Whistler

Whistler is a Canadian resort town in the southern Pacific Ranges of the Coast Mountains in the province of British Columbia, Canada, around 78 miles or 125 kilometres north of Vancouver. Incorporated as the Resort Municipality of Whistler (RMOW), it has a permanent population of around 9,965, in addition to a larger but rotating "transient" population of workers, normally younger people from outside BC, notably from Australia and Europe.

There is about 2 million visitors that come to the resort every year, primarily for alpine skiing and snowboarding. In the summer season, mountain biking and hiking are popular activities for visitors and residents alike. The pedestrian village within Whistler has won many design awards and has been a top ski destination in North America for numerous years. During the 2010 Winter Olympics, the town of Whistler hosted most of the Nordic, alpine, luge, skeleton, and bobsled events, even though all snowboarding and freestyle skiing events were hosted at Cypress Mountain near Vancouver.

Whistler Blackcomb is a major ski resort situated 125 km north of Vancouver, within British Columbia, Canada. By many measures it is the largest ski resort in North America; it is 50% bigger compared to its nearest competitor in terms of size, has the greatest uphill lift capacity, and until the year 2009, had the highest vertical skiable distance by a wide margin. Whistler Blackcomb also features the Peak 2 Peak Gondola for moving between Blackcomb and Whistler mountains at the top; Peak 2 Peak holds records for the highest and longest unsupported cable car span within the world. With all of this capacity, Whistler Blackcomb is likewise often the most-visited ski resort, usually besting 2 million tourists on a yearly basis.

The Whistler Valley is formed by the pass between the upper-middle reaches of the Cheakamus and the headwaters of the Green River. It is flanked by glaciated mountains on both sides; the Garibaldi Ranges on the side which contains the ski mountains, and a group of ranges with no collective name but that are part of the bigger Pacific Ranges and are basically fore-ranges of the Pemberton Icefield. Although there are some other routes through the maze of mountains between the basin of the Lillooet River just east, the Cheakamus-Green divide is the lowest and most direct and naturally was the main trading route of the Squamish and Lil'wat First Nations even before the European people arrived. A Lil'wat legend of the Great Flood says that prior to the deluge, the individuals resided at Green Lake.