May 18-19, 2019 Whistler Snow,Bike,Australian Team

The weather forecast provided a 2-day window of sun for the weekend. Whistler opens at 10am to 4pm for skiing and biking - the 18 th was the opening of the Mountain Bike Park. You can buy a bike partial-day ticket of 3 laps for $38, a 10-day ticket for $357US, and a season bike park pass for $528US. Yes, I didn't think about the bike park, but I was aware that this was the Victoria Day weekend. We took the campervan and spent the night in Squamish near the salt water and looking at the Stawamus Chief, a climber's heaven, and Shannon Falls. It's only 30 minutes to Whistler. This is a great place to visit.

We paid for parking and got there early for the short walk to the base area. We arrived at the gondola and were blow away by all the people near the gondola. Not just skiers & boarders, BUT also bikers. It was unbelievable. The Fitzsimmons express lift is using a unique setup - 4 riders are seated and the next chair seat is fitted to carry their 4 mountain bikes. There are 3 trails at the finish and it was crowded. The key item was that the most used color for bikers' clothes is "black", plus the helmets are BIG and many were wearing numerous other protection devices. Yes, this is a ski trip report, but if you really like mountain riding you will love this place. The photos provides some of the story.

The skiing! You have to take the Whistler Village gondola to reach the snow. It is a 20 minute ride. The open lifts are the Big Red, Emerald, 2 T-bars, Peak, and Harmony, plus skiing down to the Olympic mid-station to ride back up the Whistler Village gondola. The ski down to the Olympic mid-station is very narrow and not worth the ski. Our plan was to ski on Emerald first before the younger folks were there for the terrain parks. Then ski off Big Red. Then ride the Peak lift to the Saddle where the ski teams were on the mogul field and we skied the steep groomed run. Then back on the Peak lift to ski down Upper Peak to Creek to Highway 86 to the base of Big Red. Then down G.S. to ride the Harmony lift, ski there until our quads hurt, and then ride down the gondola.

On the ride down on Sunday we were joined by 2 members of the Australia Ski team who compete in the moguls. It was fun to watch them take off their white ski uniforms and boots and stuff everything in boot carriers and/or hang stuff out the windows to dry. It was fun swapping travel stories and complaining about body parts as we age. When we mentioned that we're planning a trip to Tasmania, we got some great input. When we got to the base they headed for the Vancouver airport and a 15-hour flight home after spending 3 weeks training at Whistler.

Then we spent some time at the base of the bike event at the Fitzsimmons lift. It was 2 days of great skiing and watching the bike folks. Skiers were in the minority and the bikers were everywhere. Very unusual to have the two activities overlap. It was a great trip.

Zap & Jill

Base of load area

4 bike on the next seat

Gondola bike rider

Black color equipment and helmet