Our First Hockey Game, Settling into Whistler Life & It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas!

Hello! It’s been a busy few weeks in Whistler. We’re now just over 5 weeks into Whistler life but it feels like we’ve been here so much longer. Time goes so quick here.

Last week we went to our first hockey game, woo! Although it wasn’t to see the Vancouver Canucks (the team we’ve been following since we got here), but the Vancouver Giants, who are in the league below the National Hockey League here. As part of one of the perks of working for the Whistler Blackcomb mountain you can join Club Shred which gives you discounted tickets. So for $20 we got transport to Vancouver, tickets to the game and a $10 food voucher… which was an absolute bargain! We were three rows from the front at the side so had a great view, although it seemed to close a few time when the players barged against the glass I really thought it was going to smash right in front of us!

It was obviously very different to football (sorry, soccer) back home and our beloved Bradford City, but it certainly didn’t disappoint. Within the first few minutes there was a big punch up between two players, seemingly over nothing, but that’s the whole point of the sport! It was just a little hard to keep up with and I lost where the puck was quite a lot. The Giants won 3-2 after scoring a late goal. We will definitely be going again, it’s probably the best $20 we’ve spent since arriving in Whistler. But will still be venturing to watch the Canucks at some point too, once we have a few more spare pennies  cents.

We had to buy some merchandise!

Don’t usually see signs like this at city!

Pretty close (just before a fight!)

Opening Weekend At Whistler Blackcomb 2013

Whistler Blackcomb opened for the season on Saturday, two weeks earlier than expected. Luckily I wasn’t scheduled to work on Saturday so I could go snowboarding for the first time in two years woo (Kyle wasn’t so lucky and had to work). So exciting to hear opening was sooner than we had all expected, although I wasn’t quite as keen to get up there as the people who had queued 24 hours to make sure they were first up the mountain.

I wasn’t expecting too much of the conditions as had heard it was pretty icy and not that much snow up at the top, plus only a couple of lifts and runs were open…how wrong I was! There was quite a bit of snow overnight and the sun was shining, what could be better than powder and a bluebird day for the opening day of the season?!

The conditions were great… my snowboarding not so good! After two years of not getting on a board and only having done a week anyway it was safe to say I was a little rusty. Nevertheless it was so good to be on the mountain, despite all the falls and many bruises! Roll on the rest of the season 🙂

I had to work on Sunday and had my first shift as a Ticket Validator at Creekside Gondola (where most of the locals live) so no snowboarding for me. A pretty easy job and it was quiet for most of the day, apart from a few keen people queuing from 7.30 to hit the pow. It snowed pretty much the whole day so was pretty jealous of all the people I was letting up the mountain, better get used to it I guess!

Our First 10 Days in Whistler!

How time flies when you’re having fun, eh? Can’t believe we’ve been in Whistler for 10 days now, it’s been a pretty hectic few weeks but are now settled into our staff accommodation and generally loving life so far! Here’s what our first few weeks have entailed:

Moved into Our Flat

We decided to live in the staff accommodation Whistler Blackcomb provide and really glad we did. We’ve moved into Brio which was meant to be the quieter flats a bit further out of the village. Was expecting a pretty basic, uni hall type accommodation and was pleasantly surprised. The flat was a lot bigger and nicer than expected, we had more pots and pans than I thought we would, and it’s only a five minute walk into the village. There is a table tennis table in the common room too, which isn’t good for mine and Kyle’s competitiveness!

Brio Staff Housing

First Week At Work

I started my training for my job as a Ticket Seller and Validation Host for Whistler Blackcomb last Monday. Pretty standard first week at a new job really, apart from everyone else is new too! The job seems like it’s going to be pretty good, always going to be busy so the days will go quick even when we’re starting at 6.30/7! I’ve got my first proper shift on Sunday for the second day the mountain is open, actually looking forward to it.

My new uniform!

Three Weeks Today…

Arggghhhh can’t even explain how excited I am! It’s getting harder and harder to get up for work (doesn’t help it’s dark now when my alarm goes off) But also starting to panic that we’ll run out of time to get everything done. Still need to pack up our flat, buy a few more bits then pack our 2 suitcases. Still no idea how we are going to fit clothes for three different climates for about a year into a suitcase each without going over the 23kg limit!

My blog has hit over 1,000 views already now, so big thanks to everyone who has been reading so far. Hopefully I’ll have more interesting things to write about in 3 weeks time and have some photos and footage from my GoPro to share so it’s not just me rambling!

29 Days to Go!

Arrggghhh only 29 days til we fly to Vancouver! I can’t believe how quick it’s come round, it seems only yesterday we were talking about it being 5 months away! I’ve only got 17 days left at work too 🙂

Starting to panic at how much we’ve still got to do though, as I’m spending all the time I should be doing something productive watching videos of Whistler on Youtube/searching Whistler on Instagram & Twitter.

Already Sorted

– Flights

– Jobs – Thanks to The Working Holiday Club we’ve got our jobs sorted before flying out

– Insurance (got a great deal with skicover.com – £489 for both of us and it covers everything we need!)

– Accommodation in Vancouver

– Staff accommodation in Whistler

Still To Do

– Stock up on Winter clothes

– Attempt to get fit – Just a little fitter than I am now would help so I can attempt to snowboard at least 3 times a week!

– Pack – Attempt to fit everything we need for a year into one suitcase and hand luggage!

– Move out of flat

Roll on 28th October! 🙂

Whistler To-Do List

One of the things I’m looking forward to about live and working in Whistler is living like a local and a tourist at the same time. We’ll get to know all the cool places the locals go (if locals actually exist, heard it’s mainly Aussies), how to avoid lift queues in a morning (hopefully!), learn which runs have the best powder stashes and get discounted food & drinks! But we’ll also have time to do all the touristy type things. Here’s my Whistler to-do list:

• Achieve 75 days snowboarding
• Zip lining & bungee jumping
• Bob sleighing at the Whistler Sliding Centre
• Snow mobiling
• Heli-boarding (or at least cat-boarding)
• Master t-bar drag lifts
• Attempt the student lifestyle again  (just swapping the studying with working)
• Learn to do jumps and tricks on my board
• Do a double black run (possible double black but not getting carried away)
• Get a google tan
• Do fresh tracks a few times (get on the first gondola up the mountain and have a big buffet breakfast)
• Go to the coca-cola tube park
• Back country boarding / tree runs
• Make lots of videos with my GoPro
• Go to the fire and ice show
• Work and play hard!
• Have an awesome time and make the most of every minute

Not to do list

• Get injured
• Not have fun
• Take enough photos / videos

One Way Ticket to Canada = Booked

It’s actually happening… we’ve booked our one way flight to Vancouver!!!!

28th October and we will be out of here! That’s just 65 days and 45 working days. And only 99 days until the opening day at Whistler, hope I’m not working that day…

We got a pretty cheap flight, £289 Gatwick to Vancouver with Air Transit. Pretty budget airline but who cares for that price?! Can get a snowboard or GoPro with the money I’ll save with not going with BA.

Job – check! Thanks to Andy and the Working Holiday Club.
Flights – check!
Transfers from Vancouver to Whistler – check!
Insurance – Meh, will sort soon…
Vancouver accommodation – Need to book
Staff accommodation – Will be sorted soon!
Work notice handed in – Check!
GoPro Camera – Buying today, thanks to a Wowcher offer!

Cannot contain my excitement right now!

Whistler Job Offer Received!!!

After just over three weeks of anxious waiting, my official job offer from Whistler Blackcomb finally came through…. I’ll be a Ticket Validation Host for the 2013/2014 season!

It wasn’t my first choice, but I couldn’t start early enough for some of the other jobs I would have preferred in the Guest Services department. I’m so happy to have finally received and offer and know for sure that ill be living and working in Whistler baby! 4th November is my start date, so we’re looking at flights for 28th October to have a few days in Vancouver first!

Kyle hasn’t officially got his job offer yet, but has definitely got one within the food and beverage department.

We will be booking our one way ticket to Vancouver today 🙂 (one smiley face doesn’t even half cover how excited I am!)

Whistler v Banff – The Pros and Cons (without going to either!)

One thing we knew for sure when we decided to take a career beak and move to Canada was that we wanted to go to a ski resort and find work there. While there is a lot of choice for what are meant to be amazing ski resorts in Canada (Banff, Fernie, Jasper, Lake Louise, Tremblant, Whistler, Great White) we quite quickly narrowed it down to Whistler and Banff.

We changed our minds a dozen of times. First I was 100% set on Whistler, while Kyle wanted to go to Banff, then we both changed our minds until we both decided back on Whistler! Here is how we came to our decision (a lot of internet research & speaking to people who’d been to both):

Whistler Blackcomb

Pros

– The biggest ski resort in North America

– Incredible scenery and mountains

– Ski in , ski out

– Huge choice of terrain

– Plenty to explore in a season

Cons

– The biggest ski resort in North America (maybe it’s too big for some people)

– More expensive

– Wages are low in ski resort

 

5 Months to Go

I probably shouldn’t be starting a countdown til we go to Canada already, but now we’re in June it means it’s now just less than 5 months! It’s not actually that far away and it’s literally all I’m thinking about. As I said in my last post, we’ve signed up The Working Holiday Club to sort our jobs before we go, and I had my pre-screen interview by them last week. Basically, they just needed to check that I meet the criteria and find out what job I wanted to go for and they have to agree too before we go for an interview with Whistler Blackcomb in London in July.

I’d decided I didn’t want to do bar or retail work as I’m leaving a job I love in Marketing to do this, so I don’t want to completely lose 6-ish months of experience in the industry. A job as a Ski & Snowboard Sales Host seemed to fit the bill and The Working Holiday Club thought I’d be good for that job (he described it as one of the only ‘grown up’ jobs you can do on the mountain) so that’s the job I’m going to be going for. The job sounds pretty good, though I’m not actually too sure what it entails but it’s an office job on the mountain where I’ll be working 4 10 hour shifts a week, so have 3 days off a week – perfect!