, as you often get little upgrades and such on the house!

Voxination said:
Tldr: Upload mountain before public, eat decent meal, and get 45mins of skiing in with no lift lines. Especially epic if its a powder day. Queueing starts early though ~6am.
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Is this EVERY DAY @ 6am? What time do the lifts ACTUALLY open? Can anyone coment on the general skiing hours? What time does it get too dark?
 
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If you go to Whistler, make sure you go on the canyon zipwires... it's incredible!

I think it's the 4th zip line which takes you about 60-80mph over the canyon and you may be lucky to see a black bear as you pass over!
 
Knubje said:
Is this EVERY DAY @ 6am? What time do the lifts ACTUALLY open? Can anyone coment on the general skiing hours? What time does it get too dark?
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Yep, everyday, at the round house on Whistler Mountain or Blackcomb (as far as I know!)

IIRC they begin to close about 4pm
 
Been a few times and as others have said the skiing is excellent. We have always been in the easter holidays (so end of march beginning of april) and there has always been excellent snow. the shear amount of runs and bowls is incredible.

From what i can remember the shut around 4pm. There is also now a gondola (peak2peak) that connects the two mountains and even just going on it gives an incredible view of the valley below.

With regards to fresh track, you can book and get up the mountain before everyone else but as Voxination said, the queues start very early.

I would definitively recommend staying in whistler village as it is easy to get up both whistler and blackcomb from there.

10 days is a perfect amount of time. I wouldn't bother going for only 7 as the flights and jetlag take out a good chunk of that. If you're thinking of doing 6 days skiing then if you can I would recommend staying in Vancouver for a couple of days as it is such a beautiful city - Tons to do.

Last but not least - where I think it stands out over European skiing, is the people there. Everyone there is so lovely and will go out of their way to help you. Even the restaurant staff on top of the mountain who will ask you how the skiing is looking and how your day is going - out of genuine interest not just because they have to.

I have been 3 times now and every time the snow has been excellent and I basically never want to ski anywhere else. (Annoyingly I'm skiing in Hinterglemm this year so we'll see how it compares!)

Anything else you want to know just ask :)
 
I lived there for two years but am at work at the moment. If you have any specific questions post them here or drop me a PM and I'll answer them tonight.

Needless to say its a wonderful place.
 
I lived in Whistler from 2004-2006.

If I was going, I'd make it two weeks to get the most out of it. As its a honeymoon, perhaps though you want to see some other things for a few days... Vancouver or Vancouver Island.

You should be alright for snow in April, they already have a huge snow base which would require a hellish event to destroy. Even in 2004/2005 which was a poor season for snow, I was still riding until they closed the lifts at the end of May. The only thing is that as the season gets late, you can't expect lots of fresh snow. It can still snow in May, but its very slow snow.

As much as I like Whistler, I'm not sure I'd want to Honeymoon there. There are plenty of fancy hotels which I'm sure will provide a great honeymooner experience, but as others have already pointed out, due to its success, Whistler is an incredibly busy place.
 
'Harmony horseshoes' are amazing runs. Double black and seems like almost vertical when you get to the top.

I love Canada - see thread coming in a min
 
Nexus said:
As much as I like Whistler, I'm not sure I'd want to Honeymoon there. There are plenty of fancy hotels which I'm sure will provide a great honeymooner experience, but as others have already pointed out, due to its success, Whistler is an incredibly busy place.
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As I said earlier, we really LOVE skiing and Whistler is THE PLACE for Ski/Boarding. Even if it is honeymoon and we just go once, we have at least been! We will almost certainly do a day or two in Vancouver before flying back!


Evoss said:
Whistler is a very hyped up resort, go else where
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Thanks for the top quality advice. What is this based on? Do you have any other recommendations as to "else where" ?
 
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