Two Trips to Whistler

I was lucky enough to take two trips to Whistler, B.C. during January. Whistler is a ski resort north of Vancouver. It will host many events during the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics. I had a great time there, and I expect that the area will be perfect for the Olympics.

Here's a summary of my two trips....

First time to Whistler
Our college friend Mitch and his wife booked a condo for a weekend and invited their friends to join them. We were more than happy to take a trip to one of the best ski resorts in the world. Plus, we got to drive up with Mitch and catch up on old times.

Our plan for the weekend was both active and relaxing. The relaxing part consisted of hanging out in the condo, drinking lots of wine, enjoying the hot tub, reading by the fireplace, and making a great dinner with Jana.

But skiing was the highlight. After not skiing for many years, this was my second time on the trails for the winter. The trails at Whistler surround Lost Lake, and they're spectacular. We rented classical skis from the kind folks at Cross Country Connection. Their trail side rental hut is incredibly convenient, and rentals are reasonably priced.

We skied for a couple hours, took a lunch break, and then headed out for a second round. The trails are lit at night, so we stayed out until it was dark. I had a great time, thoroughly enjoying the scenery and the company on the trails. It felt wonderful to play in snow and experience real winter after all those years in California. I was in heaven.

On the drive back, we got to see just how beautiful the snow-covered, mountainous area is. (We couldn't see all the ocean and mountain views on the drive up because it was dark.) The road between Whistler and Vancouver follows the narrow space between the mountains and the water, and the views are spectacular. It is worth taking the drive, even if you don't want to ski.

Second time to Whistler
By coincidence, I was back at Whistler in less than a week for a fun work trip. We stayed in the Fairmont Chateau Whistler and had a couple days of events planned.

Almost immediately upon arrival, I ran down to the Cross Country Connection and rented myself some skis. I went for skate skis this time, because I wanted to see if I could still do it (hadn't since high school) and because I wanted to move fast.

It turned out that I also got a serious workout. I covered all but the hardest trails, and covered many of the trails repeatedly. I skied to the tops of some high hills, and got amazing mountain views. Because it was a weekday, I was almost alone on the more difficult trails. Just me, the trees, and the snow. I had such a great time that I decided I would take up cross country skiing more seriously. I'm in the market for some skis now.

After a tough day of skiing, I spent some time in the hotel hot tub and eventually made my way to the party. They had lots of food and drinks -- and lots of games. I played a hockey shooting game a few times (did better after a couple beers) and played a remote control car racing game repeatedly. I won only one race, but it was still fun.

The next day was all downhill skiing. I hadn't gone downhill skiing for about 10-15 years, and when I'd skied before it was on hills in safely flat Minnesota. This was my first time on a real mountain.

I hopped on the chairlift (very happy I didn't fall while boarding, a common occurrence when I was younger) and headed up the mountain. (I stuck to the Blackcomb side.) The chairlift ride looked like a small percentage of the mountain, and moved incredibly fast, but it still went really, really high up. I was intimidated, but pointed my skis down the easiest run that I could find. No problems!

After my first run I went higher up the mountain and stuck to the blue (medium difficulty) runs. I was able to handle the steeper in large part because of my skis. Skis have improved so much in the last 10 years; I found turning and stopping to be some much easier than when I skied before.

I skied for about 3-4 hours, but as the day wore on I realized that I was getting very chilled on the lift rides up the mountain. (I'd really rather cross country ski up a hill than ride a chairlift up.) I packed it in by early afternoon, grabbed a sandwich, and once again enjoyed that incredibly scenic ride south to Vancouver.

Hopefully I'll be able to make it back to Whistler in the future. I enjoyed the feel of the village and particularly enjoyed the cross country skiing. Maybe on a future trip I'll be able to try to Olympic Nordic Skiing venue, just a few miles away.