Twin towers

Whistler and Blackcomb

Author: By Bob Cox, Globe Correspondent

Date: SUNDAY, December 6, 1998

Page: L1

Section: Travel

It's a choice unlike any you'll face elsewhere in North American skiing.

Each mountain, Whistler and Blackcomb, offers everything you'd expect in a single-mountain ski resort, and more. Each has acreage the size of Mammoth Mountain (3,500), vertical drop (5,200 feet) unchallenged in North America, and a variety of trails and runs that defies simple numbers. Each mountain would stand alone as a giant in the skiing and snowboarding world. Together, they make up the largest complex this side of the big pond.

But sometimes choice can be confusing. What are you going to get on each mountain?

What lies ahead when you leave Whistler Village for Whistler Mountain, or Blackcomb?

One way of simplifying the on-mountain experience is that many locals prefer Whistler for the upper-mountain expert skiing and boarding, the cornices you jump off and the chutes that get your adrenaline flowing. During the 15 or so years the mountains were in competition -- before Intrawest became sole owner in winter 1997-98 -- Blackcomb often led the way. More high-speed lifts, more grooming, better on-hill dining.

Now, with one master for the whole monarchy, the mountains are coming together more than just at Whistler Village, where they begin in a town that includes more restaurants, shops, and bars than you can visit in a week. Your dual-mountain ticket is now standard issue (instead of a slightly higher-priced extra) and skiers can visit both mountains in the same day.

In a February week when the skiing did nothing but reaffirm the conviction that this is the top skiing destination on the continent, Whistler was once again everything for every skier.

For those looking for the rush of upper-mountain skiing, Whistler offered new secrets in the bowls that span out off Peak Chair. Denny Bartlett, a tour operator who spent seven winters skiing in Whistler before returning to Southern California, gave us the locals' version.

Whistler, Glacier, West, and Bagel Bowls are on the trail map, as are a few special shots that included High Shoulder and Cockalorum, but Bartlett showed us a number of others known mostly to the locals.

Only the lineup at the base of Peak Chair, which could hit 10 or 15 minutes for this old, slow uphill ride, slowed our exploration. But that will no longer be a problem, as Intrawest continues to put money into the product and has upgraded the Peak Chair.

On another day, Bartlett took a handful of us on the locals' tour of Blackcomb, where you access the Blackcomb Glacier through Spanky's Ladder. It's an easy five-minute hike up to the entrance where you find expert pitches known to the locals as ``Calvin and Hobbes'' and ``Helter Skelter,'' among others. Blackcomb is also home to the ``Couloir Extreme'' and the adjacent ``Big Bang,'' two musts if you're looking to punch your ticket as a truly serious skier.

While the upper-mountain skiing is what brought some of us to Whistler, others were looking for cruising with a challenge. This is one of the secrets to success at these two mountains: Long, intermediate runs fed by high-speed lifts give you a lot of mileage in an average day.

On Whistler, the Emerald Express and Big Red Express are high-speed lifts that peak around the mid-mountain Pika's Restaurant and offer long boulevards to build up one's confidence. On Blackcomb, the on-mountain restaurant and gathering place is Glacier Creek, and the Glacier Express and Jersey Cream Express sweep skiers up and away.

Blackcomb also offers the 7th Heaven Express, which services a huge upper intermediate slope that faces west, towardWhistler.

The snowboarders in our group found Blackcomb's Nintendo 64 terrain park one of the most challenging they'd visited. The park includes jumps that are listed according to size and severity, from the green beginner's jumps to the intermediate and then the intimidating black diamond jumps.

Although you can ski from the respective peaks to the village more than a mile vertically below, both areas are best skied from mid-mountain up. You're basically using the top 3,500 feet in vertical and pick up the bottom 1,500 feet only when cruising back to the village at the end of the day.

You come to Whistler for the skiing and boarding, but it's easy to forget the additional aspects of a vacation visit. Some people even take a day off from the slopes during a weeklong visit, just to make sure they haven't missed a shop or eating spot among the hundred or so in the burgeoning village.

Although a couple of high-end hotels have the prime locations where the slopes meet the streets, most visitors stay in the condos that have grown up in the last half-dozen years.

Intrawest's building plan is simple: shops and restaurants on the first floor, condos on the second, third, and fourth. This makes for a pleasant stroll around the village and easy access to your accommodations.

The cost of a ski trip depends primarily on air fare and lodging. Visitors from California can expect to see weeklong packages at around $900 US, while service from other parts of the continent will vary with air-fare charges.

With the currently favorable exchange rate, the daily lift ticket is about $37 but the price drops for multiple-day tickets.

If that early-morning dilemma about picking a mountain has you baffled, there's an easy way around the problem. Choose Whistler's ``First Tracks'' breakfast. You board the gondola at 7:30 a.m. for a full buffet meal that costs about $10 US. After eating, you have access to the mid-mountain slopes for about an hour before the mountain opens to the public at 9 a.m. On a powder day, many skiers and boarders pay lip service to the buffet line, grabbing a muffin and heading out for -- what else? -- first tracks.

After a day of skiing, you can postpone the other half of the daily dilemma -- where to dine? -- by stopping at slope's edge spots like the Garibaldi Lift Company or Longhorn Saloon on the Whistler side, or Merlin's at Blackcomb base.

Whistler vaulted to the top of most skiers' lists as the best North American resort about 1990 and nothing has happened to alter that rating. You can debate whether Vail deserves the number two spot, and certainly numbers three through six are subject to negotiation, but Whistler still commands the top spot on almost every list.

1. Pay for a six-pack of beer with an American $20 and get $20 Canadian in change. The exchange rate of $1.40 means that your bill is worth $28 Canadian.

2. You don't need a car or bus once you get to the village, and most lodging is a seven or eight-minute walk from the lifts.

3. Two mountains, each the size of California's Mammoth, are joined by the shared village. Each offers world-class skiing, from superb steeps to immaculately groomed cruisers.

4. First Tracks breakfast on Whistler gets you an extra hour of skiing for the price of a $10 US buffet breakfast.

5. A choice of restaurants leaves you wanting more and feeling like your dining was a bargain. Personal favorites: Araxis (high-end continental), Mongolie Grill (mid-priced, pick your own stir fry) and Moe's (economy: pub food with flavor).