What to say about Whistler. It’s a world renown ski-resort for a reason.

Skiing Whistler was definitely one of the things I was most excited about when I first moved to Vancouver. Since moving here I’ve probably skied Whistler-Blackcomb somewhere between 15-20 times and it’s been a different experience every time.

The mountain and the views are incredible, but Vancouver’s milder winters definitely results in inconsistent skiing experiences. My first season skiing Whistler was in 2015, which was extremely disappointing because the whole region barely got any snow the entire season, so it was pretty wet on the mountain and not all the chairs were able to open. However the years that followed were a huge contrast and I had some really excellent powder days on the mountain, especially in 2017.

The biggest downside to skiing Whistler is by far the cost. It seems like tourists just accept the high price tag that comes with staying at a resort like Whistler, but for locals, it’s expensive. We always drive up and back from Vancouver on the same day to avoid paying for an overpriced hotel room. Plus is seems that the lift passes get more and more expensive every year; after Veil bought out the resort in 2018, it really felt like they were trying to the locals out. These days it’s somewhere around $180 to buy a single day lift pass at the bottom of the mountain, which is absolutely ridiculous for a mountain with limited skiing hours (8:30am-3pm at it’s shortest).

The price tag has been a deterrent for a lot of my friends in recent years, but personally I love this mountain, so I keep coming back every year. The trick is to buy an Edge Card in advance of the season to save on lift tickets. The cards vary every year and you can usually choose anywhere from 2 to 10 days, meaning you can ski any day of the season for that number of days. This year I got a 2 day card for $220, so significant savings over buying it the day of. Other years I’ve gotten 3 day cards and once I even got a 6 day card. The more days you buy, the better the value.

But let’s talk about the actual mountain. Whistler Blackcomb is made up of two mountains that have been merged into 1 big resort. I’ve decided to write about them separately, so I’ll just talk about Whistler in this post. There is a peak to peak gondola going between the two, but we usually just pick one mountain and ski there for the day.

Whistler is the larger of the two mountains and is favoured more by skiers then snowborders. You can upload onto the mountain either from the main lift in the village, or from Creekside, which is a few kilometers before the main village along the highway. I’ve heard it’s nice to upload from Creekside, but there’s a lot more parking at the main village, so we always start from there. It can be a long wait for the first gondola up, so we usually do the singles line to beat the crowd.

When I first started skiing Whistler, I spent a lot of time near the Harmony Express lift. It’s a good area for intermediate skiers and there are amazing views from the top of the lift, plus a good variety of runs. If you’re just visiting though, your top priority should be making sure you head up to the Peak Lookout. As far as the skiing goes, it’s not my favourite area, but it’s by far the best view on the mountain, so make sure to do at least one run up there to catch the view! It’s also the place to go if you want to do the longest possible run on the mountain. We rarely ski down past mid station as the snow is just not that good and you don’t want to have to wait to upload again, but if the conditions are good, it can be fun to ski some of the lower runs later in the day when there are no waits at the bottom.

In more recent years though, Symphony Express has by far become my favourite part of the mountain. It’s a bit of a trek to get over there at the start of the day because you have to upload on a few different lifts to make it to that side of the mountain, but once you get over there, there’s great skiing in Symphony Bowl. Plus there’s usually less line ups and still a great view from the top of Symphony Chair. So these days we usually make a beeline over to that area.

Since Whistler is such a big mountain, there are lots of easy runs criss-crossing the mountain as well. It’s why snowboarders tend not to like Whistler as much as Blackcomb, so we usually have to convince Brandon to come over there with us (he’s our only boarder). But no matter what part of the mountain you ski, there’s tons of great runs and amazing views. Although sometimes they won’t open Peak or Symphony Chair on snowy or windy days.

A few more tips if you’re visiting Whistler. The lines for food at Roundhouse can get really crazy during peak lunch hours, so we usually try and eat a little later to avoid the crowds (usually around 1:30ish). Sometimes we bring sandwiches to eat on the mountain and sometimes we just snack all day and quit around 3pm. Depends how cold it is and who’s with us. In earlier years, we used to hit up Creekside for lunch, but it seems to have gotten busier lately, so I usually prefer Roundhouse.

As for parking, I recommend going in lots 4 and 5 at Whistler Village. They are further from the village, but it’s a lot easier to get a spot and there’s a shuttle bus that goes right to the village. It used to the be free to park there, but Whistler Municipality has recently started charging $5 for the day. Lots 1, 2, 3 have always been pay parking at a steeper rate.