After 5 months in the Canadian wilderness (not really, Whistler itself is pretty tame, nearly cosmopolitan as Mountain town's go), I leave this campsite waiting for next year to be here already. After Action Review (AAR) of life in an RV? Not bad at all, challenging to a degree (get it?) when the temp drops below 5-10 degF.
When not on the mountain snowboarding ( I prefer Blackcomb to Whistler by far ), I would fill days with other activities like cross country skiing. ( For those paying attention to my blog frequency, obviously I underachieved in the blogging department ) I began 'classic' XC skiing, either at Lost Lake in the Village or closer to my 'home' at Callaghan (to the right, here). Next year I will try the 'skate skiing' style, which is faster and looks cooler. The courses at Callaghan (https://www.callaghancountry.com/) are varied in length and slope steepness. The above example of a track contoured a few pretty steep ridges and was a lot of fun, less crowded.
To the left is the Lost Lake courses in Whistler Village, generally a lot flatter, and definitely more people. If I stay at the Riverside RV park next year, I could XC ski from just north of the red squiggle on the map and go pretty directly to Blackcomb mountain to downhill. I did a few double sessions this winter, just so I could fully embrace the suck. On weekends, I would probably still go to Callaghan park for longer treks and to ingest in the day lodge a couple bowls of their very excellent Thai Chicken Curry soup.
I also snow shoed either at Callaghan or on the ridge where my RV was parked. There are multiple snow mobile/sled trails feet from my doorstep, and days when our road was shut down to the highway due to ice/snow pileup, I would snowshoe right from home. Pic to the right was not one of those blizzards days.
To the left was a snowshoe day at Callaghan (I had not set my Garmin to a snow shoe app). This was during a decent snow fall, and pay no attention to the temperature readings on any of the pics-- this day was as cold as 10 mother fuckers. Not sure it can be seen in the pic, but the track takes you up to the top of the Whistler Olympic Park ski jump facility.
Over the course of my time here, I'd go to the gym M,W,F( https://www.altitudecanada.com/) or go to the pool to drown myself ( https://www.whistler.ca/culture-recreation/facilities/meadow-park-sports-centre ). Meadow Park also has a hockey rink, so next year I'll bring the skates. Food? Expensive, and anywhere on a spectrum from Apres ski poutine (https://www.favfamilyrecipes.com/poutine/ ) to exquisite French cuisine. There is also dog sledding, snowmobiling, living in yurts-- anything you can do outside in the Winter, they do it here. And you'll pay.
All in all, an absolutely unforgettable trip in which I didn't take nearly enough pictures. But here's one!!
