Whislter - Is it unreal?

im heading to whistler at the end of the year to work/snowbaord, im from Austrlia and i dont really know much about whistler and how good it is, any have an oppinon on the mountain and and tips about anything? also my friends said its an option to live in vancouver and travel to whislter, would that be to much of a pain in the ass or what are youe thoughts? thanks

Fist, i've heard good things about the mountain, and horrid things about the crowds. second - you make the call on distance.
google maps link

I haven't been there, but heard and read plenty about it. First of all the place is huge, and it probably offers the best terrain in north America. It has it all glaciers, bowls, chutes, steeps, glades, groomers, cliffs ect. People claim that you need at least 4 days to really understand what the two mountains are like. They also have amazing terrain parks. For the 08/09 season they are opening the peak-to-peak gondola this is going to make traveling to from mountain to mountain doable in one day, it might also help the crowd factor.

The 3 problems I hear of are rain, $$$ and crowds. A acquaintances of mine was there last season in march and he experienced rain 4 days out of the 6, people tend to complain that it tends to rain a lot in the lower part of the mountain.

Crowds can be avoided if you know where to go, not that I know where to go, but thats what I heard.

And the $$$ is a big factor the place is fucking expensive, you would have to shop around to get some acceptable deal on lodging and stuff.

Whistler is a resort you have to experience at least once, I plan on going maybe this coming season or the next one.

[PaoloSmythe]

its oorite. no big deal.

the place does suck tho once the american schools go on holiday. i was there early season and the place had a nice chilled out atmosphere... you could stroll around the village and no queues at the lifts...

then bam! over night, US schools closed for Xmas and the chill was buried under vomiting teenagers jumping into the hot tub with their boots still on. the lift lines were long and rowdy and basically, we were glad to leave.

europe is better (even with french ski schools!!!! )

It's about 2 hours to drive from Vancouver to Whistler. It's a beautiful drive. I work with Tourism in Whistler. We made a bunch of videos on Whistler. You can check them out on YouTube. Hopefully you can come up and hang out with us.
YouTube Welcome to Whistler

What's the weather like in early Feb? I booked a trip to Whistler for the 1st through the 5th at the Westin as my friend works for the company and they offer a "friends rate" which turns out to be a pretty sweet deal. With the US dollar making a bit of a comeback on the Canadian dollar, lift tickets were more reasonable as well. I'm really stoked for the trip, I just hope the weather will play out.

I've heard the complaints of rain and crowds, Feb 1 is SuperBowl Sunday so I don't expect a lot of Americans to be traveling that weekend and hopefully it's cold enough not to rain? Thoughts?

Originally Posted by TourismWhistler

It's about 2 hours to drive from Vancouver to Whistler. It's a beautiful drive.

I made the mistake of sitting in the back on the right side of the car and all i saw was an hour and a half of the side of a carved out mountain zooming by (which will make you car sick really fast. haha) When i could see around my cousin to the left of me the view of the coast was pretty amazing though.

I went to blackcomb/whistler for 07 spring break. I thought that blackcomb was a better snowboarding experience between the two. The whole trail layout seemed more fun/unique. The bottom half was pretty slushy but the top half was perfect. And i think that shredding the easy runs with friends was the most fun ive had snowboarding. You can spend a whole afternoon zig-zagging down the whole width of the face of blackcomb on the easy trails. Its awesome just doing spins, presses, w/e on small stuff ppl have made/found on the sides of these trails. It's just a laid-back, good time

I would never want to live in vancouver if i worked in whistler. The one time i went there i wasnt even driving and i thought i was going to go insane. The highway just keeps winding back and forth for 2 hours.

Im also from Australia and im planning on heading there next season (2009 to 2010) - from everything ive read and seen (snowboard vids) it seems like a very cool place to go.

Its been interesting what you guys have said here as its not what you read from all the people wanting you to go.

What job you looking at getting Duffman2315?

I don't want to live in Squamish and play in Whistler, let alone live in Vancouver.....
Either live in Whistler and have fun, or go to another resort. just my opinion.
for people wondering about weather, Whistler is very coastal (only 40-50klms or so away) so we have very temperate weather. it can rain a lot, or snow a lot, but you can guarantee a lot of precipitation. Usually we have great snow conditions at the top of the mountains, but the bottom half you never ride. The last few years have been awesome with top to bottom sick powder, so you never know.
Whistler has an amazing party scene and plenty of other things to do besides the skiing / snowboarding so if you come here, you WILL have a good time - other resorts don't have much except the mountains....

[Flick Montana]

I've stayed in Whistler village before. Expensive as SIN. Especially the food. They have their own grocery store, but it was like $5 for a half gallon of milk. Find a better place to stay, the nightlife there is only good if you like Aspen-like crowds of rich old men and their 20-something wives.

The mountains are amazing. Crowded, but big enough that you don't notice it TOO bad.