Whistler - The Beginning

So I have been in Whistler for almost one month and it has been a pretty good month. I have a job at Splitz as a cashier, I have been living in a flat in the village for the past month and have it for one more, and I have met a few people. 

I still don't feel settled, I think it's because I haven't got a full time home for the season yet, so people have been coming and going and it doesn't quite feel like home. I moved here in September and its a great flat right in the village above Billabong, the girls that were all here when I moved in are really nice and have shown me the ropes of Whistler, which has been awesome. But slowly they have been leaving and new people have been coming in - who are also awesome. A lot of the people I have met so far have already done a year here and are off back home, but I did throw myself out there and just go meet a bunch of randoms on Facebook the other night which was really good fun.

Finding a house in Whistler has proved to be quite difficult. There is a lot of competition for rooms and the rooms that are here, are pretty expensive - and usually shared. I'm not too fussy about sharing a room, I have been sharing for the past month here and the past four months in America, but it would be nice to have my own room for a while! But at the moment it looks like I may have to take anything. 

The snow has started, well on top of the mountain. So it shouldn't be long now until it starts making its way into the village. I could really do with my warm clothes now, which are still in a box at home waiting to be shipped out. The snow is making me very excited, the town is a little odd at the moment as it is dead season, and not many around. However it is quite nice to get in before it all goes crazy.

So back on Craigslist I go, to find my new home!

Check out my video of Whistler so far here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nb8S8B2Qgdc

Lauren x

Ski Season. In the beginning.

I first went skiing when I was a young teen, maybe 13. I can’t quite remember where it was maybe France or Switzerland, but there is one thing I do remember, falling in love. No I am not reminiscing about a holiday sipping hot chocolates by a log fire, snow falling outside while we listened to Hoobastank. I was 13. No I am talking about falling in love with flying down a snow covered mountain. As kids do, I picked up skiing pretty quickly. With my adolescent lack of fear it was easy to throw myself down a mountain and hope for the best, picking up the technique with each run.

Over the next few years I was lucky enough to be taken by my dad skiing a couple more times. One such trip my brother decided to hire a snowboard, which of course meant so did I. While he floated down the mountain making it look effortless, I was on my bum the whole way down.

Fast forward maybe ten years with only two more trips as an adult, I always had snowboarding and the rush it gives you in the back of my mind. With each first snowfall in London I was dreaming of chair lifts and apres ski. So after two years of paying off University loans and saving up, I finally quit my job as a PR account executive and set off to join the thousands of travelers chasing the snow dream.

I decided on Whistler, one of the largest ski resorts in North America. Pretty far from home, but hey at the moment I have one shot to have an amazing winter and by the sound of it Whistler promises to deliver.

It isn’t just the snow I’m chasing though, it is also the lifestyle. Just like with surfing or skateboarding, I wanted to be a part of the community that action sports provides. 

It’s unlike any other experience I have had, having dabbled in skateboarding and very briefly surfing, the people I met through it have been amazing and the sense of being part of something, like a big family, has stuck with me. Having moved around a lot as a kid, maybe I am searching for something? But lets not get too deep. I don’t know what it is, maybe it’s having a common hobby, or that generally you have to travel to do it (unless you’re lucky enough to live with it on your doorstep) but the people are some of the best I have met, chilled and friendly, just looking to have a good time and board.

So teaming snowboarding, the people and being in the party town that is Whistler, (B.C. Liquor Distribution recently compiled data showing that the Whistler region consumes more alcohol than any other part of B.C.) what could go wrong? Lets see.