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ShoppingWhistler has no shortage of shops. Besides the ubiquitous ski shops, there were clothing, art furniture, chocolate, souvenir stores. Also, in the Whistler Marketplace there is an IGA supermarket and a liquor store. There is a smaller grocery store in the main village. We were able to buy everything we needed to make breakfast and several dinners at the Marketplace. ActivitiesSkiing & SnowboardingTo emphasize the vastness of this twin mountain resort the trail guide is called the "Mountain Atlas." Beginning to expert skiers can spend a week here and never get bored. Let's begin with Whistler Mountain. The aptly named, Whistler Village Gondola, transports skiers from the village to the Roundhouse Lodge at an elevation of 6,069 feet. From there you can head down or up to the peak (7,160 ft) or Little Whistler peak (6,939 ft). To the left of the top station are quite a few great intermediate runs serviced by the Emerald Express quad chair. At least a couple of the runs will be left ungroomed. During the week that we were there it snowed every night. In total over six feet of snow hit the ground. The ungroomed runs were at least knee deep in fairly heavy snow. If you fell it was a real struggle to get back on your feet but, it was a heck of a lot of fun. Further over from the Emerald is the Harmony & Symphony zone, which you can reach from the gondola by taking G.S. (or Marmot, an easy run). We only skied this area once. It was a complete white out. The majority of this zone is above the tree line so, you pick whatever track looks good. There are plenty of expert and intermediate runs but, with the poor visibility we took the easiest route down, Burnt Stew Trail. On the other side of the Whistler Village Gondola are the
Garbanzo Express, the Orange Chair, Big Red Express
and Franz's Chair. We took Banana Peel and Franz's Run a couple of times to the
base of the Big Red Express. The only problem with this chair is that on windy
days it got very cold. You can also continue down Franz's Run to the Creekside
Base area. There was a serious amount of construction going on in this base
area. We had lunch at Dusty's Backside and then rode the Creekside Gondola back
to mid-mountain. Beyond Franz's run is an area that is currently closed but,
already has runs cut out. Now on to Blackcomb Mountain…You can get to Blackcomb
from the base area in the Upper Village or using the Excalibur Gondola from the
Whistler base area. We did only the later since it would have been an uphill
hike or a shuttle ride to reach the base of the Wizard Express. Unlike the
Whistler Village Gondola, the Excalibur only goes to mid-mountain. From there
you take the Excelerator Chair to just below the tree line. There are great
intermediate runs from both sides of this chair. You can also head down to
reach the Crystal Chair, the Glacier Express (which ran only occasionally) or
the Jersey Cream Express. The first time we went up the Crystal Chair the wind
was blowing so hard all I could think about was to get down. Subsequent trips
were much better. We even braved an expert run through the trees called Rider's
Revenge. Jersey Cream takes you to the tree line (6,102 ft) and the Rendezvous
Lodge. The Solar Coaster Express and the Catskinner Chair also unload here so,
the
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To book a trip or get more information send an email to
kelly@apostcardhome.com or call (281)334-0427
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area
can get kind of crowded. Under the Solar Coaster Express are several advanced
intermediate runs and to one side is a terrain park and a half pipe. If the
line is too long you can always head over to the base of the Excelerator Chair.
From the Rendezvous Lodge area you can take the easy run Expressway over to the
7th Heaven Zone. We skied this area on our last day. I wish it had
been open sooner. Most of the runs are above the tree line and wind scrubbed
but, these slopes get all of the afternoon sun. From the top you can look down
onto the Horstman Glacier or up to the people climbing the ridge. There's
plenty of expert skiing at the top of this mountain (when the weather
cooperates) for those that don't mind a hike and/or a T-bar ride.