Whistler

Whistler Blackcomb was a central venue for alpine and sliding events in the 2010 Winter Olympics and has become the standard by which North American ski resorts are judged. The two mountains Whistler and Blackcomb, together offer 8,171 acres of ski terrain, 200+ marked runs, and over 38 feet of average annual snowfall. The Peak 2 Peak Gondola connects the two summits at an elevation of 1,430 meters above the valley floor, covering 4.4 km in each direction the longest and highest unsupported gondola span in the world. Whistler Village at the base is a masterpiece of purpose-built resort planning: entirely pedestrian, consistent in architectural character, and walking-distance compact between accommodations, restaurants, and gondola bases. In summer the bike park on Whistler Mountain is North America's premier lift-accessed mountain bike venue. The Sea to Sky Highway (BC-99) between Vancouver and Whistler is itself one of the most dramatic coastal-mountain drives in the world 80 miles of cliff-hanging highway above fjords, with Horseshoe Bay ferry terminal, Shannon Falls, and the Stawamus Chief (second-largest granite monolith in North America) along the route. The village has a genuinely international restaurant scene developed over decades of World Cup skiing, with the concentration of quality unusual for a resort town.