Whistler, British Columbia

If you love skiing or snowboarding, go to Whistler. If not, then go to Whistler anyway.

The mountains of Whistler and Blackcomb are about a two hours drive from Vancouver on the scenic and aptly named 'Sea to Sky Highway'. They are a skiers paradise and even beginners or 'beginner-intermediates' can have a great time there. That much I can testify to from my own experience.

My latest trip to Whistler was a about a week ago and I had more fun skiing there than I have had at Snoqualmie in a long time. The Summit at Snoqualmie is a nice resort for beginners except for the fact that it is very crowded and the runs are woefully short. Their longest beginner runs last about 3 minutes at moderate speeds and their longest intermediate runs last about 10 minutes. After that you have to get in line for the ski lift which takes about 10-20 minutes to get you back up the slope including the time you have to wait in line.

Whistler is a different proposition altogether. The highest lift accessible point at Whistler is 7500 feet and you can ski all the way to Whistler Village at 2000 feet. I went up to Roundhouse Lodge which is at about 6000 feet. The lift takes about 20 minutes to get up there and then I started skiing. I was careful the first time around because I was unfamiliar with the terrain. I took about 1 hour to ski down the4000 feet from Roundhouse Lodge to Whistler Village. The second time around I took about 30 minutes.

This is one of the things that people love about Whistler: Long trails where you just ski and ski. This was just one of the trials. Whistler and Blackcomb have a total of 200+ such trails and over 8000 acres of area to ski on.

Now let me come to the part about how you can enjoy Whistler even if you aren't into snow sports. Whistler Village has retail outlets from many major brands, has great restaurants, pubs and accommodations ranging from cheap to extravagant. I have to admit though that the cheap accomodations aren't really close to the all the action. It's a great place to have a relaxing vacation at.

I have done a day trip from Seattle to Whistler. It is a lot of driving but it can be done. We left at 6 am in the morning. I was skiing at 11 am and we left Whistler at 4.30 pm to reach Seattle at 9 pm.

Oh and just in case you didn't know; the 2010 Winter Olympics are going to be held at Whistler!!!