Tempboy

I've never skiied Whistler, but I've heard so much about it...

Living in Calgary, my hills of choice would be Sunshine or Louise. How do those compare with Whistler?

Is it worth it to take a trip out there just to ski it?

skier

whistler is quite an experience, just because of it's size. You can ski one mountain for a week then go to blackcomb for another week of completely new trails and slopes.

Whistler is renowned for that size and because of some nice backcountry stuff that looks good in magazines. The actual skiing all depends on snow cover, tempurature, and season. Which is pretty much the same in louise or sunshine. The largest difference between these mountains is that because sunshine and louise are furthur EAST, a lot of precipitation has already fallen by the time it reaches these places and snow cover is usually a few meters less than in whistler. Early season skiing in louise or any western rocky resort can be a risky proposition for you and your skis is you go off the groomed trails.
Once there is suitable snow cover at these two fabulous resorts, the skiing is incredible. If you are a beginner or intermediate rider, both mountains offer tons of terrain to go play on and have fun for the weekend. If you are an advanced rider, Lake Louise is generally the better choice, even with Sunshine village opening goat's eye mountain. There just is more advanced terrain at louise, plain and simple.
Louise is my personal stomping ground, there are a few great backcountry areas you can ski out to a lift and a couple nice cliff/cornice drops that are a lot of fun. Also, I haven't seen sunshine's latest attempts at a terrain park, but I know Louise has a great setup with a full superpipe.
if it's worth it for me to drive out from Edmonton at 3AM to go skiing there it is definetly worth the trip to go ski these resorts from Calgary, a much shorter drive.

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"Asking a bomb squad if an old bomb is still "real" is not the best thing to do if you want to save it." - denim

Fly

best damn time sking you'll have in B.C.......

well it's a close call between Whistler/Blackcomb (dual mt. eh)....and Big White.


you'd be closer to Big White but hell...if you're comin' oput here to ski......hit 'em all man.


all deadly mts. to ski here.

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BASTARD

SterlingStudios

bigbad

I once got to spend 2 weeks free up in Whistler for work, at that point it was definately the highlight of my life. If you have the chance I would for sure go, you won't regret the trip

matteo101

Oh man, whistler is heaven. It is amazing any time of year, it is amazing if you ski, snowboard or don't do anything. Amazing nightlife. There are so many things to do. I love it there.

splck

Whistler/Blackcomb is a bit pricey but with the amount of skiing/boarding you can do in a day, it's worth every cent.
The après ski is worth it too
I'd also recommend the Interior mountains also (Big White, Silverstar, Sun Peaks, Red Mountain etc), they have great light powder that you just don't see on the Coastal mountains.

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nice line eh?

Tempboy

Hmm..sounds good.

I'll try and head up there this coming season.

Jam

skier i think you mean farther east, your map is upside down... calgary is east of whistler

Key

there's a reason it's been rated #1 mountain for several years in several magazines :P

skier

hahaha so it is, jam, so it is.

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"Asking a bomb squad if an old bomb is still "real" is not the best thing to do if you want to save it." - denim