The Whistler Christmas trip was our 2nd of the the 2018/19 season.  This year we decided to get full Epic passes for Vail resorts which gave us access to Whistler/Blackcomb over the Christmas holidays.  We have been there twice before in the winter and spring and never had good conditions so we wanted to give the biggest resort in North America another shot.

Whistler Peak Stonehenge

We’ve had good weather luck on this project over the years, but you can’t win them all.  Whistler is prone to rain on the lower mountain and that is what we got.  Good snow and 4″ of powder the first day was replaced with all-day rain 2/3 of the way up the mountain on the 2nd day and all of the upper mountain lifts closed due to wind.  Ahh!  This is the worst possible weather when skiing because skis don’t slide on water.  We also found out that our waterproof ski clothes aren’t really that waterproof.  We just barely got them dried out in time for skiing the next day.

View of Whistler from 7th Heaven at Blackcomb

On the third day we did the First Tracks breakfast which gets you on the gondola in the dark and up top long before sunrise.  After a good breakfast we got to ski the upper mountain before the hordes of holiday skiers got up there.  This was one of the highlights of the trip along with a great dinner at Ka-Ze (Japanese) in the village.

First tracks at Whistler before sunrise

So the Whistler Christmas trip was interesting and fun, but our opinion of Whistler isn’t really improved or changed much.  It’s risky planning a trip far in advance there, but if you hit it on a good day it’s pretty amazing.

Lift Line Camp Robbers at 7th Heaven

Skiing back down to the village at the end of the day

Peak to Creek run at Whistler on a good day, December 2018

Waiting in line at the Whistler Gondola at 7AM