After our amazing summer trip to Whistler, we were excited to go back to ski there in the winter. Recall that for our winter trip, we flew to Whistler for free using Delta SkyMiles. We once again stayed on Starwood points at the Westin, and this time, we had 2 studio suites. They were across the hall from one another which with my three teen/tweens was completely fine.
We flew into Vancouver and used a shuttle service to transport us to the mountain. We then spent the next 6 days, skiing, eating and zip lining.
Whistler is wet in the winter. We knew going in that it was going to be a risk. The week we went was wet until the end. It was rainy and foggy at the bottom for many of the days we skied. We always headed right to the top, which was also sometimes, foggy and snowy. I have been skiing for over 30 years and have never been more visibly challenged skiing than I was on this trip. (It was not because of my age!)
We were with our friends who we ski with every year. We made the best of it and we now relish in all of the war stories that we have from our experiences on the mountain. There was one time we could not see 5 feet in front of us and we ALL got separated until later in the day. There was another time, we were so tired and the conditions were so treacherous that we headed down the mountain on a gondola, only to learn that we went to the wrong village. Up again we went.
When things were good, the skiing and the mountains were amazing. We skied between Whistler and Blackcomb mountains everyday as well as rode the Peak-to Peak gondola between the peaks. We carried our skis and hiked to the Blackcomb bowls. It took me forever to build up my nerve to ski down. Everyone left me. We rode all of the fun T-Bars into the clouds that lead to far away trails with tunnels! We took really scary tree trails (I didn’t). On one, Rob took a fall and landed upside with his skis up in the tree. We fought about his reckless behavior. 
We had waffles at the Crystal Hut for breakfast and lunch at Dusty’s, two mountain meals that shouldn’t be missed.
The mountains seem endless and I wish I could have “seen” more of them. I definitely want to go back and ski, despite the weather. My kids also loved Whistler and have donned it their favorite mountain. Imagine how they would have felt if it had been sunny. In fact, our last day was a bluebird day and we soaked up every last minute of it.
Every day after skiing, we either swam, tubed, hung out in the village or just chilled at the hotel. The Whistler village is huge with tons of restaurants, stores and a supermarket. Roots and Lulu Lemon were big hits for Jessie and I. Because our dollar was very strong when we went, we basically got a 30% discount on almost everything we bought compared to the States.
We had two families of friends with us in Whistler and most nights we all met up in the village for dinner. We mostly went to family friendly restaurants. Nothing so amazing that stands out, but all good food, good friends and good times. We almost always ended up at the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory after dinner. Those apples are amazing!
One afternoon after skiing, we went through the TAG (The Adventure Group) and went zip lining through the snow-covered trees. Although we liked our zip tour better in Costa Rica, this was so thrilling, fun and gorgeous! The first zipline (out of 4) seemed like it went on forever. Another zipline was so fast because of the angle. Every zip had a unique feature. I would definitely recommend making this part of your winter adventure in Whistler.