This is Whistler in the Offseason... (plus tips)

Goodbye Vancouver

The morning of Thursday 26th was hectic. I had to repack my bike and suitcase ready for the journey to Whistler as well as doing a myriad of other small jobs like replenishing Alana's stock of vegan food that I'd consumed. I then headed down to see a snowboarding manufacturer just down the road called Wired Snowboards. The owner, Rob, was really friendly and gave me a small tour, hinting at some of the special new things they were going to be bringing to the table very soon to make them unique. A power walk home and it was time to head to the bus station to meet Candace (a soon-to-be-housemate), from there we were traveling with Epic Rides upto Whistler. At $24 one way or $35 for a round trip, they were the cheapest company we could find who wouldn't complain at my excessive luggage.

Epic Rides...

The journey, despite being only one bus across town, wasn't exactly easy with a bike, board bag, suitcase and rucksack. The sun had decided to show itself again and it was a stunning but very warm day - soon I was sweating while hauling my mound of baggage along. Thanks to the combination of a friendly driver and some help from the other bus riders, it was all under control and once I got to the other end I just had to track the Epic Rides bus down and we were ready to go.

Unsurprisingly, the journey from Vancouver to Whistler during Autumn is absolutely stunning. Following the road as it wiggled along the coast, passing lakes and small towns tucked among tree's decked with fading yellow and red leaves, the feel of autumn was like nothing I'd experienced in the UK. The sea to sky highway is wide, but full of magnificent views, sweeping bends and clear stretches and goes from Vancouver to Pemberton where it loses it's title and is just referred to as the '99'.

Oh, the scenery here...!

After a while we came to Squamish - which promises much for a MTB'er like myself, and once we were on the other side we were finally able to see snow on the highest mountain peaks. This continued up and up, through Garibaldi, Function Junction, Creekside, Nordic and finally into Whistler Village itself. We were dropped in parking lot 3, right next to the local skate park, pump track and some imposingly large jumps. As I had directions to the place but too much gear, I set off with my bike bag through the Village to find where we were staying before coming back to meet Candace and grab the rest of my gear. While commercial, the centre of the village still has a great alpine feel to it - before the season starts it's still fairly quiet and not overrun with tourists, and so was easy to navigate.

At the end of our road the colours were incredible

Our new place was only going to be ours until Dec 1st, but it was in a great location - 5 minutes into town and with a supermarket really close, backing onto the unused tennis courts, we had great views from the balcony upstairs as well as a spacious living area and storage downstairs in the garage. All in all, it was a very luxurious way to start our Whistler journey. While the accommodation itself isn't a long term solution, our forming of a group of mature, like-minded people over Facebook and then booking somewhere through airbnb has turned out to be brilliant.

Out in the hills

Over the next few days I walked around, scoped out shops and handed resume's out to those that interested me. Having done training as a ski technician, I wanted the opportunity to utilise those skills, but with my sales and stockroom experience I knew working in a shop was going to be an easy option. It turns out the number one question any employer will as is 'do you have accommodation sorted?' It is imperative that this is sorted asap, or getting work anywhere will be a struggle, but with it, work is easy to track down. It all seems a little unorganised - why is there such a disparity between the amount of available housing vs the amount of jobs? We're all here for the same reason - to have fun, ski/board and work.

The Gang on the trainwreck hike

Saturday came around and it was time to hand my resume to one of the most promising companies I'd spoken to, and then the whole crew (Owain, Alice, Candace and myself) were all heading for a small hike to see the crashed train down at Cheakamus. As I mentioned above, we've been blessed with the weather and it was a warm day with blue skies overhead. Ours was a relaxed walk along the riverside, taking photos and chatting, on the lookout for bears pre-hibernation. None found, we came to the suspension bridge and the graffiti-covered crashed trains. We joined the rest of the tourists looking around, snapping shots and clambering over everything before making our way back via a different route.

One of about 6 carriages

Things I've learnt about Whistler in the last week:

It's not what you know, but who you know (more so than anywhere I've been before).
Sorting accommodation for a whole season without being here is HARD. And even when you are here, it's still very hard. Chase every lead, make friends with the locals.
Group or couple accommodation seems to be the way to go - get a group of 4-6 people together, all 'mature' (25+)
Staff accommodation is a real benefit if you can get it - no guarantee's though the waiting list can be huge, the big companies hotels are more likely to offer it.
The Working Holiday Club seems to have a bit of a monopoly on jobs here.
Finding jobs is relatively easy, but some places recruit really early.
Pique is the local magazine with all kinds of jobs and accommodation listed, worth checking, plenty of jobs, not much accom. Comes out every Thursday.
Whistler Village is really spread out - being down by Alta Lake is actually a really long walk into the village. Creekside is much smaller.
The library offers some good community services - free movie nights, free computer use (printing charge though) and more.
To work for someone other than Whistler Blackcomb or a hotel that provides a ski pass, you really need a minimum wage of $15 p/h to be worth it.
Food in expensive, learn to cook on a budget.
Gear is REALLY expensive, so either try to visit the clearance centre in Squamish on the way past, or bring it with you, like I did.
Crystal Lounge has comedy every Wednesday and other events almost every night.

Due to prices, dinner has been split between cooking at home and popping to Furny's (El Furniture Warehouse) for their $4.95 for any meal deal - it's an absolute bargain. Admittedly it's not really $5, because you then add tax and a tip, plus you probably buy a beer too, but it's still the best deal around. It has resulted in some interesting experiments with food at home; what can I put with instant noodles to make them more interesting?

Green Lake, Weds 1st pre-snow, approx 10am

With hot food in mind, on the night of Wednesday 1st the temperature dropped and the clouds came in. We all woke up to find a blanket of snow covering the town. Overnight we'd gone from autumn colours to monochrome!