Whistler, Canada

Whistler/Blackcomb is awesome! It's one of the best places to ski/snowboard if you have kids and also one of the best places to party if you are single. Huge mountain, short lines, friendly people, and two terrain parks--including one of the longest half-pipes in the world.

Whistler is not only a great winter destination. If you drive up, make sure to stop at the many waterfalls on the way.

I love to ride here in both seasons. Bike in the summer, and 'board in the winter!

A ski resort that was built mostly in the 1980's to accommodate skiiers and snowboarders. Whistler has been voted as North America's best ski resort many times and it's easy to see why. The slopes were numerous and some of them really excellent. There's typically a lots of snow and it makes snowboarding a whole lot more fun that in e.g. a typical alpine resort. The village itself is compactly built and everything was located at an easy walking distance. The grocery store has a good selection. Prices in the store as well as in the restaurants are reasonable.

Part of trip "Tour de Canada 2009"

The Fairmont Chateau Whistler is a 5-star hotel literally right at the ski slope. The hotel valet hands you your skis and you walk up 10 heated steps and you are right at the lift. If you have kids (I have 3) you bring them back to your room for a bathroom break or change of clothes and be back on the mountain in 10 minutes. The restaurants are great, too--ranging from a buffet-style breakfast place to a bar/lounge with outdoor patio facing the slopes to high-end dinner place.

We saw the first sign to Dusty's at the Peek to Creek slope. It said 3.5km till the bar. It was a long long ride but well worth it. Dusty's bar was lively and the after ski beer was good. And the Bloody Mary's looked worth trying.. :-)

There were posters advertising "the best Monday night in town" featuring a live band and a lots of locals.

User attached a link to whistlerblackcomb.com

We stayed for 5 nights at Tyndall's. The living room was spacious and its windows were big. We had a great view to both Whistler and Blackcomb mountains from our lodge which was located at the southern end. The kitchen was well equipped. We had two balconies (which we didn't use much though) and a gas fireplace (which we used quite a lot).

Free wired LAN included.

Snowboarding at Whistler-Blackcomb requires that you know where to go. It took us the first day just to get the knack for the slopes and routes. At Whistler you're not supposed to follow the market tracks but actually go to the "bowls" and find your own way down. Once you're through the bowl, go to the traverse route and back to the lift. The problem for a snowboarder is that the traverse routes are very flat. At the begining it felt like too much time was wasted on the flat and narrow traverses. But the best bowls and off-piste runs were pure joy. Now this is how snowboarding is supposed to be! :-)

The venue for nordic skiing events in the 2010 Winter Olympics. The site features equipment rentals and a small restaurant. We drove there from Whistler Village, rented classic skis and hit the olympic tracks. The tracks go winding here and there not far from the lodge. It took some navigation to find our way through the labyrinth of the tracks but the track profiles and routes were very nice. I can imagine the ski competitions will be interesting
to watch in these quite technical tracks.

After 9km on the Olympic tracks, we headed to a scenic track called Madeley Creek. The 4.5km track goes in the Callaghan Valley and is a great way to see the woods and the creek. I just hope we would have had more time on skis in the Callaghan Valley.

The admission to the Olympic Park tracks was $20CAD and full day classic ski rental was $25CAD.

5 out of 5! That was my result when we tried out the .22 caliber biathlon rifle at the Whistler Olympic Park's Biathlon Stadium. There was a world cup competition coming up but we were able to get a slot for trying our accuracy at the shooting range. Tour at the stadium, guide with lots of experience in biathlon and 10 shots costed $19CAD. Definitely worth it.

Ok, I got skunked on the first 5 shots. But the that was only practice. The next round was 5 out of 5. :-)

Creekside (or 'Crackside' as some say) is some way out of the Whistler village. It is however well server by the Creekside Gondola lift. If you're all for skiing and don't need much else, then Creekside may be the place for you. Creekside used to be the main base for Whistler mountain visitors in the early years, but since 1980's the main base has been Whistler Village.