Winter Activities
December to April on Whistler Blackcomb
Whistler Blackcomb is the reason most people come, and 8,171 acres will fill a week on its own. But the valley has a second winter running alongside the skiing: dog teams in the Callaghan, snowmobiles climbing to a candlelit hut on Blackcomb, a helicopter taking four people to 247,000 acres of untracked glacier, and a Village that does apres properly.
This page covers both. The first two groups are the mountain itself, passes, rentals, lessons and the backcountry that sits beyond the ropes. The rest is everything you do on the days you are not skiing, or the hours after the lifts close.
New to the resort, or booking for a mixed-ability group? Start with our skiing guide and the snow school guide, which between them answer most of the questions that come in before a first trip.
Get these four decisions right and the rest of the week looks after itself: which pass, where the skis come from, whether anyone needs a lesson, and which mountain to start on. Prices and lead times move every season, so each page is kept current for the one you are booking.
Two operators fly heli-skiing out of the Whistler area and they are built for different days, one on guaranteed runs and volume, the other on four guests to a guide. For everyone else there is snowshoeing through old-growth forest and a set of groomed nordic trails in the Callaghan.
Off site
Whistler was built for an Olympics and kept the toys. A dog team in the Callaghan, a snowmobile climbing above the cloud, the bobsleigh track at 125 kilometres an hour, and an illuminated night walk that works for a four-year-old.
Off site
Lunch on a ski day is its own decision here, with a dozen restaurants and log huts spread across the two mountains. Then apres starts at three and the Village takes it seriously, and beyond the obvious there is dinner at 6,000 feet reached by snowcat, a four-restaurant progressive dinner on foot, and a distillery ten minutes down the highway that will collect you and drive you home.
Six days of skiing is more than most legs want. These are the fallbacks: a spa with outdoor pools in the snow, an hour of axe throwing with a beer, a museum, and the page that gathers everything that works with children.
Winter dates move. Opening and closing weekends, when the Peak 2 Peak runs, when the tube park opens and when the dog teams start all depend on the snow, so each page carries the current season rather than a general answer.
For the other half of the year see summer activities, and for who actually runs what in this valley see activity companies.