World-class skiing at Whistler — for a price

WHISTLER, British Columbia -- A dozen years ago, a roommate and I were wasting away another rainy winter night in Seattle when we decided to drive the pickup truck five hours north to Whistler. We left at 10 p.m., pulled into the lot near the lifts and spent a few fitful, freezing hours of semi-sleep in the cab until sunrise.

We gladly paid about $45 each to blissfully ski on the softest, freshest snow in the Northwest -- which usually provides wet cement. On the way home we stopped at McDonald's.

You couldn't pull that off today.

Whistler and adjoining Blackcomb Mountain, north of Vancouver, B.C., form what's widely recognized as one of the top resorts in North America by skiers and snowboarders.

And it doesn't come cheap anymore (as prices have risen and the U.S. dollar has slumped in value).

The venue for the downhill skiing and snowboarding events in the 2010 Winter Olympics -- plus the nordic events nearby -- has become a haven for those who want luxury near their lift lines.

The standard daily lift ticket is $81. All-day adult group lessons begin at $77, with lift ticket.

Fancy hotels such as the Four Seasons, the Fairmont Chateau, the Westin Resort and Spa and two Pan Pacific palaces seem to be at every turn inside Whistler Village. The pulsing, main pedestrian walk of shops, bars, restaurants and two grocery stores even has a wine shop at the base of Whistler ski area. Based on the ubiquitous "No Overnight Parking" signs, sleeping in a truck is no longer a hassle-free option.

My family of four and a married couple without kids -- the most patient, tolerating friends on the planet -- in December spent a pre-holiday crush Friday night and Saturday at Whistler. We found a room at the Tantalus Lodge, a 10-minute walk or three-minute shuttle van ride south of the Whistler Village Gondola. We enjoyed a two-bedroom, two-bath suite with a sofa bed, full kitchen and fireplace for $261 per night (plus $16 a day to park). It slept six comfortably.

Some hotels want two-night minimums. Then there's the currently unfavorable currency exchange rate, eh?

But, oh, what you get for all those loonies and toonies (Canada's $1 and $2 coins).

Local merchants and many of Whistler's 3,400 employees -- seemingly all perky, in their 20s and many from New Zealand, Australia or Great Britain -- push the fact that theirs is a four-season resort.

Ski season runs from November through June, with the last couple of months usually spent on higher Blackcomb Mountain. Blackcomb's summer glacier skiing and snowboarding are tentatively scheduled to run through July 27.

There's also vibrant mountain-biking season and a relatively new zip-line attraction. Some of Canada's world-class mountain bikers live at Whistler or at Squamish, the small town midway between Vancouver and Whistler along B.C. Highway 99.

But did I mention the winter snow?

Whistler's gondola takes you from the main base at 2,214 feet to above 6,000 feet. From there, chairs take you to the black-diamond runs off the top. Or you can swoosh off to the south, to the Dave Murray and Wild Card trails, which will be the runs for the men's and women's downhill and super giant slalom races in the Olympics. Those runs end at Creekside, another lodge with rentals, bars and restaurants a few down the road south from Whistler Village.

In my multiple trips here over the years, I've liked the snow better and found the runs more wide open atop Blackcomb, also accessible from Whistler's main village (as well as its own base area). Beginning in late 2008, there will be a peak-to-peak gondola that will connect the two mountains at the 6,100-foot levels.

In preparation for the Olympics, the only highway into Whistler is torn up in a widening project. And half of Vancouver is seemingly under construction.

But Ryan Proctor, public relations coordinator for Intrawest at Whistler, said the Olympics will consume only 10 percent of the skiable terrain at Whistler-Blackcomb.

"We'll still be fully operational during the Olympics," Proctor said.

At Whistler-Blackcomb, that's a very good thing.