2-for-1 Deal at Whistler

While Seattlest Jack was at Crystal, we made a run for the northern border, with promises of a huge dump of snow up at Whistler. We were buzzing as we drove up the Sea-to-Sky from Vancouver, as there was snow on the ground starting in North Van. It was the most snow we've ever seen in that area, the entire drive up from Squamish was a powdered-sugar-covered winter wonderland.

Saturday delivered 18" of new, Utah-light powder and complete bluebird skies in the morning. It was a Top 3 ski day--the picture at right from Whistler's Coast Photo is from that morning. We simply fell apart at around 2:30pm from sheer exhaustion of chasing powder all day. The Whistler formula was completed with après at the GLC, cocktails in the hot tub later, and crashing out early. Up again on Sunday, and hey! another foot and a half of snow. It was, to quote our lucky, lucky friends who live there, "absolutely mental." Like Crystal, the upper alpine lifts were closed due to wind, but with the snow they had, there wasn't a single bad run to be found anywhere mid-mountain.

On the drive home, we discovered a deal that many Shell stations in the area have going: buy at least 10 gallons of gas and get a 2-for-1 voucher for Whistler lift tickets. (Wily commenter Matt reminds us that the voucher is valid at other locations, including Crystal and Snoqualmie as well, but those are mostly only for night skiing on certain days of the week. The Whistler deal is for all-day tickets, any day of the week.) With recent hikes in ticket prices ($77 CAN for a day, yikes!) it is worth hunting down the various locations participating. A few weekends are blacked out, so check the fine print before you plan to head up with the voucher. Seattlest can confirm that the station in Blaine just outside the truck border crossing is in on the deal.