After an uneventful drive up the newly upgraded Sea to Sky highway, we arrived at the Chateau Fairmont to check in. It was already mid-afternoon so we quickly dropped off our bags, pulled on our snowpants and headed out to the village for the day's activities.
Since I'm not a skiier/snowboarder, W was kind enough to accompany me on doing sightseeing activities this weekend.
We first rode the Whistler gondola up and transfered to ride the Peak 2 Peak Gondola. The Peak 2 Peak opened in December 2008 and connected Whistler mountain and Blackcomb mountain. I was pretty excited because the gondola set world records for being the longest and highest gondola! But I guess being the highest gondola meant equally high admission prices! Our tickets were nearly $100 (2 return-trip tix)!!!
Even though it was cloudy and snowing that day, the view was still phenomenal!! Imagine what it'd look like during summer!
Unfortunately, the Peak 2 Peak closed at 3:30 so we hurriedly returned to Whistler mountain and didn't spend much time mingling around Blackcomb mountain. The view going back down to Whistler village was pretty nice too. We could see that the sky was starting to clear up on the horizon and I also caught a glimpse of the Whistler Sliding Centre (the 2010 Olympic venue for bobsleigh, luge, and skeleton events) from above!
Setting foot back at the base, W and I rested for a while and then headed to Araxi for an incredibly wonderful dinner (food post to be followed shortly!).
I did some homework prior to the trip and jotted down all the Olympic venues located in Whistler that I wanted to visit haha! I don't know why...I'm just pretty excited seeing all these places related to the 2010 Olympics. And after finding out that there are free unguided tours of the Whistler Sliding Centre, well I just gotta go! My mood was a little dampened though when W reminded me that this was where the Georgian luger accidentally hit one of the posts during his test run and died.... :T
Another place on my list was the Whistler Olympic Park in Callaghan Valley. This was where ski-jumping, nordic combined, cross-country skiing, and the biathalon took place. Don't the ski jumps look breath-taking? Standing at the bottom and looking up, you can imagine the athlete soaring through the crisp blue sky.
A little further up the road in Callaghan Valley was the venue for cross-country skiing and the biathalon. It was pretty cool standing where all the athletes once competed.
The sun was starting to set so we hopped back into the warmth of W's car and made our way back to Vancouver. That weekend, I experienced 2 contrasting kinds of weather, witnessed the beauty and serenity of the mountains (Beautiful British Columbia indeed!), tasted incredible cuisine, and most important of all, spent a memorable time with my beloved W *blush*
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