Impressions: Whistler- Blackcomb

We recently spent 5 ski days at BC's Whistler-Blackcomb ski area. It's perhaps the biggest ski area in North America, and the 2nd biggest that we've visited - Kitzbuehel being larger, but significantly less dramatic in its topography. These are my impressions.

It is a well managed area in general. The grooming is not as prompt and thorough as some tourists might like, but the more expert skiers prefer tardy grooming, if any. The hired help is professional and friendly. The patrol is focused on avalanche control, wreck handling, and hazard marking, but not on proactive crowd control. The latter is a management error, resulting in wannabe racers pushing their personal speed/control limits on beginner and intermediate runs. This is something a real racer would not do, out of embarrassment and professionalism. The situation is a disaster waiting to happen. The wannabes should imitate the more daring experts who can find many couloirs to choose from or tight trees to navigate, to test their skills and courage. These wannabes plague many ski areas and I realize a solution is not simple, but hill managers should try the obvious alternatives e.g. designating certain runs for the wannabes and labeling them as hazardous for others, pulling tickets of offenders. If it saves one collision victim from paraplegia, it's worth it.

The Whistler-Blackcomb terrain is wonderfully vast and varied. One 24 hour period brought 60 cm. of new snow. It was new powder, but not light; so one needed something consistently steep to make downhill progress. Not knowing the terrain that well, we would end on something steep enough, but not a sustained pitch. The day after the storm, the heretofore closed '7th Heaven' chair opened, giving us another day of powder. Our last day was sunny, revealing the scope of the mountain range. If ever I return I may hook up with a 'mountain host' to find the nooks and crannies hidden from the tourist.

We wandered around the Whistler Village one evening and the Blackcomb Village, the next. The prices in the shops were clearly for the rich, well out of our range. We ate most meals at the condo but also went out for two nights - after all this was our marriage anniversary celebration. We had a decent dinner at 'Caramba' the first night. The second night we discovered the soewhat bizarrely named "Ciao Thyme", a failed attempt at a cute name. However, the dinners we ordered were incredible - well worth the price tag. Nevertheless, the costs associated with ski trips like this will make them a rare occurrence for us. We have found ways to ski relatively cheaply (that includes gear) over the years, but these days are waning.

Richard
2006.12.19