(Whistler, British Columbia, Canada)

Whistler and Blackcomb used to be two different ski areas but came under the same ownership more than 30 years ago.  While they have been connected at Whistler Village for a while, they have recently been joined at mid-mountain by the innovative “Peak 2 Peak” gondola.

Our first impressions of Blackcomb were not too favourable.  As always, we were already in line for the gondola when it opened at 8:15 a.m.  Alas, virtually all of the pistes open first thing in the morning  were also in the shade.  This made it very cold and often very icy.  Much of the day was spent searching out that elusive softer snow.

There were two highlights on that first Blackcomb day, however.   The first highlight was once again finding a piste (“Zig Zag”) at the lower elevations that was being subjected to a lot of snowmaking.  Most people stayed away, so we had the piste and its soft snow almost to ourselves.   While it was a little more inconsistent, we also found the piste leading to the village’s Blackcomb gondola station to have softer snow and relatively few skiers.

The second highlight was skiing on the Blackcomb Glacier.  Although it is at the very highest part of the Blackcomb ski area, we still needed to take off our skis and hike uphill to the “other side of the mountain”.  It was well worth the effort, however, as we were able to pick our own route across a vast glacial slope.  It is rare to have such complete freedom to ski and still be within the boundaries of a ski area.

As the snow was relatively crusty and demanded our full attention, I didn’t have a chance to take any pictures “mid-glacier”.  However, I was able to take some pre- and post-glacier photos that hopefully hint at the majesty of this part of Blackcomb.   Not even a wretchedly icy “escape route” from the glacier back to the regular part of Blackcomb could tarnish the experience.

Nonetheless, icy pistes continue to plague us.  While the mountains are spectacular, this has probably been the worst winter ever for snow conditions in Whistler.   It has been an intellectual challenge:  while we found the conditions in the “Seventh Heaven” area quite treacherous on our first morning at Blackcomb, this same area yielded relatively great conditions only two days later…but in the afternoon and only on certain pistes.  We are doing our best to meet the challenge:  the snow conditions are yet another reminder that nature is very powerful and its secrets are not easily discovered.

We also continue to enjoy the food here, much to my surprise…I had heard that food here was expensive and uninspiring.  It can definitely be on the expensive side if you’re not careful but we’ve done OK so far.

We’ve had lunch mid-mountain at the no-frills “Raven’s Nest” vegan/vegetarian restaurant 3 times now and have been happy every time.  We also have eaten dinner twice at Pasta Lupino in the village:  it’s a small Italian restaurant featuring some of the best pasta sauces I’ve ever had.  Yes, it is possible to create a legendary pasta sauce (even a spicy arrabbiata sauce!) without garlic.  We hope to have one final meal at Pasta Lupino before our week here is over.

Coming up:  more on Whistler-Blackcomb… and comparing it to ski resorts in the Alps.