(Whister, British Columbia, Canada)
How did I find myself spending a week skiing at Whistler-Blackcomb? It’s a long and complicated story. It’s even more difficult to explain how I have never been skiing west of Kingston, despite skiing for more than 30 years in eastern Canada, Europe and even (on one bizarre occasion) Africa! Anyway, I’m here now and some would say that it’s about time.
Whistler-Blackcomb is frequently named as the top ski resort in North America. It has hosted World Cup downhill races and also hosted the alpine skiing events during the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. This last part was sufficient for me: I have a special connection to the 2010 Olympics and skiing on the downhill course was another bucket list item that I hoped to achieve some day. Even so, I didn’t do a lot of research on this trip: I didn’t even have a chance to look into which pistes were used for the 2010 Olympic alpine skiing events.
We decided to spend the first day on Whistler Mountain. Conventional wisdom here says that you immediately move to the highest elevations and only return to the village at the end of the day. However, we found that the very high winds, resulting icy surfaces and cold temperatures made the high-altitude conditions rather less than ideal. We moved lower, where there was some shelter from the wind, the temperatures were a little warmer, and the snow was staying on the pistes.
We found a black-diamond-rated piste called “Lower Dave Murray Downhill” that led to Whistler Creekside Village. The entrance to the piste was almost completely blocked and there were all kinds of warnings about “difficult snow conditions” and the fact that snowmaking was also in progress. We decided to try it anyway.
It was a splendid decision. The “difficult snow conditions” consisted of snowmaking (how can fresh snow be considered a difficulty?) and a nearly-abandoned piste with some significant snow accumulation. It was -1’C and the sun was shining brightly on us. We skied this piste over and over again, barely stopping and barely believing that nobody else was taking advantage of the great conditions. After completing each run, we climbed into the next gondola without waiting and repeated the process all over again.
In such icy conditions, trail ratings are of little guidance. While the Dave Murray Downhill was a little steep in one or two places, it certainly wasn’t as difficult as some of the mogulled-up and icy “intermediate-rated” pistes we have encountered thus far.
We eventually skied on the “Upper Dave Murray Downhill” (which wasn’t directly connected to “Lower Dave Murray Downhill” today because of poor conditions near the junction) as well and ticked that one off the list too. We later found out that not only is the Dave Murray Downhill piste used for World Cup ski races, it also hosted the alpine skiing events at the 2010 Olympics. It was great to discover that our favourite piste of the day turned out to be Olympian!
It was a great way to start the week of skiing and it more than made up for the fact that the lifts to the very peak of Whistler and to the “Symphony” area were closed due to the high winds. There was also a great vegan restaurant right at the start of the Lower Dave Murray Downhill where I enjoyed a very good (and, by Whistler standards, very affordable) African Peanut Soup and a Quinoa-Vegetable Salad. We’re definitely going to return there on our next day of skiing at Whistler Mountain.
Before returning to Whistler Mountain, however, we decided to spend our second day of skiing at Blackcomb Mountain. Stay tuned for more details on that!