Week of Whistler Love Day 1: Love Your Family
Posted by: Feet Banks
“In the end,
the love you take
is equal to the love you make”
– Paul McCartney
Love is the building block of a life worth living and to celebrate Valentine’s Day, the middle of winter, and the awesomeness of life in general, Whistler.com is kicking out the jams with a Love Whistler celebration spanning seven days and featuring daily themes and all kinds of 24-hour-only deals and sales.
“There’s no such thing as too much love so the plan is to try an increase the overall love of the Internet by even .000001 percent,” says an unnamed (ok, totally made-up) source at Whistler.com. “And while that doesn’t sound like much you have to consider that Internet is infinity, so even a tiny piece of infinity is actually still quite a lot of love.”
If anything, you gotta love that math.
Love Whistler starts right now and it also just happens to be the BC Family Day holiday (hard not to love a day off work). Fittingly, the first daily theme is “Love Your Family.” The awesome thing about the 2010 Winter Games is they left Whistler with some pretty amazing legacies so why not take advantage and hold your own family mini-Olympics for fun and bragging rights (of course).
The Insider’s Loving-But-Still-Competitive Whistler Family Olympics.
Event #1 – Skeleton/Bobsleigh
The Whistler Sliding Centre is home to one of the fastest tracks in the world so what better way to kick this friendly family competition off than slide face first down an icy chute at highway speeds?
Public skeleton tours are open to anyone 16 years or older and you get two runs that will see you hit speeds of up to 100 KM/hour. Dress aerodynamically and record each family member’s fastest lap (also make sure everyone uses the bathroom before they drop in –this is one of the most exhilarating experiences Whistler has to offer).
If skeleton is too freaky for your family public Bobsleigh rides are driven by a professional pilot and can accommodate three family members at a time. You more speed (up to 125 KM/hour) and have to be 16 years or older to ride. If the whole family fits in one sleigh this can be considered a “family team” event for your scorecards and everyone gets the same time when tallying everything up for your medals ceremony.
Event #2 – Biathlon
Because it wouldn’t be a family-friendly competition without guns right? Ski fast, shoot straight is the name of the game in this way-more-fun-than-it-looks sport. The Biathlon Experience is held up at the Whistler Olympic Park in the beautiful Callaghan Valley, the same venue as the 2010 atheletes used. The minimum age for the Biathlon experience is 10 but younger or gun-shy families could just do a regular XC ski race or even add a freestyle toboggan event over at the mini-toboggan hill. Just be sure to record everyone’s times and scores (the biathlon instructors will explain how it all works.)
Event #3 – Really Amateur Figure Skating
This one is a bit trickier because it is a judged event but the best solution is to take a page from the ski and snowboard world and go with a “rider judged, jam format” which essentially means: take your family to the free outdoor ice rink at Whistler Olympic Plaza, everyone have fun and goof around, then award each other points for style, difficulty and ability to smile throughout your routine. The Olympic Plaza was host to all the Whistler Medals ceremonies in 2010 so you may as well get a family portrait by the Olympic Rings while you are there.
Event #4 – Skiing
Ideally you would just unleash the family at the top of the iconic Dave Murray Downhill and award first place to whomever hits Creekside first, but that sounds a bit chaotic. A better option might be to hit the GMC Race Centre on Blackcomb Mountain’s Cougar Milk run (in the Jersey Cream zone) and bang gates in a one-on-one format. The centre will time your runs so be sure to write them down for the overall score.
If you really want to step your Family Olympics up a level you can hire an actual Olympian to join you for a day on the slopes. Racing tips from Julia Murray herself? Yes please.
Bonus Event: Olympic Snowball Fight/Snowman Building
It’s actually kind of sad that the governing body of the Olympics still doesn’t recognize snowball fighting as a legitimate Olympic sport but that doesn’t mean you can’t toss this event into the mix. Whistler Olympic Plaza is also home to a Family Fun Zone and weekly Family Après party. What better place to host your final events of the Whistler Family Olympics? Find a fun way to keep score (last person standing?) and giv’r.
Awards
Tally up all recorded times, points, and scores for your family and crown a champion. The Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory has lots of treats that can serve as medals but really, everyone is a winner when your family is outside having fun together in the mountains.
Check out this Whistler Olympic Legacies Map to help get the lay of the land, and that’s it. Go be a champion! Happy Family Day and happy Week of Love! Check out the Love Whistler page for more “Love your Family” content and today’s hot Love Whistler deals.
Article source: http://www.whistler.com/blog/post/2015/02/09/love-whistler-family.aspx
