Introduction Whistler is situated 120 km from Vancouver and consists of 4 parts, namely Whistler Village, Village North, Upper Village and Creekside. It has grown into the largest winter sports place in Canada especially owing to the certainty of snow and the many downhill runs in the area. In the summer you can still ski at the Hortsman glacier. Other activities in the summer are mountain biking and walking on one of the many trails in the mountains.

History Whistler used to call Alta Lake. However, the trappers and gold diggers back in 1900 called the area Whistler because of the penetrating whistle sound of the many marmots that lived in the mountains. In 1914 Alex and Myrtle Philip bought a piece of land and built the Rainbow Lodge on the banks of the Alta Lake. In the same year the construction of the Great Pacific Eastern Railway reached the settlement after which it expanded to a base for mine workers and lumberjacks. The town expanded rapidly and became a popular holiday destination, west of Banff. In 1962, 4 businessmen from Vancouver liked the idea of Whistler being a future place for the Olympic Games in 1968. Although this did not happen, they began with the construction of a ski slope and ski lifts. In 1966 Whistler officially opened for skiing. In 1978 they began with the construction of a new town centre, the present Whistler Village. Nowadays it is known as the number one skiing area of North America.