Moving to Whistler this season, any advice?

blindside

blindside

Active member
I posted this in regionals but haven't gotten any answers, hopefully it'll get more attention here:

So I'm doing it; harkening the call of the West and plunging into ski bumdom.

I live in Montreal and have been to Whistler a few times over the years, but only for a week or two. My plan this year is to work for WB and live in staff housing. Now I've heard a lot of mixed opinions on the latter, but I'm pretty set on trying it out. At least at the start.

Basically, I'd like to know of any tips, tricks, recommendations or general advice you guys may have for me. I want the 'do's and 'don't's of living in Whistler.

So let's have it!

Also feel free to PM me.

Thanks!

 
Do's:

Get a night job

Blackcomb

El Furniture Warehouse

Don't:

Emerald Chair

Go to the bars (Will drain your bank account faster than you can blink)

Peak Waterfall drop (Flat as f*ck)

 
Out of staff housing, Brio has the nicest location.. no horrible Staff hill and only a short walk to the village (across the driving range)

If you like drum and bass, check out the Whistler Junglists... they hold nights throughout winter and always makes for crazy parties.

House partys are everywhere... when a club shuts to shout for an address and some one will give you it.

Do make the most of a booterville party... disposable BBQ, kicker, your mates, makes for a sick day.

Consider leaving in Creekside privately, easy enough to find a cool house to live in and much cheaper sometimes than staff housing. Living in Staff is great until you find somewhere though so you could live there until something better comes up. (I say this because I lived in Glacier for a month, then moved to creekside with some people I worked with and had a much better time.

No matter what your going to have an amazing season bud, So enjoy. And if you want to get to know some other guys from Montreal that live there, I can have a word with my mate. He is always down for helping people out.
 
I do but what else are you gonna do? sit in your tiny apt you rented jerking off? Whis bars are so fucking fun.
 
1st season advice:

- dont go to bars often, if you do pregame hard, and go out when you know its going to be sick

- come with a surplus of cash

- say NO to staff housing- get cheap bulk food from vancouver

- work 1-2 night jobs, enough to scrape by

- make the absolute most of your season pass
 
Thats a stupid question.

I don't disagree with you, but it isn't feasible to get drunk in town every night while living on a skibum budget.
 
...

You get drunk every night?

But really, if you have a job and love skiing you're only gonna fine 1 or 2 nights a week to go to the bar and then its not that big of a deal. See what I'm sayin?
 
lots of jobs offer seasons passes. Don't think that you have to work for the hill. The busses are dope, don't stress about a vehicle. Shop in Squamish. Blackcomb is the shit. Show up in September to get a dope house for cheap. The food bank is a dope place to get food. They used to have an overabundance of food and no one in whistler is actually needy. Don't feel bad. Ski school locker room used to be a dope place to get good bindings for cheap. Not so sure about that anymore.

One or two nights a week at the bar can easily cost you $200-300. Pre game hard.
 
If you want to work for WB and you don't have your CSIA 2 or higher, apply as a rental tech, mention in the interview that you really want to work at the EB Hi-Pro rental shop next to EBCB, it's the smallest, has the best location, and newest equipment.

Being a rental tech isn't glamorous, but you get to work split shifts most days, especially if you request them. That means you get to ski most days during the day. I managed 88 days from opening weekend to the last week of February without much effort.

Don't bother with being a lead hand this season unless you really want to be a supervisor next season. Lead hands have to deal with a lot of head aches and the $0.50 hourly difference in pay isn't worth it.

Brio staff housing is the best, but Glacier has single rooms.

Bring $3000 or more if you can. You will not make money doing a season in Whistler. You might break even in December because you'll be working more, but that's about it.

If you're going to the bar, pre-drink heavily and only bring the cash you can spend and ID.

ALWAYS WEAR A CONDOM
 
unless you can find something that pays higher and is at night, i would say work in a restaurant if thats something you wouldn't mind doing. I normally start work at 3, sometimes 4 if i ask to, then work till 10 or 12ish. so you'll get to ski as much as you want that way, unless your planning on going on 12 hour tours everyday haha.

not always the best paying job, but i doubt it would be any different working at a shop or for the mountain. plus you'll normally get tips and free food. where i work, we don't get a ton of tips, but we can make ourselves food whenever we want, plus take home food on top of that. i've gone a week or so without spending any money on food as long as i didn't eat breakfast haha.
 
Don't work for the mountain. Don't live in staff housing. Figure the rest out on your own, that's all part of the fun.
 
Work for the mountain when you first get there. It's even to pay to wht you will get round town generally but you get a free pass for winter an summer for the glacier and bike park if you work in the summer. If you can work rentle for the salomon store. Get in there and you can ride loads an also get pro deal on salomon. I never bothered with staff housing but its a pretty good option especially if you don't know other people there.

The benefit with working for the mountain is its easy to move up if you stay a while and you will be on really good pay if you stay a few seasons and keep all the benefits too such as health care ect.

Any questions about working for the hill let me know.
 
working for the mountain has its perks, free pass and staff accom. I instructed part time for my pass. But working full time for most mountain positions will limit your skiing time. I never lived in staff accom, but from whenever ive been there I can easily say I would not want to. Sure its really cheap, but its dirty, you have to share a room and its more or less a party every night. Its for the most part for people who are there for sure term, to party and barely ski.

Finding a place that is walking distance to the lifts will likely be hard at this point of the year, the bus system in whistler is very good and living somewhere like emerald really isn't that big of a deal, you get a decent house for a decent price.

Partying is fun in whistler, but I'd say don't go out too much the first few months, all the money you have will be gone in no time. Budget so that you have some extra float cash for April/ May because most positions will have either reduced hours or be laid off during the dead season. Don't waist your time on most of the job fairs, they are mainly to promote their own business. When looking for a job don't say 'im only here for the season' people are more likely to hire you if there is some longish term potential, even though almost everyone only works for the short-term. Although most places require some experience before you can be a server or bartender, the spagetti factory or brewhouse might hire you as a buss boy. Dont be picky about the type of job, someone else will want it, I was only picky about my hours, to me there was no point being in whistler if I couldn't ski 5 days a week, otherwise, i might as well have just been a weekend warrior in vancouver with a better paying job.
 
Do not do this. Work anywhere but surefoot. You will learn much more about boot fitting any where else. Also you can feel good about not ripping off every customer who comes in.
 
This 1000x

Surefoot must be the only shop that does not just turn round and go, "sorry we dont have a boot for your foot... Try "insert other shop name" that sells a boot more for you.

Their answer is always we can do work on it. There are way better boot fitters in Whistler.
 
I'm moving up to whis too, pretty stoked. Have a job lined up and most likely living in staff accom, I don't give a shit how shitty it is I can't afford to live anywhere else since I'm going alone and know nobody to live with, ahha. If anyone needs a roomate hit ya boy up
 
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