Ski and Snowboard Rentals: Most rental shops open at 8 am although there are a few that open at 6:30 am. Rentals include boots, skis (or boards) and poles and if you so desire, a helmet. The cost is about C$50 ($41) per day.
Lift Tickets: As you might expect, lift tickets are pricey at C$89 ($73) for a day. Skiers 65 and older get a discount price of C$76, as do teens from 13-19. Kiddies from 7-12 are C$46.
Finding Powder: From the base of Whistler village, you take a gondola up one of the two mountains. (Unsurprisingly, one is Whistler Mountain, the other is Blackcomb Mountain.) Use your time on the gondola to plan a downhill route using a standard paper trail map, or you can show off and do it online before you get to the slopes.
Whistler Mountain is best for beginners as there are several learning and slow zones; Blackcomb has all the fun like the Nintendo Terrain Park and the Coca-Cola Tube Park. While there was a pretty scary gondola incident on Blackcomb not too long ago, the Peak to Peak gondola, which takes you from mountain to mountain and just opened last month, is a pretty cool ride, even if you're not BASE jumping off it.
Slope Conditions: During our time at Whistler, everyone was griping about how Whistler hasn't had good snow, which for someone who lives in Los Angeles is hard to comprehend. But once we got on the slopes, we knew what they meant. We hit a lot of icy terrain ("shaving ice") and some of the snow was a bit slushy. Even more annoying? The Whistler mountain was crowded as heck.
Our best advice for making the most out of the mountains? Quit drinking the night before by 11 pm and get up early to make some fresh tracks. Then you can get back to drinking by noon.
Related Stories:
· Getting to Whistler Before the Olympics Mania Begins [Jaunted]
· Whistler Blackcomb [Official Site]
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