Welcome to Whistler/Blackcomb, Land of Oz. Oz? Isn't that the nickname for Australia? The down-under accents on the slopes here will convince you that half the skiers and snowboarders in Australia spend their summer (our winter) on these mountains. Besides, like Oz, Whistler is a magical place—especially when the guy behind the curtain lets the sun out. The stats foreshadow the enormity of the possibilities.
Whistler and Blackcomb are separate mountains and were once separate, competing resorts. The ski runs on both bottom out in the resort village of Whistler. It can be a real crap-shoot as to what the weather will be like here, but there is generally a 100-inch-plus snowpack all winter long. And typically even if rain is falling in the village, unfettered snow awaits on the other side of the clouds. Indeed, views from the mountain base don't impress even on clear days, but after the gondola breaches the first bump and the resort unfolds, the runs and lifts stretched out before you resembles a game of winterized Chutes and Ladders. And there are plenty of mid-mountain lifts to keep you free of inclement weather until you ski back down to the village.
Lift riders will likey pass through three separate weather systems on their way to the 7,500-foot summits. Whistler Village (at a mere 2,140 feet) can be soaked with rain, with the peaks bathed in sunshine and a soupy fog sandwiched in-between.
A surprise for Blackcomb beginners is a sinuous run called Greenline. It takes off to the right from Horstman Hut, at the upper terminal of Seventh Heaven Express and follows the natural contours of the mountain from top to bottom on daily-groomed trails. It's a thrilling way for novices to enjoy big mountain skiing. Beginner runs branch off from nearly every chairlift on both mountains, but the upper reaches also sport some of the most extreme skiing terrain in North America. On Blackcomb, Seventh Heaven feeds expert and intermediate skiers and boarders into a wide bowl that funnels into a series of tight blue and black runs carved between trees that beckon the adventurous to carve between the pines.
Experts and intermediates on Blackcomb should also target Seventh Heaven, which drops into a wide bowl that funnels into a series of tight blue and black runs carved between trees that beckon the adventurous to carve between the pines, while the Glacier Express shuttles skiers to the open terrain implicit in the lift’s name. On Whistler Mountain, most experts flock to The Peak lift, which accesses spectacular above-tree-line black runs like Grande Finale, Whistler Bowl, Monday’s, and Stephan’s Chute—and you can also watch hucksters test their skills (and their knees) while waiting in line for another run.
Now that Whistler and Blackcomb are both owned by Intrawest Corporation, lift tickets are single-issue, usable on both mountains. Whistler/Blackcomb ambiance favors the destination skier, and many come from Japan, Europe, eastern Canada, and the United States.
What's New: Just in time for the 2010 Winter Olympics, Whistler has given what (most of) the skiers have long been hoping for: A way to get to and from Blackcomb and Whistler mountains without dropping all the way to the base. The 28-person Peak-to-Peak gondola links the two peaks in one 11-minute ride. And a number of other improvements, including wider road from Vancouver, have been initiated.
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$60 or less;