| February 2013 - WhistlerAfter
several years of not doing it, I got back into snow skiing. In my
defense, I did make an attempt last year, but California had a terrible
ski season. By the time we got some snow, I was in Mexico. To increase my chances for good snow, I went to Whistler, British Columbia. I went to another Four seasons. I stayed in one of their "Resort" rooms. (No, I didn't get a villa.) It had a nice view of the mountains and free internet access via ethernet or wifi. (Wifi is free for one device. If you want wifi for more than one device, you have to buy a plan.) Travel time to get there was pretty good: It took less than 2 hours to fly from Sacramento to Seattle. Then a 30 to 40 minute flight from Seattle to Vancouver. Next, a quick and uneventful trip through immigration and baggage claim. Finally, a 3 hour bus ride from Vancouver to Whistler. A little more about transportation: The bus, at almost $70 one-way, is the cheapest way to get from Vancouver airport to Whistler. The reason it takes about 3 hours is it makes a few stops in Vancouver before heading to Whistler. I looked at it as a free, unplanned tour of Vancouver, and they had wifi on the bus. Other options are:
Skiing was good. It would have been great except that visibiliy was poor at times. I haven’t skied in a few years so it took a while to get some semblance of form back. All I skied were blue runs. (The one wrong turn doesn't count.) I think it will be a while before I’m ready for black runs again. I skied both Blackcomb and Whistler. Easily accomplished via the "Peak 2 Peak" gondola. You can take a shuttle between the two but the gondola is much nicer. Besides skiing, the only other thing I did was go to the spa on a daily basis. Which, in some cases, was a necessity. (My legs thought so anyway.) Of course, they have the usual exercise room, pool and hot spring-style whirlpools (with pool concierge). They didn't have a sauna, but they did have eucalyptus steam rooms. I also opted for one "Après Ski" massage which included hot stones and a foot wrap. Yes, it was awesome. I didn't take any pictures of food this trip. There wasn't anything really noteworthy. That does not mean there were not any good places eat. I ate quite well. While skiing, I had lunch on the mountain at 3 different lodges. That averaged around $16. For dinner, I went to several places. I did try the Four Seasons, but I stayed in the bar and ordered off the bar menu. More reasonably priced. Their drinks however were not reasonably priced. I think I was in the upper village, so the other dinner choices in short walking distance, and not in other hotels were:
Pictures of my room are here. Here's the resort map. Other pictures I took are here. I took about 100 pictures. Out of that, I posted 62. Poor visibility (could never get a clear shot of the whole mountain), poor shooting on my part, and other people not quite clear on how to use my camera, contributed to the deletion of the rest. For those that missed it, my blog updates from my Whistler trip are here: Richard's Tumblelog. Things to know about Whistler
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