Vancouver-Whistler

Vancouver / Whistler Mountain

(click on the pictures for the high resolution version)

Left Vancouver very early in the morning; took the very scenic Sea-to-the-Sky Highway, which happened to be a little less scenic than usual, due to an incoming winter storm and very limited visibility. My rental car didn't do too bad on the snowy roads though, so I made it to Whistler. A beautiful powder day, be it a little cold and windy.

Whistler-Blackcomb is an incredible ski area; unfortunately the higher parts of the mountains were closed because of the storm and its blazing winds high above the tree line. This didn't hinder some awesome tree skiing however. The town itself is a little more Euro-style than most North-American resorts, and features good apres-skiing! They even have draft Hoegaarden.

Later in the afternoon, things cleared out and the Sea-To-The-Sky road fulfilled its promise: providing gorgeous vistas on the ocean and the coastal mountains and islets of British Columbia.

I was staying on the North Shore of Vancouver, which rather kept me drooling, since this is one of the Promised Lands of mountain biking - in summer, that is. Closeby my hotel there was the Capilano park - nowadays a tourist attraction featuring some Native American totem artwork, but most dominantly, a long wooden pedestrian suspension bridge.

The views on the Vancouver skyline form the North Shore are quite nice as well. Checked out the city during a day and night and was positively impressed.

Grouse Mountain ! Almost too good to be true: 15 minutes from downtown, 5 minutes from my hotel, one can take a cable tram going up to 3700 feet, then ski while having an incredible view of the city and the ocean. Got in a couple of hours of skiing, then had to head back to the car, drive to Seattle and catch my plane at 5pm. Half an hour wait at the Canada-US border but unlike at the airports, the INS people here were quite friendly.

Back

		Left Vancouver very early in the morning; took the very scenic Sea-to-the-Sky Highway, which happened to be a little less scenic than usual, due to an incoming winter storm and very limited visibility. My rental car didn't do too bad on the snowy roads though, so I made it to Whistler. A beautiful powder day, be it a little cold and windy.
		Whistler-Blackcomb is an incredible ski area; unfortunately the higher parts of the mountains were closed because of the storm and its blazing winds high above the tree line. This didn't hinder some awesome tree skiing however. The town itself is a little more Euro-style than most North-American resorts, and features good apres-skiing! They even have draft Hoegaarden.
		Later in the afternoon, things cleared out and the Sea-To-The-Sky road fulfilled its promise: providing gorgeous vistas on the ocean and the coastal mountains and islets of British Columbia. I was staying on the North Shore of Vancouver, which rather kept me drooling, since this is one of the Promised Lands of mountain biking - in summer, that is. Closeby my hotel there was the Capilano park - nowadays a tourist attraction featuring some Native American totem artwork, but most dominantly, a long wooden pedestrian suspension bridge.
		The views on the Vancouver skyline form the North Shore are quite nice as well. Checked out the city during a day and night and was positively impressed.
		Grouse Mountain ! Almost too good to be true: 15 minutes from downtown, 5 minutes from my hotel, one can take a cable tram going up to 3700 feet, then ski while having an incredible view of the city and the ocean. Got in a couple of hours of skiing, then had to head back to the car, drive to Seattle and catch my plane at 5pm. Half an hour wait at the Canada-US border but unlike at the airports, the INS people here were quite friendly.