Olympic downhill runs, glacier views, and a village built for one thing
Whistler started as a fishing and hunting outpost around Alta Lake before a handful of Vancouver skiers decided the surrounding peaks deserved an Olympic bid — one that finally landed in 2010, when Whistler and Blackcomb hosted the alpine events. The two mountains are connected by the Peak 2 Peak Gondola, a 4.4-kilometer span between summits that held the record for longest unsupported gondola span in the world when it opened. Long before the resort, the Squamish and Lil'wat Nations used this valley as a shared hunting and trading ground, a history now told at the Squamish Lil'wat Cultural Centre at the base of the mountains. The pedestrian-only village, built from scratch in the 1970s specifically to serve skiers, has since become one of the rare examples of a town designed around a sport rather than growing into one. Summer strips away the snow to reveal a mountain-biking capital, proving the terrain works even without the powder.
