The vacation of champions
British Columbia showcases its historical treasures as visitors converge on the host cities of the 2010 Winter Olympics.
By Irene Lacher 06/01/2009
For cities hosting an Olympics, preparations are much like cleaning up the house for dinner guests — only they’re going to need to set a table for millions, if you count the numbers watching on television. and so, Vancouver, host of the 21st Winter Olympics, and Whistler, British Columbia’s glossy ski resort town, have been busy spiffing up their facilities in anticipation of the games, slated for Feb. 12 through 28, 2010.
Of course, British Columbia tourism officials are also banking on visitors exploring the province’s many wonders while they’re in the neighborhood — perhaps stopping in at its historic sites, wine country, mountain guest ranches and the Victorian City of Victoria on Vancouver Island.
With the 2010 Winter Olympics coming within navigable distance for Californians, the upcoming months are an ideal time for sports fans to consider a trip north. So here are some ideas for an itinerary fit for a champion. (All prices are in Canadian currency, currently running about 85 cents in Yankee dollars.)
WHISTLER
The turn-of-the-20th-century logging and mining town — named by fur trappers for the shrill sound made by western hoary marmots — has boomed into a mecca for connoisseurs of powder. Dubbed the “No. 1 Ski Resort in North America” by Ski Magazine in 2003, Whistler features a cluster of vacation condos, casual hostels and fine hotels (such as the luxurious Four Seasons Resort Whistler), built around the town’s two ski mountains — the 7,160-foot-high Whistler and Blackcomb, which tops off at 7,494 feet.
Between the two mountains, there are 38 lifts and more than 200 runs. Until recently, skiers could access each mountain only from the bottom, but last December, Whistler unveiled its highly anticipated Peak 2 Peak Gondola, an engineering feat that links the two mountain peaks with a 2.73-mile-long tri-cable gondola, which traverses the world’s longest unsupported span — 1.88 miles — between two of the towers.
Also new are Whistler’s three competition venues completed last year. Athletes are training at the Whistler Sliding Centre on Blackcomb, where they’ll compete in the bobsleigh, luge and skeleton competitions. The new Whistler Olympic Park, 11 miles south of Whistler in the Callaghan Valley, will host 28 medal events in cross-country, ski-jumping and biathlon. Whistler Creekside is where downhill, slalom, giant slalom, Super G and Super Combined skiers will compete for 10 medals.
But you don’t have to strap on a pair of skis in order to enjoy Whistler’s crisp alpine air. During the summer months, the Whistler Mountain Bike Park offers 50 trails — three with lifts — for those blessed with killer quads. And all year long, adventurers can fly through the forest canopy 200 feet above Fitzsimmons Creek (between Whistler and Blackcomb mountains) on a Ziptrek Ecotour. Zooming across steel ziplines over a white-water river may look challenging, but it’s more accessible than novices might think. Whistler is a capital for the sport, and the company boasts that its eldest customer was “a spry 93.”
Co-hosting the Olympics are British Columbia’s First Nations, and Whistler offers an intriguing view into the Aboriginal way of life of its two indigenous tribes with the new Squamish Lil’wat Cultural Centre. The museum, which features more than 30,000 square feet of windows onto the surrounding mountainscape, showcases Native art, performances and interactive crafts. You can also snack on a “mountain hoagie” with bison salami, arctic muskox and wild boar prosciutto in the center’s café.
For Whistler and Blackcomb tourism information, visit whistlerblackcomb.com. Room rates at the Four Seasons Resort Whistler start at $255 through June 20, rise to $295 through Sept. 12 and drop back to $255 through Nov. 21; call (888) 935-2460 or visit fourseasons.com/whistler/. Ziptrekking ticket prices for adults start at $99; call (866) 935-0001 or visit ziptrek.com. Adult tickets for the Squamish Lil’wat Cultural Centre cost $18; call (866) 441-7522 or visit slcc.ca.
BARKERVILLE
American history buffs shouldn’t miss a visit to Barkerville, British Columbia’s restored Gold Rush town in the foothills of the Cariboo Mountains 500 miles north of Vancouver. Named after Billy Barker, the miner who first struck gold there in 1861, Barkerville is a nonprofit living history museum that aims for authenticity, not the hokeyness it might suffer from in more avaricious hands.
By the mid-1860s, Barkerville’s population had ballooned to 5,000 fortune hunters and service providers, making it (briefly) the largest town north of San Francisco and west of Chicago. Today it’s the largest historic site in B.C. Barkerville’s past comes alive in its street of restored homes and businesses, its courthouse and jail, even its theater, where actors recreate the entertainment of the period (corny jokes and all). Of special note is Barkerville’s Chinatown, which housed the many miners drawn across the ocean by the siren call of gold.
Populating the place are a band of eccentric history aficionados, who like only one thing better than sporting the arm garters and rustling skirts of their great-great-grandparents, and that’s telling visitors in startling detail how the town’s residents actually lived 150 years ago.
Accommodations are available in Wells five miles away, but Barkerville has its own charming bed and breakfasts — the Kelly and King House and the St. George Hotel on the site of a former brothel, which is said to boast the ghost of a prostitute still pining for the miner who promised to take her away.
Adult admission tickets cost $13.50; call (888) 994-3332 or visit barkerville.ca. Kelly and King House room rates start at $89; call (866) 994-0004 or visit kellyhouse.ca. St. George Hotel room rates start at $110 per night; call (888) 246-7690 or visit stgeorgehotel.bc.ca.
VICTORIA
The City of Victoria, on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off the B.C. mainland, is another town that sprang up with the Gold Rush, serving as the port of entry for many fortune hunters. But this quaint burg 100 miles north of Seattle didn’t go on to bite the gold dust. Today, it’s the provincial capital and a major tourism draw, with beautifully maintained 19th- and turn-of-the-20th-century architecture and gardens, as well as great shopping and dining.
Victoria isn’t short on hotels, but visiting the city without staying at the historic Fairmont Empress would be a bit like going to London and skipping Buckingham Palace. Overlooking the Inner Harbour, the Edwardian, château-style Empress opened in 1908; a decade later, Edward VII, then Prince of Wales, waltzed until dawn in its Crystal Ballroom. Afternoon tea is still huge at the Empress, drawing fans of fresh scones and Jersey cream. The 477-room hotel’s past dalliance with the British empire also inspired the Victorian-era Bengal Lounge, decorated in the colonial Indian style (saluting Queen Victoria’s reign as Empress of India).
For information about Victoria, visit tourismvictoria.com. For Fairmont Empress Hotel rates and reservations, call (800) 257-7544 or visit fairmont.com/en_fa/. ꆱ
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