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Whistler Opening Weekend :: Thanksgiving Story

When I started this Whistler story contest, I had no intention of adding my own Whistler ski story.  That all changed when we woke up to 25 cms of fresh powder on Thanksgiving weekend.

First ski day of 2012 season for me. The theme of this Whistler story is abundance and a bunch of ski bums giving thanks on the US holiday weekend.

Truly the best Blackcomb opening day of ski season in my life.

Skiing with good guys, including local legends from the Whistler Blackcomb Ski School, Nadio and Wade. The guys got over 15 years of skiing every little powder stash on Blackcomb Mountain.

Then there's Movember Steve, in all his unshaven glory, and my longtime ski buddies Martin and Dave. Whistler Blackcomb lifers.

We all gave thanks on US Thanksgiving in Whistler since we woke up to 25 cms (nearly a foot) of good news on the Whistler snow report. After a late night we didn't make 8:30 lift opening, but the chairlifts and the gondola lines were not bad at all. We didn't find any lift lines on Blackcomb all day.

On Blackcomb, on our first day, we skied a shwack of amazing runs... all of my mid-mountain favorites really. Below treeline of course, since high alpine didn't open.

Gandy Dancer

The Byte (photo to left)

Jersey Wall
Ridge Runner (we nailed the opening of Crystal Chair)
Twist and Shout
Blackcomb Terrain Park
Easy Out (and all the awesome black diamond tree skiing on the way to 7th Heaven)
Slingshot
Zig Zag... the list goes on.

All Blackcomb's best powder spots on opening weekend in Whistler Resort. Happy Thanksgiving for the old powder hounds.

When the quads started screaming for mercy and we needed food, cheap lunch was on the Blackcomb mountaintop menu at Rendezvous. Haven't been there for a while, but man is it ever good. Lunch (mountain water, soup, coffee and desert) for me was $12.85 including tax... so I was giving thanks on US Thanksgiving once again.

Our afternoon on Blackcomb was just as good as the morning, maybe better. The wispy clouds vaporized and we got to ski a whole bunch of sunny areas with fresh powder. Amazing.

Click on the photos, below, for more pictures of Blackcomb opening weekend...

Local secret... Fantastic Friday with five dollar pints of ice-cold Whistler beer, awesome nuts and nibbles for free. Big leather couches, nice clientele, and our waiter turned out to be buddy of mine JP.

So, Thanksgiving opening Whistler weekend just kept getting better and better.

And this is only Friday... still two more days to go, so check out my next story about day two of opening weekend on Whistler Mountain.

Share your own personal Whistler story...  something happy, exciting, scary, or whatever you care to share.

Troy's Top Pick Wins a free Lift Ticket... 

Best Whistler story will be selected from all submissions and the winner receives a Free Whistler Blackcomb single day lift ticket good any day of 2012-13 season.  Winner must be willing to share their story with other guests on our website (similar to our Whistler Reviews page).

My name is Troy Assaly and I lived, worked, skied and rode in Whistler for over a decade. We started advertising owner-direct Whistler accommodations in the early days of the Web, back when it was just us, the Delta Hotel, and Whistler.com. Plain text website ads, no photos, no videos... Oh, how things have changed with the invention of social media.

The goal of the Whistler Story Contest is to cut thru the Internet noise with true stories about real travelers in Whistler.
Please share Your Whistler Story with us here. 

Sincerely,

Troy Assaly, Owner / Operator 

Read 2012 Whistler contest entries here...

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