What's New
Whistler ranked number one by Onthesnow.com
Whistler was named North America's favourite ski resort by visitors of Onthesnow.com, one of the oldest snow sports consumer web sites.
The web site allowed visitors to write reviews of North American resorts and submit them from September 2007 to April 2008. More than 7,500 reviews were sent in, ranking the resorts in five categories: Overall Favourite, Best Nightlife, Most Family-Friendly, Best Downhill Terrain and Best Terrain Park.
Visitors honoured Whistler with the top spot in three of the five categories. Whistler received perfect scores in the overall favourite and downhill terrain categories, and was near perfect for its nightlife.
The ratings were based on readers' average rankings, number of reviews and specific comments made over the winter season on the web site.
Coldplay, NIN, Tom Petty, Jay Z, Tragically Hip headline first Pemberton Festival
An impressive lineup of more than 50 live acts has been announced for the first-ever Pemberton Festival, July 25, 26 and 27, 2008.
The European-style festival will take place just a short drive north of Whistler in the beautiful Pemberton Valley, and feature the best in rock, alternative and urban music during a multi-day, multi-stage and multi-artist summer concert extravaganza.
Acts confirmed for the event include Coldplay, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, Nine Inch Nails, The Tragically Hip, Jay-Z, The Flaming Lips and more.
For more information or to get info on how to purchase tickets, go to the our Pemberton Festival's page .
Whistler Designated 2009 Cultural Capital of Canada
On January 21, 2008 Whistler was honoured with a 2009 Cultural Capital of Canada designation.
The Cultural Capital of Canada designation is awarded by the Minister of Canadian Heritage, Status of Women and Official Languages for the merits of a proposed project and earlier achievements by the community that demonstrate an ongoing commitment to the arts and culture. Funding is provided to support special projects that celebrate the arts and culture, with amounts varying according to the size of the municipality.
With up to $500,000 in funding coming as a result of the designation, Whistler will launch the Celebration 2020: A Natural Step Towards Cultural Sustainability project, which will present different festivals and a number of innovative activities, including a professional-development workshop for artists in the region.
Construction Complete on Whistler-based 2010 Games Venues
With a little more than two years to go before the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, construction was completed on all three Whistler-based competition venues in December 2007.
The three finished Whistler venues - The Whistler Sliding Centre, Whistler Olympic Park and Whistler Creekside - will host 46 Olympic medal events and 62 Paralympic medal events in 2010.
Whistler Creekside has been operational since the beginning of the 2007/08 ski season; Whistler Olympic Park is also open for cross-country skiing, and has already hosted its first ski jumping competitions. Detailed fit-out and testing at the Whistler Sliding Centre is still ongoing.
During the 2010 Winter Games, Whistler Olympic Park will host the biathlon, cross-country skiing, Nordic combined and ski jumping events; The Whistler Sliding Centre will host bobsleigh, luge and skeleton events; Whistler Creekside will host the alpine skiing events.
Whistler Mountain Opening Early On November 17, 2007
An intense storm system that dropped more than 80 cms of snow on Whistler Blackcomb earlier this week has prompted mountain managers to open Whistler Mountain almost a week early. Blackcomb Mountain will open as planned on Thursday, November 22.
Whistler Mountain will open on Saturday with access from the Whistler Village and Creekside base areas. The Whistler Village Gondola, CreeksideGondola, the Emerald Express, Franzs Chair and the Big Red Express are all scheduled to open. The resorts fleet of grooming machines will be hard atwork this week preparing the slopes for skiers and riders. Guests should beaware that early season conditions will exist on and off-piste and caution should be exercised when venturing beyond the ropes.
A rail park will be set up in the Emerald Express Habitat Park area. Jumps, more rails and other terrain park features will be added as the snow falls and more terrain is opened. Blackcomb Mountain will open on Thursday November 22.
Whistler Ranked Number One Resort. Again!
Whistler's world-class reputation comes from a lot of hard work, so it's always nice to be recognized for those efforts.
In the October 2007 edition of US-based Skiing Magazine, Whistler was awarded the number one ranking in the publication's annual "Top 25 Resorts in North America" - for the 11th consecutive year!
Whistler also took top prize at the prestigious British Travel Awards in November, winning "Favourite Ski Resort" as voted by consumers, while readers of Ultratravel - the 500,000 circulation magazine published with the UK's Daily Telegraph - voted Whistler "Best Ski Resort in the World" in May.
2010 Olympic Games Venue / Ticket Update
On July 2, 2003, International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge announced that the Vancouver bid had beat out Salzburg, Austria and Pyeonchang, South Korea for the honour of hosting the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Work on venues for the Games began almost immediately in both Vancouver and Whistler.
Whistler will host the alpine, Nordic, sliding sports and some Paralympic events at three venue sites - Whistler Creekside, Whistler Nordic Venue and Whistler Sliding Centre.
The Whistler Nordic Venue will be ready for its first skiers this season as early as December, and although the race facilities were designed for Olympic and Paralympic athletes at the top of their game, 99 per cent of the trails will be suitable for the average Nordic skier.
The Whistler Sliding Centre will also be completed in December 2007.
Initial tickets for the 2010 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games will go on sale in October 2008. They will range in price from $25 to $1,100 depending on the event. For further Olympic ticket information please go to vancouver2010.com
The FIS World Cup Alpine Ski Races are scheduled to run February 18 to 24, 2008. Whistler will host the women's Downhill and Super Combined, and men's Super G and Giant Slalom on the new Olympic course. Celebrate 2010 will also take place in February 2008, which is a month-long festival celebrating local culture and heritage in the Sea to Sky region and showcases Canadian talent in support of the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.
Visit Whistler now and catch the Olympic Spirit early.
Whistler Blackcomb Building Record-Breaking New Ski Lift
On Tuesday April 17, Whistler Blackcomb announced construction details of a brand new, record-breaking ski lift that will link together the peaks of Whistler and Blackcomb Mountains.
Set to open in December 2008, the "Peak to Peak" gondola is scheduled to be operational more than a year before Whistler becomes Host Mountain Resort for the 2010 Winter Olympic Games. The Doppelmayr lift will include 28 cars carrying up to 28 passengers each. The lift will take 11 minutes to travel from peak to peak, with cars leaving approximately every 54 seconds.
When completed, the "Peak to Peak gondola" will be the longest free-span lift in the world, the highest detachable lift in the world and the only gondola of its kind in North America.
Whistler Blackcomb Opens New Symphony Express Lift
Opened in December 2006, the new high-speed quad gives lift access to 1,000 acres of intermediate and advanced terrain in the newly crowned Symphony Amphitheatre zone.
The name was inspired by the area's natural theatre with its unmatched views, vast open bowls, deep snow and gladed finales. Symphony Express runs to the Piccolo peak from the bottom of Flute Bowl andprovides access to some of the most spectacular high alpine terrain in North America.
Once this area was only reserved for those who were willing to hike for their turns.
With the longest ski season in North America (late November to early June), the new lift also offers easy access to early and late season snow stashes.
Squamish Lil'wat Cultural Centre
In Summer 2008, Whistler will have another featured attraction worthy of the same interest as winter skiing and summer mountain biking. It will be the first-ever centre dedicated to the history and culture of local First Nations, and will be known as the Squamish Lil'wat Cultural Centre.
The facility will consist of 30,400 square feet in total, including both indoor and outdoor space, anchored by the monumental Great Hall (with amazing forest and mountain views).
For more information, including images and floor plans, please visit www.slcc.ca
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