Whistler Blackcomb

Whistler Blackcomb
Panorama of Whistler Blackcomb
Location	Whistler Mountain and Blackcomb Mountain
Nearest major city	Vancouver
Coordinates	50°06′30″N 122°56′33″W / 50.10833°N 122.94250°W / 50.10833; -122.94250
Status	Operating
Owner	Vail Resorts
Vertical	Whistler: 1,530 m (5,020 ft) Blackcomb: 1,565 m (5,133 ft)
Top elevation	Whistler: 2,182 m (7,160 ft) Blackcomb: 2,240 m (7,347 ft)
Base elevation	Creekside: 653 m (2,140 ft) Village: 675 m (2,214 ft)
Skiable area	8171 Whistler: 4,757 acres (1,925 ha) Blackcomb: 3,414 acres (1,382 ha)
Trails	241 35 – Easiest 110 – More Difficult 35 – Most Difficult 20 – Expert
Longest run	Peak To Creek (Whistler), Green Road (Blackcomb): Both are 11 km (6.8 mi)
Lift system	34 (Whistler 19)(Blackcomb 17) 5 gondolas 1 high-speed eight-pack chairlift 3 high-speed six-pack chairlifts 9 high-speed quad chairlifts 3 triple chairlifts 15 surface lifts
Lift capacity	69,939 skiers/hr[1] Whistler: 36,148 Blackcomb: 33,791
Snowfall	11.7m/year ( 415 in.)
Snowmaking	Whistler: 325 acres (131 hectares), 6.8% Blackcomb: 382 acres (154 hectares), 11.1%
Website	www.whistlerblackcomb.com

Whistler Blackcomb is a ski resort located in Whistler, British Columbia, Canada. By many measures, it is the largest ski resort in North America and has the greatest uphill lift capacity. It features the Peak 2 Peak Gondola for moving between Whistler and Blackcomb mountains at the top. With its capacity, Whistler Blackcomb is a busy ski resort, often surpassing two million visitors a year.

Whistler was originally conceived as part of a bid to win the 1968 Winter Olympics. Although the bid failed, construction started anyway and the resort opened for the first time in January 1966. Blackcomb Mountain, originally a separate entity, opened for business in December 1980. The two resorts underwent a period of intense rivalry through the 1980s and 1990s, with constant upgrades and improvements that were unseen at other resorts. By the mid-1990s, the area was repeatedly named the best resort in many skiing magazines. Intrawest, the BC real estate firm that developed Blackcomb, purchased Whistler in 1997 and fully merged operations in 2003.

Whistler Blackcomb was the centrepiece of a renewed bid on the part of nearby Vancouver for the 2010 Winter Olympics, which they won in July 2003. Whistler Blackcomb hosted the alpine skiing events, including the men's and women's Olympic and Paralympic alpine skiing disciplines of downhill, Super-G, slalom, giant slalom and super combined. In contrast with Cypress Mountain—which hosted the freestyle skiing and all snowboard events, and was plagued with a lack of fresh, natural snow during the Olympics—Whistler Blackcomb had the second-highest snowfall on record with 1,432 cm (over 14 metres) by the end of the 2009-10 season.^[2]

Over the next decade, Intrawest expanded by purchasing additional ski resorts across North America, before expanding into golf and other resorts as well. Whistler Village, widely recognized for its livable design, formed the basis of similar Tyrolian-inspired developments at their expanding series of resorts, as well as other resorts that hired Intrawest to build similar developments on their behalf. In 2010, Intrawest sold off much of its 75% interest in Whistler Blackcomb Resort via a public share offering.

In August 2016, the American company Vail Resorts bought Whistler Blackcomb Holdings for $1.39 billion. Nippon Cable's minority interest in Whistler Blackcomb Resort has continued throughout the ownership changes, by way of ownership of a 25% interest of the Whistler and Blackcomb partnerships.