So how wet is whistler snow and how bad are the lift lines? is it quantity over quality?

A couple of buddies and i just finished up with school and we're thinking
of taking some time off and enjoying ourselves by spending the winter
out west. obviously we've been thinking about whistler, it seems like
-the- place to go.. i've skied out west before but only in the okanagan,
silver star, it was nice but it didn't blow me away or anything, it
was very different from the kind of skiiing we get at jay peak in
vermont, from the terrain to the snow quality/quantity.. runs on the
back were great but a bit short and you had to spend about half your
time on a cat track/green runs to and from them.

the probem out here is skiing can be a pain in the neck, in montreal
we're about 2 hours away from tremblant, or 2 hours away from jay
peak.. and even then, tremblant is usually cold, hard and icy..
or jay is very windy, cold and icy.. when jay gets snow though
they get a lot of it, but then half the time the lifts are all
closed because of the wind.. if there's a snowstorm the drive is
usually closer to three hours, once it took us FIVE hours.. anyways,
basically you often end up spending more time in the car than you
do on the slopes which is why we're looking forward to living right
on the slopes so we can just get up and go.

whistler seems to be the ultimate big mountain alpine experience
but is it a matter of quantity over quality? or is it genuinely a mind
boggling amount of quality terrain? i've been reading that the snow
is fairly wet because of the proximity to the coast, is this all snow?
or just snow below the treeline? if i was a snowboarder i wouldn't
care but is the snow generally so heavy that its unenjoyable for skiing?
is it sludge that you need quads of steel to cut through or else you
just get tossed around or are people calling it sludge just because its
not utah fluff? i imagine we'll be spending most of our time above the
tree line anyways.. and how bad are the lift lines? i also read that
even on a weekday you can expect 20 minute lines no matter where you are..
thats kind of a downer.. should we be considering anywhere else? i
couldn't imagine spending the winter in a place like silverstar,
it seems like a great place to visit for a week or two, but not five
months.. whistler seems like you could ski and live there for months
if not years and never get bored..

any advice would be greatly appreciated, i'm pretty much sold on
whistler, except for the snow issue and lift line issue..

kevin wrote:

A couple of buddies and i just finished up with school and we're thinking
of taking some time off and enjoying ourselves by spending the winter
out west.
snip

any advice would be greatly appreciated, i'm pretty much sold on
whistler, except for the snow issue and lift line issue..

I was only there once, for a week in April. Take what follows with
that in mind.

Whistler's neither as bad as you've heard, nor as good as the hype
makes it out to be.

Snow quality:

With over 5000 feet of vertical drop, Whistler encompasses several
different climates. The base is coastal rainforest, with all that
*that* implies for quality skiing. The summit is alpine glacier with
12 month snowcover.

I'd hazard a guess that there's probably good skiing to be had
*somewhere* on the mountain any given day, but top-to-bottom quality
skiing is probably a rarity. I'm sure that if you spent a season
there skiing every day you'd figure out where to go for the good
stuff. Even in late april, the snow wasn't so wet that it was
unenjoyable but don't expect fluffy dry Utah powder. You will find
ice and slush, but it won't be *all* ice or *all* slush.

Crowds:

It can get crowded. But the tourons travel in packs, and can be
avoided if you know how. And even when the lifts lines are loooong,
there's plenty of uninhabited slopes if you're willing to go off the
beaten track.

The Village:

Whistler's expensive. Think of a big Tremblant, but add 50% to the
cost of everything. The cost of housing could be a real issue. Or
not, if you're a trustafarian. If I were in your boots, I'd be
looking seriously at interior BC/Alberta.


--
// Walt
//
// There is no Volkl Conspiracy

http://www.skifernie.com/snowreport/index.asp
http://www.sunpeaksresort.com/
http://www.bigwhite.com/
http://www.ski-red.com/site/index.php

Theres lots more. None nearly as crowded or expensive as Whistler.

Everybody should go to Whistler once. Nobody should spend a lot of time
there.


"Walt" wrote in message
...
kevin wrote:

A couple of buddies and i just finished up with school and we're
thinking
of taking some time off and enjoying ourselves by spending the winter
out west.
snip

any advice would be greatly appreciated, i'm pretty much sold on
whistler, except for the snow issue and lift line issue..

I was only there once, for a week in April. Take what follows with
that in mind.

Whistler's neither as bad as you've heard, nor as good as the hype
makes it out to be.

Snow quality:

With over 5000 feet of vertical drop, Whistler encompasses several
different climates. The base is coastal rainforest, with all that
*that* implies for quality skiing. The summit is alpine glacier with
12 month snowcover.

I'd hazard a guess that there's probably good skiing to be had
*somewhere* on the mountain any given day, but top-to-bottom quality
skiing is probably a rarity. I'm sure that if you spent a season
there skiing every day you'd figure out where to go for the good
stuff. Even in late april, the snow wasn't so wet that it was
unenjoyable but don't expect fluffy dry Utah powder. You will find
ice and slush, but it won't be *all* ice or *all* slush.

Crowds:

It can get crowded. But the tourons travel in packs, and can be
avoided if you know how. And even when the lifts lines are loooong,
there's plenty of uninhabited slopes if you're willing to go off the
beaten track.

The Village:

Whistler's expensive. Think of a big Tremblant, but add 50% to the
cost of everything. The cost of housing could be a real issue. Or
not, if you're a trustafarian. If I were in your boots, I'd be
looking seriously at interior BC/Alberta.


--
// Walt
//
// There is no Volkl Conspiracy

http://www.skifernie.com/snowreport/index.asp
http://www.sunpeaksresort.com/
http://www.bigwhite.com/
http://www.ski-red.com/site/index.php

Theres lots more. None nearly as crowded or expensive as Whistler.

is whistler expensive in the long term? short term it sure is, go
for two weeks, at $250 a night for a hotel room and ten lift tickets
at $70 each thats $4200. BUT, a mid week season pass is only $920
and we found two places to rent that would cost around $600 a month
each including cable and utilities.. so for $3800 we can live and
ski in whistler for five months.. i don't consider that expensive..
at all. groceries might cost more but not enough to be anywhere near
a factor..

anyways, what does any -one- resort you listed above have to offer
that makes it a better long term destination than whistler? i haven't
visited those hills although i plan on it one day, especially fernie,
but if they're anything like silver star i wouldn't want to spend
five weeks there much less five months.. the skiing has to be good..
silverstar was nice but like i said, it certainly didn't blow me
away, the terrain was marginally better than what we have out east
and the snow was nice but we get nice snow here too, jay peak gets
an average 357" a year.. 571" just a couple years ago.. and if i'm
going to live somewhere for five months the village has to have some
LIFE and i don't want to have to be commuting a half hour to the
nearest town when i need something..

Everybody should go to Whistler once. Nobody should spend a lot of time
there.

why is that?

from what i've read the terrain at whistler is second to none and
no one has said otherwise yet, my only issues are the quality of
the snow/weather and lift lines..

"kevin" wrote in message
...

is whistler expensive in the long term? short term it sure is, go
for two weeks, at $250 a night for a hotel room and ten lift tickets
at $70 each thats $4200. BUT, a mid week season pass is only $920
and we found two places to rent that would cost around $600 a month
each including cable and utilities..

Yes, but if you *work* for Whistler, don't they have
something like the co-operative agreement in the U. S., such
that you can get a letter to ski free at the other areas in the
vicinity? You could have Whistler *and* all the other
(very impressive) areas in BC/Alberta.

Did you know there are 66 ski *hills* in Alberta? That's not
counting the actual resorts. I don't know about BC, there
might well be that many in BC. It would be quite an endeavor
to ski every single hill in Alberta.

I'd love to work for Whistler for a season or more, but
Canada would never let me I'm afraid....

Yes, but if you *work* for Whistler, don't they have
something like the co-operative agreement in the U. S., such
that you can get a letter to ski free at the other areas in the
vicinity? You could have Whistler *and* all the other
(very impressive) areas in BC/Alberta.

Did you know there are 66 ski *hills* in Alberta? That's not
counting the actual resorts. I don't know about BC, there
might well be that many in BC. It would be quite an endeavor
to ski every single hill in Alberta.

I'd love to work for Whistler for a season or more, but
Canada would never let me I'm afraid....

skiing other hills is whats expensive, then you have to pay
transportation, lift tickets, you have to get hotels. we're
looking to stay in one place all winter BECAUSE its cheap,
which is why i'm looking for the best place to go (for FIVE
months). i didn't think people would have such a hard time
understanding..

In article , kevin says...

Yes, but if you *work* for Whistler, don't they have

skiing other hills is whats expensive, then you have to pay
transportation, lift tickets, you have to get hotels. we're
looking to stay in one place all winter BECAUSE its cheap,
which is why i'm looking for the best place to go (for FIVE
months). i didn't think people would have such a hard time
understanding..



What you don't understand is that $600/month at ANY Western resort gets you a
DUMP. You will end up with squatters quarters, and the dream notion you have
about great party nights followed by fresh pow in the morning quickly evaporates
into the reality of the crappy place you spend most of you time in. What the
previous posters are trying to tell you is that you can find a lot better
housing and great skiing at some of the lesser known resorts, rather than
compete with every other wanabee that thinks that it will be different for
him/her at Whistler (you and the ten thousand others). It is already too late to
get good housing there. You should have thought about this in early/mid summer.
There are, however, lots of great towns to live in (Canada and the US) that you
can still go to, as long as you are willing to avoid where all the sheople go.

As for crowds, you can figure it out yourself: 2+ million skiers/year. More than
Vail & Breck, which are notorious for loooong lift lines. Again, a season at a
lesser known resort will make a huge difference in the enjoyment factor.

As for terrain/snow: what good is high quality terrain if the snow is crappy?
The further you go inland, the drier (better) the snow. Even the Interior BC
resorts have MUCH better snow than Whistler. There is nothing more depressing
than living in a resort town and watching rain come down day after day, followed
by dense, moist fog.

Just my $0.02, but I would go anywhere BUT Whistler.

BoftheW

Walt wrote:

What Walt said on the terrain and snow. The big downside of Whistler,
IMHO, is the *fog*.
But, I've been there twice and would go again.

Crowds:

It can get crowded. But the tourons travel in packs, and can be avoided
if you know how. And even when the lifts lines are loooong, there's
plenty of uninhabited slopes if you're willing to go off the beaten track.

It will get crowded. Especially if you get a late start in the AM, the
lineups for both Blackcomb and Whistler out of the Village will be quite
long, so long they sometimes have entertainment performing on top of the
lift house. But the verticality of the mountains means that lines will
stack up at some mid-mountain lifts too.

Another option would be staying at Creekside. Lodging would be cheaper
there, because everybody wants to stay at the Village. The lines might
be better at the Creekside lift, I don't know.

You could try Banff/Sunshine/Lake Louise as well. The problem with
those hills is their convenience from town - NOT.

Dave

What you don't understand is that $600/month at ANY Western resort gets you a
DUMP. You will end up with squatters quarters, and the dream notion you have
about great party nights followed by fresh pow in the morning quickly
evaporates
into the reality of the crappy place you spend most of you time in.

well there's three of us so its actually $1800 combined, and we've seen
many pictures of the places, they're both quite nice.

As for crowds, you can figure it out yourself: 2+ million skiers/year. More
than Vail & Breck, which are notorious for loooong lift lines.

and whistler has more terrain and lifts than vail and breck combined..
the number of skiers is irrelevant, what matters is how the crowds are
managed, i've been to tiny little resorts with 30 minute queues, hell
when i was in silverstar that one time at christmas one of the days
we went i clocked in my longest wait ever at a fully functional chairlift,
47 minutes. so again, how are whistler lift lines once you get up the
mountain during the average week?

Again, a season at a lesser known resort will make a huge difference in the
enjoyment factor.

but if its in a lifeless boring village that will also make a huge difference
in the enjoyment factor, especially if you have to commute a half hour to
the next town over to get anything..

As for terrain/snow: what good is high quality terrain if the snow is crappy?

what good is great snow if the terrain sucks?

The further you go inland, the drier (better) the snow.

what good is dry snow if it only comes once a month?

Even the Interior BC resorts have MUCH better snow than Whistler. There is
nothing more depressing than living in a resort town and watching rain come
down day after day, followed by dense, moist fog.

from what i've read it very rarely rains at the top, am i mistaken?

Just my $0.02, but I would go anywhere BUT Whistler.

other than whistler the only place i can see would be banff, but then
you have a 30-45 minute commute everyday, thats not very fun.

kevin wrote:
http://www.skifernie.com/snowreport/index.asp
http://www.sunpeaksresort.com/
http://www.bigwhite.com/
http://www.ski-red.com/site/index.php

Theres lots more. None nearly as crowded or expensive as Whistler.

anyways, what does any -one- resort you listed above have to offer

Continental snowpack.

-klaus