Tying together wanting to make the most of New Years and having a friend doing a season in a world renowned ski resort, I thought it would only make sense for me to head out to Whistler, Canada. So after only completing one week of skiing back when I was the ripe old age of 16, the sensible thing was obviously to throw myself in at the deep end! Now, I’m not saying that Whistler was me throwing myself in the deep, as it provides runs for all levels of ability. Oh no, what I’m referring to is having to ski with me friend, Chris. Here’s me, a complete one week novice heading out to ski with a guy who can do black runs backwards and sometimes on one ski… This is surely only going to end well, right?
Day 1
This day was such an awfully busy day for a Boxing Day… I spent just under 10 hours sat down whilst I flew over the seas to the north as well as Greenland and Canada in its entirety to the far west coast of it. What a way to spend a Boxing Day, which I usually spend with my family eating plenty of food at a home buffet. With this being the first time that I was encroaching on the time that I usually spend with my family during the holiday period, it was certainly taken with different outlooks! To some I was disturbing the usual traditions of the family get together, with different days being for different areas of the family thus causing a change to usual holiday schedules, whilst others were excited for me to extend my horizons. Unfortunately, if you’re wanting to go away during this period, you’re going to have to face these opinions of disturbing the usual traditions but in my opinion, it ultimately focuses on you using the time better with them. I mean (and of course only going off my experiences) how often does a family get together fizzle out?
Fast forward to just over 10 hours later and I was heading out of the airport with my bag and heading to the coach that leads from the airport to the mountains, taking just under a couple of hours, winding through the mountain roads and white walls of snow either side. Fast forward those 2 hours and I was in the company of one of my best friends, Chris, who was flabbergasted at the fact that it was winter in Canada, snowing and I was wearing shorts. Yes, the trusty shorts and hoody combination was out and bewildering those around me but hey, I was comfortable!
The first evening was certainly going to be an easy one after the long haul flight in the preparation for the main event the next day. To that end, it was only meet and greets with Chris and his girlfriend, Emma, some food before heading back to the place that they were staying to settle in, make a plan for the next day and head off to bed for a full day of skiing. Well, that’s what I hoped.
Day 2
With the intention to head out to the slopes early, the jet lag really didn’t allow that to happen! So an early afternoon was maybe the way ahead? Breakfast was more brunch, multitasking it with getting suited and booted, ready for an afternoon on the slopes. If you’re like me and don’t have your own ski equipment before a trip like this and weren’t ready to invest in some, there are plenty of places within Whistler and Blackcomb for you hire everything from helmet and goggles to skis and boots to jacket and salopettes.
Travel Tip: Though Whistler & Blackcomb was very accommodating in being able to hire everything you needed, this is the same for all resorts so it was very much advised to check what shops are available and how much equipment you can hire from there.
The main hub of the village is easily accessible if you weren’t living in any of the accommodation that came in a package with a bus that runs in the area costing only $2.50 for a single fare, unless you’re on bus route 4 or 5 which is free. Heading in to the village, we picked up our ski passes and took a bit of a walk around the village to see what was on offer. What a lovely place it was! Playing host to numerous shops, both for sports and souvenirs, places to eat and several bars to enjoy some après ski, it hosted all the commodities that you would need from a village in the mountains.
Once we had lunch, it was time to finally hit the mountains and what a feeling it was to get back on the skis and back into the mountains, with the wind rushing past your face as you fly down the mountain side. Seeing as it was the first day back on skis in a few years for me, we took it slow and steady and kept it to the lower area of the mountain with the easier runs, planning on taking it to the next level the next day. Even though we were in lower reaches of the mountains with it being cloudy with a some snow, the views offered here were brilliant and only got me excited for what was to come when the blue skies came.
As for the evening’s entertainment, we grabbed dinner and then had some local entertainment available for use. One of the cool things about Whistler every Sunday, was the displays that they put on in the evening once the skiing was done, with people doing jumps and tricks on a ramp that was put at the bottom of the slope. The cost to see the showcase of flips, spins and jumps through fire followed by a fireworks display? Completely free! Hosted at the Skier’s Plaza at Whistler Village, you’re able to grab something to drink, maybe some food and enjoy the entertainment put on by some of the best local skiers and riders. The start for this around 1830 should you want to find yourself a good spot!
Day 3
The second day of skiing came around and again, the morning was hindered by jet lag meaning that I woke up late for it and didn’t get out on the slopes until the late morning but once there it was time to make the most of it! Thankfully after the day before being that of cloud cover and a sprinkling of snow, today was a semi bluebird day, as the clouds retreated after the snow of the night before and gave us some sunshine, providing some nice shots of the village and mountain ranges as well as some good skiing conditions with the fresh snow.
This was a day where we turned up the level of skiing and moved away from the easier slopes and onto the steeper and more challenging ones, much to my reluctance. But if you don’t go outside of your comfort zone, you’ll never get better! As much as I was nervous initially, receiving a few tips and tricks from my buddy made things a lot easier and I wasn’t too worried about the blues in the area though blacks were still of out my league.
Travel Tip: One thing to note about Whistler Blackcomb’s slope grading system is that they don’t include reds in their grading system. So the blues could be anything from just above a green to just below a black. This was something that tripped me up once or twice...
As with any other ski resort, Whistler Blackcomb has the set up down to a tee with the restaurants and bars both on the mountain and right at the bottom of the slope, allowing you to enjoy the sun and watch the other skiers whilst you munch on some lunch, this time whilst sat around a fire. The afternoon was spent making the most of our time, improving my skills and exploring the full range of the two mountains. With the two mountains of Whistler and Blackcomb side by side and all part of the same resort and ski pass, you have over 200 pistes to go and explore, with over 100 on each one! Ultimately, once you’ve mastered your skiing skills, you’ll find it hard to run out of new runs to fly down!
With it catering for both people who live there and those only holidaying, the gym in the village, Whistler Core Climbing and Fitness Centre, allows you to purchase passes to meet your individual needs, should you want to continue your training, providing free weight area, CV area, classes and indoor climbing wall. Once Chris and I had hit the gym and scratched that itch (because spending a day out on the mountains wasn’t enough, right?), the evening’s events were of our own making, leading us into the village to grab some food at a sports bar, with the crazy amount of screens and sports on show.
One of the cool aspects about the dinner and something that I feel a lot more nations should take up was the splitting of bills by default. Instead of them coming back with a full bill and you having to work out what’s what, in Canada it seemed the norm was to split it up into several mini bills covering everyone’s individual orders. After enjoying dinner and a few drinks, we decided to head back to Chris’ place and enjoy the luxury of the hot tub in the back garden that they had whilst the fresh snow was falling. This plan for me failed though as I managed to fall asleep on the sofa as it heated up and meant that I completely missed out. Darn it, I was looking forward to that!
Day 4
A new day and this time the weather had given us a full bluebird day so it was time to make the most of the sunshine and snow, getting out on the slopes as quickly as possible! OK, this was still hindered a little bit by the last bits of the jet lag over hanging meaning we weren’t the first on the slope but once I was up, I was ready and excited for another great day out on the slopes. However another day meant another level of progression for me when it came to my skiing ability.
The day itself was mostly plain sailing with me not having too many difficulties on the harder runs and with confidence that I had, I aspired to go higher into the mountain and try harder runs. The only thing that this caused me to do was showcase my inability to use a bar lift which I’d never used before so it meant that it was only going to end up with one thing… me in a heap on the floor, skis and poles all over the place with my dignity somewhere in the mess. Thankfully for me I was able to pick myself up (literally and metaphorically) from it and got back to it, deciding I didn’t want to do that run anyway…
For Chris’ and your entertainment (from the mental image), you’ll be glad to know that another fall came and in similar fashion, caused quite the display! Going down one of the harder, icy blue runs (remembering my point earlier about gradings), I had a bit of an episode of losing control in such a fashion that both skis went flying along with the poles and I was left face down in the snow, grumbling to myself. As if that wasn’t enough to chuckle at for those around me (cue the Benny Hill music), I spent the next ten minutes chasing my loose skis up and down the steep slope along with my poles, to then spectacularly fail at putting them back on and sending one then the other flying again. This led to me getting so frustrated with the scenario that I scooped everything up and walked down the slope to Chris who was waiting for me at the bottom, enjoying himself at my expense.
The evening the usual events of getting food and having a few drinks before we headed back to the house to get a good night’s rest for the last day of actual skiing before we went to the second part of the trip in Vancouver.
Day 5
One final day on the slopes approached and with the jet lag finally worn off, it was an early morning to get out and make the most of the final day on the slopes, with the weather blessing us with another bluebird day. This was the finale of my skiing training, getting out and tackling the even harder slopes.
As a whole day was a successful one with me coping on all of the slopes that Chris threw at me with relative ease, showing that my skill level had improved somewhat during that week. Who needs expensive skiing tuition when you have a friend who can show you what to do and have a laugh about it when things go wrong? This did mean avoiding the runs that I couldn’t do before though and any lifts that were going to give me any problems, resulting in it being an enjoyable day and I would save these challenges for another time. Well, that was until…
The day ended with me going for one last solo run and completely misjudging the conditions in the shadows, using the wrong technique of pushing down into the skis when hitting what I thought was a piles of powder when it was actually a mogul. This caused my ski to get wedged deep into the mogul and in turn flinging me into the air and down the piste around 10m. As you can tell, I’m good at this skiing thing!
With it being the final night of our time in Whistler, we took the opportunity to full looked around the village in all its glory of being dressed up for the festive period and the remaining decorations from the Winter Olympics that had taken place here in 2010. I must say, it was a quite a sight at night and definitely glad that I took the time to enjoy it before I left.
Day 6
New Years Eve had very quickly come around and it was time to pack up from our camp in the mountains and head down back into the city to see Vancouver and rave the night away. Taking the coach that had taken into the mountains back down, we headed into the city with Emma heading down later once done with work. Unfortunately due to the time that we managed to get into Vancouver and check in to the hotel, there wasn’t any time to explore. The hotel that we stayed in Atrium Inn and was your average hotel, providing everything that you wanted and needed for the couple of nights there we were there. It was primarily located for where we were heading that evening but compared to the rest of the city, maybe not the most ideal even if there were good transport links. We stocked up for some pre-drinks to warm up with some music and then headed to the event planned for the evening.
Solid NYE 2016 was the event and the Pacific Coliseum was the venue. Playing host to a mixture of house music, progressive house and hardstyle, it was a night to remember, for me anyway! For me, the highlights of the night were seeing Headhunterz properly for the first time and full as well as enjoying the amazing tunes of DVBBS and TNT (aka Technoboy and Tuneboy). My word, did I work up a sweat in that place and got my own back in my own way after Chris kicked my ass with the skiing with a night long of raving! Then to walk outside into the Canadian winter? Wow, that was certainly refreshing! After dancing the evening away, to get back to the hotel and into bed was much needed!
Apart from a house party when I was younger, this is my first actual New Years Eve event that I’ve attended and though it was indoors and not your traditional one of watching the fireworks in an iconic location, I thoroughly enjoyed raving the evening away to some of my favourite genres of music!
Day 7
After a late night of partying to some hardstyle and house music, a lie in was definitely needed before I was ready to get up and attack the day. Once I was finally ready for the day. With no real plan or direction for what I wanted to do apart from the plans for the evening, I let Chris and Emma lead the way with the day’s events. This led us to a spectacular location for a late brunch/lunch overlooking the Vancouver harbour and mountains in the background, watching the sea plan tours take off and land.
The evening’s activities for me were the right way to round off a trip to Canada; going to watch the ice hockey! Luckily for me, the Vancouver Canucks were in town on the final evening of my Canadian adventure against Anaheim Ducks. After spending a couple of years as a kid going to seeing my home side Nottingham Panthers in the UK, I was excited to see it being played in the (acclaimed) home of ice hockey. (This has recently and controversially been challenged but I’m not getting involved!) Unfortunately for me, the excitement was muted by the fact that the game only produced a 1-1 full-time score, with the Canucks winning in a shootout. Compared to the high scoring games that I was used to back in the UK, this wasn’t what I was expecting. However it was an experience overall to see the sport being played in a nation where it’s more prominent and on a greater scale.
Day 8
With an early flight back to the UK, there wasn’t time to be able see any more of Vancouver so it was a case of saying goodbye to my friends and heading off to the airport where I finally decided to try out a Tim Horton’s for breakfast in the airport. To me, it was like any other place to eat on the move and didn’t blow me away personally. The first stage of my flight was Vancouver to Toronto before going on to London Heathrow, flying with Air Canada. To be honest, everything within the airport went as smoothly as it needed to and there were no hiccups when it came to getting off the ground and that was the same when it came to the flight from Toronto to Heathrow… or so I had thought. It turns out that my bag that was with me had been sent to Sydney whilst I was sent on to London. Not the most ideal of situations but I was fortunate that things were resolved relatively quickly by Air Canada and my bag was back with me in the UK after a few days, after its addition holiday without me.
That concludes the story of my time of skiing in one of the best places in the North America, if not the world! It was a terrific experience even as a novice and I could see me enjoying it even more if I was a more capable skier. Plenty of runs, beautiful scenery and an all round amazing resort! As for Vancouver itself, though my time was limited there, it looked like a fantastic city in a wonderful setting that I would certainly return to if I got the chance!
Thanks for taking the time to give the story of my time there a read, hopefully giving you an insight into how good of a resort Whistler Blackcomb is and inspire you to head out there and enjoy everything it has to offer! If you don’t already, be sure to follow the blog on the social media links to be the first to find out when the new blogs are published and I’ll see you in the next one!
