OnSno.com

Day 12 started at a similar time to the day before – we were all up and moving by 8:30am, which was a little later than ‘normal’, but not too bad for anyone. The weather looked perfect from our room window, as we stared out while eating breakfast – very few clouds about, and those that were about moved quickly. We were completely ready to hit the slopes at around 10am, and caught the hotel shuttle to the base of the lifts once again. We decided to start up Blackcomb, so that we would have an excuse to use the Peak 2 Peak with such nice weather, and so that we could end up on Whistler at the end of the day.

Straight up the Excalibur Gondola firstly, where we noticed that the current village temperature was 0C, mid-mountain was +2C, and at the peak a balmy +6C! We had luckily taken off a layer of clothing after yesterday’s fun in the sun, and it was certainly good that we had. We joked with another passenger on the gondola that we should have been skiing in shorts, and she suggested that they were predicting Spring Skiing conditions and so this wouldn’t be so silly. Once we reached the top, we continued upwards on the Excelerator lift. On the way up, we had seen some nice runs, and so decided to ski back down before venturing higher.

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These runs were excellent – both in snow condition, and the lack of crowds using them – but we soon decided to catch the Jersey Cream Express further up the mountain, just to see what the conditions were like. The sun was shining on this side of the mountain, and so we decided to explore some runs around the Cat Skinner and Solar Coaster area. We skied a number of nice runs here, and enjoyed the perfect weather and perfect views that came with it. The skiing was great, and it was surprisingly quiet considering the nice conditions.

At 12pm, we decided to grab some lunch – so that we could be on our way to Whistler by 1pm and therefore ski the same number of hours on both mountains. Lunch was again at the Rendezvous Restuarant, and much the same as yesterday’s helpings. Although there were plenty of skis at the front of the lodge, the tables were mostly empty. This was largely because many of the skiers and boarders had decided to make full use of the nice conditions and eat their lunch outside, on the deck of the lodge. While the weather was nice, it wasn’t that warm.

We finished lunch right on schedule at 1pm, and hopped straight on to the Peak 2 Peak Gondola. The 11 minute ride disappeared quickly with most of the time spent looking out the windows in awe of the amazing views around, and down, the mountains and valleys. We arrived at Whistler soon after and headed down to the Emerald Express chair, where we had spent much of our time over the past few days.

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In the number of runs we skied here, most of them were in the ‘Family Zone’ – which was much quieter than other areas, and surprisingly showcased much better snow conditions than other runs. We spent some time taking photos of the views, and Pip spent some time trying to capture an action jump photo. We span around this loop a few times as the sun got lower and lower on the horizon until it was too dark to effectively take a fast-moving action photo.

Before it got too late, however, we skied down from the top of the mountain to the Garbanzo Express, which allowed us to access Raven – a run we had found a few days before and thoroughly enjoyed. While it was a little icy today, it was still a great run and enjoyed again by all. We had time to finish this and return quickly to the Emerald chair for one last ride up at 2:55pm. By the time we were at the top, it was after 3pm and the majority of lifts were now closed.

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We skied to the very bottom of the mountain, doing some video filming on the way. I taped a few runs through the trees on the way down, which hopefully should make for some good viewing. They were the summer mountain bike trails that made for good tree runs – unfortunately today they were a little icy, so it was hard work on the legs trying to stay upright. By the time we reached the very bottom of the hill, it was coming up on 3:45pm.

The hotel shuttle was at the base of the mountain waiting for us, so we jumped aboard and took it back to the room. Upon returning to the room, we relaxed for a while in front of the TV before heading to the spa for more relaxation time. We didn’t stay in the spa for long, and we were soon back in the room preparing for dinner. After putting on a few more layers of clothes, we headed out into the village to grab yet another meal out-and-about.

Tonight we dined again at the Mongolie Grill – arguably our favourite place to eat in Whistler Village. Dinner was enjoyed by all, and Pip certainly won the competition for having the biggest meal. After dinner, we headed back to some shops and made a few more purchases, before heading to Cow’s for yet another serve of icecream. Once we were finished outside, we headed back to the hotel to begin organising ourselves in preparation for tomorrow.

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We’ve now spent 12 full days here at Whistler, and while everyone is more exhausted than when we left home, it had been an enjoyable time for all. Luckily the weather cleared up for us today, and hopefully it will remain as such tomorrow so as not to cause and chaos with transport arrangements. Other parts of Canada haven’t been quite so lucky with the weather, with today being -50C in Winnipeg.

We will try and keep you updated as we move around, but you may not see another post until we get back into a location with readily available access to the internet. Looking forward to seeing you all soon – all the very best until we do!