Dazzling, Drizzling,
Daunting, Gigantic, Cloudy and Incredible and is how I would describe skiing
the Whistler Blackcomb Mountains. Whistler Blackcomb is the largest ski resort
of North America and it means valley drizzles, cloudy mountains, high alpine fresh
snows and breathtaking views.
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| A clear blue sky at Blackcomb |
Of the five days in December 2013 that we skied, we got three days of sunny blue skies, cold temperatures and the astounding glacial landscape views, the other two were cloudy and overcast.
Accommodations
Accommodations
Whistler
Mountain
Ego bowl is a good
family ski area with mostly intermediate and beginner runs. This area was wide and
groomed. There were a lot of people in this area but it did not feel crowded. Off
to the west (left) of the mountain, is the Harmony area with a brand new express
chairlift. This is an incredibly beautiful scenic area with several
intermediate and advanced runs. One of my favorites was the Harmony ridge, a
very scenic intermediate run, that in places became fairly steep, narrow and
bumpy due to heavy traffic. In our case, by the time we got to Harmony Ridge,
most of the fresh snow was gone (and since natural snow was not abundant), the
heavy traffic exposed the underlying stones and pebbles making the run quite
treacherous (One of my family members suffered a major injury here). The
advanced runs in the Harmony area are beautiful and not heavily trafficked.
This area has one beginner run. Off to the north east is the whistler summit
with several advanced runs and bowls. While we were there, several sections of
this area were closed. My son did the glacier and whistler bowls that were open
and really loved it (he did almost all the bowls in this area but his favorite
were the sun bowl, back bowl). A bit to the south is the Franz's and Big Red
express area. The greens along Franz's area are learner areas with a lot of ski
school folks and kids. If you are not learning how to ski, it is best to avoid
the greens here. The blues were fine but relatively narrower. The day we skied this
area, it was very cloudy and we never saw anything beyond five feet in front of
us.
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| An overcast day at Blackcomb |
Blackcomb
Mountain
Between the two
mountains, I think, I liked Blackcomb a bit more. The two sides of the
Blackcomb Mountain were drastically different from each other. On the east side
of the mountain, the 7th Heaven area was dazzling. We happened to
ski here when it was sunny with clear blue skies, fresh blanket of snow and completely
un-groomed. It was a love at first sight. Cloud Nine was one of my favorite runs
and probably one of the few that I skied twice. To the west is the Glacier
Express and Crystal Hut area. While the east was dazzling, the west was
daunting. When they talk about glacial landscape, I guess it is this area they
must be referring to. There were no trees, no greens, simply large rocks, cliffs
and the glaciers. The landscape was stark and incredible. The advanced runs looked
too daunting for me, so I stayed with the intermediates which were narrow in
places with hardly a crowd. Road Runner and Twist and Shout seemed to be the
favorite runs in this area. My son covered most of the advanced terrain in this
area, and this area runs were his second favorite (after the Harmony runs). In
the middle of the mountain, Springboard is a really long, nice and wide
intermediate run that got bumpy in places as the day wore on. We found this
area to be quite crowded. It got more icy and crowded as you get closer to the
village, but up top, it was great. Easiest route (a green run) is a really nice
long beginner run, but like all greens it gets pretty flat in some sections. I
did not like Cruiser (an intermediate run) at all. Cruiser is great for people
looking for large moguls, but I found it tough on my knees and for someone who
is not very fond of moguls very difficult to navigate. The bumps were more like
mini hills than moguls. Cruiser was not groomed while we were there. In the
five days we skied Whistler Blackcomb, we covered a lot of the mountain but
there was a lot left of the high alpine area still to be discovered for our
next time.
Overall, Whistler
Blackcomb ski resort had everything my family wanted, however the snow
conditions were less than stellar. At the alpine level we got postcard worthy breathtaking
views, endless stretches of ski runs and great snow. At the mid-mountain and
village level, we got the clouds, the mild temperatures, the lack of natural
snow, drizzly rain, periodically slushy snow that turned icy when the
temperature dropped below freezing. Comparing Whistler vs Aspen vs Snowmass, I would pick Whistler for its incredible terrain and Snowmass for its
Recommended Areas
of Improvement: First, the resort needs to mark their trails better. The
mountain is enormous and it is easy for visitors to get lost. We had to stop
quite often while skiing to get our bearings where multiple trails intersected because
we had no idea where the trail we were on went. This is especially critical in
the high-alpine areas where intermediate and advanced trails interspersed. This
is also important as the resort allows backcountry skiing (which is awesome), but
it was often confusing where the trail ended and backcountry started. If you
are comfortable skiing all terrains, then unmarked trails is not a big issue,
but if you are a beginner or intermediate skier then having well marked trails
and easy access to grooming report makes a huge difference. The grooming report
was available only online. The boards next to chair lifts mostly indicated the
lifts that were open or closed, but not indicate which trails were open or which
trails were groomed. Second, the resort can improve the quality of its mountain
dining. There was sufficient variety in the menu but the food preparation could
definitely use improvements. The restaurant scene and the cultural vibe was fantastic
in the Whistler village. Third, making ski school changes more flexible. We had
seven kids enrolled in ski school months in advance and one of the kids wanted
to extend his enrollment in the program. It was quite a headache making the necessary
changes. The ski school staff had to get a manager approval to switch lessons,
but it seems there were not enough managers who had the authority to approve exchanges
and refunds. We lost several hours and money because the manager was not
available and took too long to call back. The manager is only located at the Whistler
location, however the ski school is located at both Whistler and Backcomb. So
if you need to make changes, better to make them at Whistler even though Blackcomb
may be more convenient. We were trying to exchange a 2 day lift ticket pass into
two additional days of ski school and were willing to pay the additional balance
for the lessons. The ski school made us return our two day lift ticket for a
50% refund and buy 2 days of lessons at full price. This left a bad taste, instead
of giving us 100% credit towards the lessons, they gave us only a 50% refund
and made us buy lessons for non-discounted cost (other ski-lessons were
discounted as we had bought the lessons months earlier).
1. Village/Town
Feel: Whistler village has a great
resort town vibe. It had a range of upscale hotels, a great selection of
restaurants, diversity of shops and a great après ski vibe.
2. Ski School
for Kids: The ski school was great. We had 7 kids in ski school and all the kids
had fun. The two advanced skier kids skied mostly the alpine bowls and the glacier
areas with an experienced instructor. We had three kids in the snowboarding
lessons and they advanced through their lessons fairly well even though the
conditions at village level were icy. On rainy and cloudy days, the ski school
took the kids higher up to the mid mountain level. The youngest kid (aged six)
got to learn mogul skiing, jumping of 6 foot cliffs, ski through the enchanted
forest and raved about her daily excursions. Because of our dates, we had to enroll
our kids in ski school from Sunday to Thursday, but if you are able to enroll from
Monday to Friday, the ski school offers better discounted rates.
3. Number of Beginner
Runs: The resort has 200 runs. Approx 30% were marked as greens. Since Dec of
2013 was not a good snow month at Whistler, a lot of these runs had the manmade
snow. Almost all the beginner runs were groomed daily but the snow got slushy
and icy towards the end of the day the closer you got to the village.
4. Non Skiing
Activities: Like all big ski resorts, Whistler had the usual tubing,
snowshoeing, x-country skiing, snow mobile tours, and many other activities.
5. Crowds: Even
in the middle of peak holiday season, the resort did not feel crowded,
especially since we stayed on the Blackcomb Mountain. We saw the Gondola lines
on Whistler side were long, but never had line issues on the Blackcomb base. Generally
they say, if you are west of the Continental Divide. Don't worry about it.
6. Airport
Access: Whistler is about 3 hours drive from Vancouver. Unlike Colorado, the
drive along the Sea to Sky Highway is pretty flat and easy.
7. Groceries:
The best place to shop for groceries is in Squamish, a town approximately 45
mins south of Whistler. There is a grocery store and a convenience store in
Whistler, but it is much smaller and more expensive. We did our primary grocery
shopping in Vancouver (but it would have been just as convenient to stop in
Squamish which is on the way to Whistler).
Note: We used WhistlerWired to make all arrangements
for our ski trip except the airline portion. They were the listing agent for
the home we reserved, they helped arrange our ski school lessons, purchase lift
tickets and equipment rentals. We found them to be pretty responsive were quite
happy with their service. We still needed to do our own research to identify
which ski-lesson/lift tickets options and discounts worked best for us. But
once we told them what we wanted, they were able to make appropriate
reservations. It would have been great, if their staff was better versed in the
various discount packages available (though I am sure we would still have done independent
research).
