The Blog of Small Things: Whistler...you rock!

Based on my past travelling experience, I have come to the conclusion that on every extended trip you make there are only, realistically, a handful of places and experiences that really stand out as special, life changing and perspective altering, as truly memorable. Whistler was one of these moments and I think our experiences there will colour the remainder of the trip substantially.

So what makes a place special? Chris and I are both similar in that we hate the feeling of missing out, we yearn to see many different places and things and as such find it hard to stick in one place, even if we are really enjoying ourselves...there are just too many exciting things out there to linger for too long. What Whistler taught us, (although I think we already knew it) is that the richest experiences come when you make a commitment to a place, feel part of a community and most importantly, when you regain a sense of purpose in your day to day; ironic really when you think that these are the very aspects of life that we put in flux by travelling in the first place. Whistler was all of these things. We dedicated a substantial portion of time to the place, we met a fantastic group of people and were lucky enough to see some familiar faces from home to boot, and we were learning new skills every single day.

Chris has eloquently summarised our experiences in Whistler itself, here. All I have to add to his comments is my personal thanks to Alltracks Academy, and particularly our instructors Jo and Chris, for putting on such a fantastic course. Not only were we lucky enough to ski with and learn from the best in the business but we have made lifelong friends in the process.Chris' dream of me becoming a fully fledged ski bunny has finally come true. I love it, even if I do have some way to go before I'm shredding the gnar on double black diamonds. I'll settle for getting down them for now. If you've ever wanted to do something like this I cannot recommend their courses highly enough and very much hope to be back for more in the not too distant future. My only disappointment was not seeing a bear :(

To give you a taste of our Whistler experience here are a few pics and a video for your perusal. I think that they speak of our time there a lot more coherently and comprehensively than I ever could. To all of you on the course...you are all legends...we miss you loads. Extra large night out when we're all eventually in the UK.