Review of our trip to Whistler, B.C., Canada
Lynne Fitzsimmons
Blackcomb in Whistler, B.C., Canada. Well, he broke his leg and didn't
get to go, so I will attempt to do it for him!
I took a group of 39 Ski-Tek (Tektronix Employees Ski Club) members to
Whistler from Feb 5th to Feb 9th. The weather was *perfect* -- not a
cloud in the sky, and not windy. The snow on top of Whistler Mountain
was equally nice (I like big, long cruising runs, so now you know my bias),
although it started getting icy toward the bottom, with piles of "sand".
The snowmaking machines were operating at the bottom of Franz's Run. I
mostly skiied upper Franz's, the t-bar, the Little Red Chair, the
Orange Chair, and Green Acres.
I skied at Blackcomb on Saturday, and most of the runs were bumpy and crowded.
Toward the bottom (note from top to bottom, on both Whistler and Blackcomb, the
runs are about 5km long.) the snow was icy with scraped piles of "sand". It
was icier than Whistler, and the snow didn't look thick enough to groom. I
didn't go up on the new t-bar on the Horstmann Glacier, but the folks that did
really enjoyed it.
I arranged picnic lunches for the group at both Whistler and Blackcomb. I
thought the lunch at Whistler was better. However, we did get a race ticket at
Blackcomb with the lunch.
We stayed at the Whistler Village Inn, which was very nice. The price for 4
people in a studio-hotel room combination (group price here) was $192 apiece
for 4 days and 4 nights. The Whistler Village Inn has a heated pool and a
hot tub.
We mostly ate breakfast at Germaine's Backroom and at Nasty Jack's. Germaine's
is slow, but very good. Nasty Jack's doesn't open until 8am, so they have to
be fast. We ate dinner at the Sundial Restaurant (the rack of lamb was
excellent), Umberto's (wonderful Italian food, and be sure to make a
reservation, or you won't get in), and the Sushi Village (very authentic
Japanese food, sushi bar, party dinner is $16 CDN and wonderful).
A nice addition to Whistler Village this year is Whistler Springs, which is
a complex that has 3 hot tubs and 2 water slides. If you have never seen
a supposedly mature engineer discover a water slide for the first time --
well, you are missing something!
Whistler Village is a truly wonderful place to stay, as you can walk to the
lifts, stay in nice lodges, go to bars with music, eat great food, and the
skiing isn't too bad either. I highly recommend it!
Lynne Fitzsimmons
UUCP: {allegra, decvax, ihnp4, orstcs, ucbvax, zehntel, ogcvax, reed,
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prafulb
sorry, charlie, only the best-tasting tuna get to be starkist...
that is, for all of whistler/blackcomb's cruising runs and apres ski,
you missed the best part: the couloir and glaciers made sinfully
accessible by the new blackcomb t-bar provide helicopter skiing for
the price of a lift line, weather permitting. take my advice, don't
miss it next time.
steve "snow is good" peterson
HP LSID