Whistler-Blackcomb Ski Trip

Fabulous ski area. We skied both Whistler and Blackcomb and tended to like the terrain in Blackcomb much better. Very good expert terrain. We had fabulous weather, so we did not need to worry about fog too much.

You must get up to the Blackcomb glacier. You do need to ride a T-bar to get too it, which is more of a challenge for my snowboarder husband, but well worth it.

Quick Tips:

Take either gondola in the morning to Whistler or Blackcomb. They both leave from the center of town. I would plan on skiing a full day in each area, then decide which you like better. Also do watch out for fog and go either higher or lower to avoid it.

Best Way To Get Around:

We took the bus from Vancouver to Whistler. This is a longer ride than we expected. Next trip, we might consider the helicopter charter instead.

We walked everywhere in the village. Every restaurant we wanted to go to was within easy walking distance. There is bus service to get to farther places or if you are not staying in the immediate village.

We stayed at the Crystal Lodge, as it was the most reasonably priced option close to the lifts and within walking distance of my business conference. Very standard, but comfortable hotel accommodations. The room was not huge, but we had plenty of room for all of our ski stuff.

The location of this hotel is fantastic! We were a 2-minute walk to gondolas and very close to all the restaurants in the village. The staff was very friendly. They had a nice outdoor pool and hot tub, which we used a lot. I would definitely book this again.

We come from Colorado and our favorite ski area is Vail, so we were very interested to see why Whistler always competes with Vail as the best ski area in North America. Well, we found out! The mountain is HUGE (well, two mountains really)! You get the feel of really high alpine type skiing. The terrain is more rocky and cliffy that at Vail. Equal in terms of the variety of slopes, but you’re a little more isolated.

The first day, we headed up Whistler Mountain and took the chair to the top of Whistler bowl. This is great expert skiing terrain. We headed back up and this time skied down Doom and Gloom to Dave Murray Downhill. This is a great, fast cruiser run. We played in the terrain parks a little bit too.

The second day was Blackcomb Mountain, which we liked better. The Glacier is nice, but had a very long, flattish run out at the bottom, which was not so fun for my snowboarder husband. We skied the Glacier Express the most and loved Secret Bowl and Secret Chute. Also liked the skiing off Jersey Cream. Seventh Heaven also had nice terrain, but, when we were there, the sun had softened the snow too much and it was kind of mushy. This would be a wonderful area to ski if the conditions were better.

In summary, we do still like Vail better (the Back Bowls can't be beat), but Whistler was totally awesome and I would love to come back to ski here again. The scenery was beautiful and the friendliness of the resort was truly memorable.