Whistler Day Trip

[carrieme]

Hi Divas! We are in Vancouver over the Christmas holidays for a week and wanted to do a single day trip up to Whistler.

What would be the least insane way for the wallet for this to happen with 2 adults and 2 children?? Would love to put kids in an all day class if possible! I’m struggling with the internet here

 

[marzNC]

The approach that VR takes is to offer the Epic Day Pass. Can go for 1-7 days, with the better deal for more days. Those prices are set to go up Nov. 19. Epic passes go off sale completely in early December.

Assuming you go between Dec. 26-31, that requires All Resorts and Peak Dates for an Epic Day Pass for 1 day at W-B. $56 less if not during a holiday blackout period. If you change the options on the webpage, the price per day changes. Here's the cost for 2 adults and 2 kids during the holiday week.

An Epic Day Pass provides 20% discount on lessons. Although those may already be booked up for the holiday week.

Would you be able to use an Epic Day Pass anywhere else this season? For instance, at 4 days the cost per day for an adult is $100 instead of $110 for only 1 day.

 

[Jilly]

That will be "peak dates" so it'll be more. And super busy. What about Cyprus? Closer to Van and maybe less expensive.

But I get it if you haven't been to WB, then you want to go there.

 

[marzNC]

That will be "peak dates" so it'll be more. And super busy. What about Cyprus? Closer to Van and maybe less expensive.

But I get it if you haven't been to WB, then you want to go there.

Oops, I kept messing with the options and forgot which one I took a screen shot of.

 

[ilovepugs]

Get an Epic Day Pass while they are still available for sale and sign up for ski school stat.

But I agree with @Jilly’s suggestion above…

 

[carrieme]

Great tips! Unfortunately it looks like ski school is all booked up (checked all the days)... I might also look into the other mountains!

 

[marzNC]

Too far for a day trip from Vancouver, but the mountain relatively near there that I'm most curious about is on Vancouver Island. The ferry ride is a blast by itself. Mt. Washington is owned by PGRI, the company that bought Jay Peak recently. They also have Wisp and Wintergreen in the mid-Atlantic so that's another reason I'm aware of the company.

 

[Christy]

I'm not sure I would attempt this during a holiday period. The parking situation and lift lines will be daunting. Maybe locals can give you tips (e.g how early would you have to get there to get day parking and avoid traffic). I'd also want strategies for the Vancouver area mountains. Who are our Vancouver area Divas these days? @Cantabrigienne and ??

 

[Cantabrigienne]

I cannot imagine it will be <C$1000 for the day, if you're putting your kids in ski school. But without lessons, it's not crazy expensive; If you're not skiing at any other Epic mountains, get the WB Day pass, as it's cheaper at US$262 vs US$336 for non-peak dates with the Epic Day Pass. BUT with the latter you'll get a 20% discount on ski school. So start a little spreadsheet to compare the overall costs - ski school prices will show in CAD so you'll need to take exchange rates into consideration.

The consensus for weekends is that you need to be over the bridge from downtown before 7am to avoid the worst of traffic although a lot of people say they leave at 6am - but they don't indicate where within the broader metropolitan area they are leaving. You can rent from somewhere in town the day before to save on time - West Coast Sports is good.

Parking is free at Creekside, so everyone local goes there. It's the closest base to the city as well. (You may have less options for kids lessons there.) Your alternative is Base 2 for free parking, which is also where the Blackcomb kids lessons are based. (But parking isn't a dealbreaker - I think it's $14 for Lots 1-3, which are closest to the Whistler gondola. ) In general Blackcomb has shorter queues because more of the lodging is in Whistler, so everyone queues up for the gondola there for upload.

Normally the alternative is Fitzsimmons + Garbanzo, which will be perfect if you've dropped off your kids at ski school, but I haven't seen any announcements about Fitz reopening. You'd assume the mountain would prioritize having it open by Xmas, since the intention is to help remove a key bottleneck.

 

[Cantabrigienne]

Great tips! Unfortunately it looks like ski school is all booked up (checked all the days)... I might also look into the other mountains!

Ooof - didn't scroll back up enough to spot that you couldn't get ski lessons at Whistler! Of the local mountains, Cypress has the best terrain, Seymour is most family friendly, Grouse has stunning views - and easiest to get to via public transport etc or if your rental car doesn't have snowtires, as it's accessed via tram with parking at a low elevation. (I had a midweek pass there last year and found it surprisingly enjoyable despite the local reputation that it's only for tourists.)

But all will be similarly busy - you may be out of luck re: lessons during what has got to be the busiest week of the year.

 

[carrieme]

Thank you so much! This is all such wonderful advice and I am definitely going to use these tips to plan our trip out.

 

[Cantabrigienne]

Scratch that - move all the times I mentioned forward an hour, I was having a brain fart. Check this thread from the local subreddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/Whistler/comments/11foqmn
Have to be over the bridge before 6am IF it's a powder day on the weekend (general advice was to leave Vancouver at 5:30.) But any day over Xmas would be the equivalent of a weekend, I should think.