Great but N.A.G.A. St. Anton (Whistler)

Member Name: guido

Product:	Whistler
Date:	28/04/03 (512 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Tons of Snow; even fresh powder in April, Kids Ski School and Super Groups for Adults , High Capacity lifts: little queues

Disadvantages: Too Far, Rain in april, Too commercial

Just returned from Whistler. Skied there for the first time after hearing lots of people talk about it as the greatest resort. When I checked this forum last year I was surprised that not more people had written about Whistler. Since then no one else has contributed so I'll now add my bit.

We actually did not fly directly from the UK since we spent several days before and after in Philadelphia but even from Philly it was a treck. Travel duration from the UK is therefore definately a bummer.

Lula153 has written a lot of useful stuff in in her op so I will not repeat any of it here, except that she is spot on with her description of the drive from Vancouver, etc. I will just give an update and my view on several issues.

I booked the flight and hotel with expedia.com (using my US address) and that worked fine. I booked the bus, ski rental, ski tickets and ski lessons for the kids using the phone number given in the great www.whistler-blackcomb.com website. This worked out also good. The guy I got on the line was very helpful and when we arrived in Whistler we were in the computer and got all the equipment and passes without any hassle. The only thing no one told us was that we had to first visit 'Guest Relations' next to the Whistler gondola to pick up all the vouchers, etc. before visting the rental shop and ski school. The other thing which was somewhat a bummer was that my binding had not been properly set up: fortunately Salomon had a Demo tent at Blackcomb and set it up properly. I am therefore not a fan of the 'corporate' rental shop.

We ended up with what we thought was a hotel but was actually a condo. Seems like these condos are the norm which was fine for us but one has to be able to cope with no hotel breakfast, no room service, etc. But there was a cooker, fridge, etc. We actually stayed at the Mountainside Lodge (tel 604-664 5643, web www.mountainsidelodge.ca) right near the Whistler
Gondola. The 'Lodge' has a pool and Jacuzzi outside which we used a lot even at 2100hrs. During our stay (circa 10th April for 4 days) the TELUS World Ski & Snowboard Festival was held in Whistler. This is a yearly event and the following is written about it: "With the well-established reputation as North America’s largest event of its kind, the TELUS World Ski & Snowboard Festival will this year feature the very best in ski and snowboard sporting events - complemented by the DKNY//JEANS LIVE Outdoor Concert Series and an explosive collection of photography and film events. For 10 full days, the Festival this year is jam-packed with events and activities on the mountains and in the village." This pretty much describes it: was quite good: saw a lot of good snow boarders in the half pipe and coming off high jumps. The latter while sitting in the 'Lodge's' Jacuzzi! The room at the Lodge was comfortable for the 4 of us: we had a gas fire place and the 2 kids slept in an interesting sofa bed. Across from the hotel there was also a good climbing centre where we spent some fun hours (excellent for kids!). The only disadvantage of the hotel was that the windows were very thin and let through a lot of noise between 0200 and 0400hrs when loud drunks in the street returned 'home'.

So we had an interesting festival during April with lots of good music and boarders and there still was still lots of snow. During 2 days there was actually fresh powder on most of the mountains and I was able to ski every day back to the village (although most took the gondola's down since the snow was quite mushy). So skiing during early April is good - but one has to also expect rain (during the last afternoon I skied for 2 hours in rain showers and actually learned about the 'ski rain wiper' which one puts on his/her finger to wipe the rain of the goggles!). The other advantage during April are the demo days: one c
an demo anything: goggles, gloves, skis, boards,
etc.

I learned quite a lot about the ski school. This school is great and I am glad that I put both kids in there. My 9-year-old initially refused to go but now can't wait to go back. After he returned to his regular school he had THE story of the vacation: how his teacher did flips off jumps! My 5-year-old, who is usually very shy, also had a good time and progressed to the 3rd level. I must say that the organisation and effort in the kids ski school is second to none: brilliant! For 2 days I put my wife and myself also into ski school. One option they have are Super classes. These classes are restricted to max. 3 (vs. 8 in the regular classes). My wife ended both days with 2 other girls (who matched her level) and she was very pleased with the instructions she obtained (especially during the 2nd day). I ended up with a private teacher during the 2 morning sessions (since no one skied at my level) and then was joined every afternoon by one other skier. Was great since it was like a private lesson but did not have to pay as much! A lot of the skiers are taking these Super Group lessons actually with season tickets for only some CA$800 (which is an unbelievable deal)! This is especially a good deal for someone who wants to make major improvements during one season: spent a season in Whistler and take these Supergroup lessons! I had 2 very different teachers during the 2 days; the first one was circa 55 years old but together we really blasted down the mountains on the piste and down double diamonds. In the lift he then told me how he arrived in Whistler 25 years ago, joined the ski school as the 8th instructor (now they have 1200!), and bought a house a long time ago (which is worth a fortune now since they are trying to get the Olympics to Whistler in 2010). He knew the name of every gully and snow bowl and told me exactly how the whole area has been developed and who has invested! G
reat info! The next day the instructor was a young chap who did not own property but skies all year (mostly in Whistler but then in the summer for 12 weeks in Australia). He told me he learned a lot in Australia from the other instructor (who came from the Alps and elsewhere) and he ended up teaching me most than anyone lately, which was great! I skied with him fresh powder in the bowls, steep double diamonds in the clouds with little visibility, groomed slopes, bladed runs (full of trees), and difficult to ski spring snow and he gave me little tips for each.

So all in all an excellent vacation but not as good as St. Anton. The reason I say this is that the ski school in St. Anton takes us deep off-piste where there is no one else around for miles while the Whistler - Blackcomb ski school is not allowed off piste (with good reason since some 27 had been killed by avalanches (and other ski related incidents) this season!). The other thing is that the Whistler village and the HUGE mountain lodges are too commercial for my liking. I like the Austrian 'gemuetlichkeit' and like to ski with my ski class to a small hut where a table has been reserved for us and where a waiter takes our order. In Whistler it is all self service and one has to stand in the queue to pay the bill.

But as American I am thinking about retiring there since Vancouver is a very interesting international city, the snow fall in Whistler is second to none, and since the golf and mountain biking in the summer looks to be excellent! The scenery is also as good as in the Alps: I actually brought 4 super postcards with me which a put on the wall next to me PC and which now cheer me up daily!

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