We arrived into Whistler about a week and a half ago. We moved into our apartment at Base 2 on Blackcomb with another West Aussie, Joanne. Our apartment still has an empty room, so we're waiting on our fourth housemate.
Whistler at this time of year is quite a bit like Vancouver this time of year - it rains a lot. But that rain here is snow higher up, and it was incredible to see the snow line coming down the mountain the first few days we were staying here. Mid last week, the weather was forecast to clear up. I got up a couple of hours before sunrise to hike up to the snowline to watch the sunrise. Bron had been planning to come, but had a bad dream involving bears, and decided to pass. No bears were encountered, although I hit the cloud line before I hit the snow line, and settled in to watch the sunrise and snack.
We did get a bear later in the day. Bron and I headed down to the Whistler Sliding Centre. Just near the entrance, a smallish black bear was happily chowing on some grass, trying to put on some weight before winter. The Sliding Centre was being prepared for a competition in a few weeks, after which its open to the public, so definitely keen to have a crack.
We've also been kept busy with Halloween. On the Friday before the main event, we had a pumpkin carving contest at our building in House. Bron was particularly impressive, and beat all-comers. Mine was less impressive. It was good fun, and nice to meet a few of the people staying at House.
Halloween itself was really good fun. Bron got dressed up as a witch, I was Jesus. We caught up with a bunch of people from House for pre-drinks and to get dressed. From there we headed to Longhorns Pub, for their Halloween event. We had a ball, dancing along with hundreds of other people, with everyone in costume. There were zombies, vampires, vikings, teletubbies and all other manner of beast. In the early hours of the morning, we topped off the night with a nourishing bowl of poutine before trecking up the hill in the cold rain.
This morning, we had a pleasant surprise - Bron woke up to a scratching noise she throught must have been a bear going to town on a tree. She looked out the window, and there was snow everywhere! It only lasted until mid-afternoon, and didn't actually reach the village, but it was still a totally excellent surprise, and it certainly wasn't forecast. Its warming up the next couple of days, but fingers crossed its a sign of things to come!
