For the last two years in Vancouver, the ski season has come early. Last season is talked of with huge fondness and awe at the amount of snowfall that there was, and so it was with excitement that we bought our Whistler season passes, and booked accommodation for its opening weekend. Excitement turned to trepidation however, as the weather was still mild as the date approached, and the Whistler webcams showed little promise.

We had booked a bus up to Whistler at 5am on the Friday.  The snow was minimal, but there were a couple of runs open, and lots of people were going so the weekend was guaranteed to be good despite the lack of snow. We arrived in Whistler village at about 8am and were sad (although not surprised) to see that there was much more mud, trees and rocks than snow.

The skiing on the whole, was not bad – yes we had to stick to the piste, (or “groomers” as I recently learnt they are called here), and it was much more like spring skiing than winter skiing, but the company was good, (and the baileys hot chocolates were even better). The evenings were also fun. Whistler has a huge après scene, and as pretty much all of UBC were there to celebrate the first skiing weekend, we bumped into friends everywhere we went. For anyone coming to UBC next year, I would highly recommend booking the weekend regardless of the snow situation, although I do hope, for everyone’s sake, that next year the snow falls a bit earlier!