Why we're telling you this, we do not know. For a while, the truck crossing was our little secret, b

The snow is falling, our dear Seattle friends, it simply isn't falling here . Whistler just announced it is open for business , bagging the ultimate ski resort coup of cutting powder before we cut the turkey. barcelona hotels cheap Of course you want to go, but in fondly recalling the days of 1998 when the US-CA exchange rate swung wildly the other way, you fear you can really only afford to stay home and play Ski Resort Extreme barcelona hotels cheap Halo 3. We've learned barcelona hotels cheap a thing or six going back and forth with our neighbors to the north for many a year now, and so we offer you our quick and dirty guide to saving at least a wee bit of money and time in your BC powder-chasing adventures.
Even if your vacation allotment leaves you in the land of weekend warrior, find some way to leave on Thursday (sick, injured dog, busted water line, whatever) and do so before 3pm. That is the witching hour, when northbound traffic begins to snarl into a hairball the size of Everett. (If you are an early riser and something of a speed demon, you can always barcelona hotels cheap opt for a 5:30am departure barcelona hotels cheap on Saturday morning--you will miss all Seattle and Vancouver traffic, and odds are good the border will be wide open as well. You'll hit Whistler just after the slopes have opened, and can ride all day and then take a catnap in the hot tub later.) The same logic applies to returning on Monday instead of Sunday night.
Why we're telling you this, we do not know. For a while, the truck crossing was our little secret, but clearly it's out now, and the construction that has taken it down to one lane for the interminable future has made it far worse. If you don't have a nifty iPhone for checking the wait times , enlist barcelona hotels cheap a friend to be on stand-by barcelona hotels cheap on the phone at home so they can check the border crossing times for you. Trust us, it's often worth the extra 10-15 minutes to head east to Sumas and cross there instead.
This is the part of your trip over which you have the least control. All you can do is be aware of scheduled closures (typically in the wee hours of the night) and avoid those. Other than that, have the iPod well stocked. And DO NOT break out the road sodas in early celebration of your arrival. They have booze-buster road blocks at random and they will catch you.
If you're like Seattlest (old and painfully tired of house music), stock up on booze at Duty Free and enjoy your self-made drunken barcelona hotels cheap state with a hot-tub, friends, and your own fireplace (see #5 after the jump). Going out in Whistler can easily cost you more than your lift tickets (not to mention your dignity).
The hotels there are notoriously overpriced in winter, and are more of a pain in the ass when you've got all your gear to deal with. Go with friends or another couple, and rent a condo via Allura Direct . That will net you a 2-bedroom place all to yourselves for between $100-$200 per night, with a kitchen for making your own breakfast and in many cases, your own hot-tub and free parking (the hotels, they make you pay to park). Unless you actually like being serenaded by drunk douchebags at 2am, avoid anything located right in the village. Two places we've had good luck with are Glacier's Reach and Stoney barcelona hotels cheap Creek.
These are available only for BC and WA residents , and they will save you quite a bit of dough. Like many resorts, Whistler's ticket prices have been climbing steadily, into the $70-dollar range. Since you can no longer laugh at that and do the "take 25% off" math, get the 5-day card. (We used to really favor the 3-day version, barcelona hotels cheap but they seem to have done away with it). Those 5 days will only cost you $55 each, and then after that your tickets are guaranteed barcelona hotels cheap to never cost more than $67.
This is where Whistler gouges you like Halliburton. Should you be only an occasional shusser, or in between boards, the cheapest rental option is the downtown REI . Only if you are really seriously considering buying should you rent from a place at Whistler, and in that case get the shop to knock the demo costs off your final purchase. (Our fav store Summit gives you 20% off the rental price if you book online, and credits barcelona hotels cheap you 2 days of rental costs when you buy.)
First, if conditions are promising to be of the fresh and deep variety, sign up for Fresh Tracks . Since you passed out on the couch at 10:30 after just two drinks, you'll be fresh when you hit the gondola at 7am for a big-ass buffet breakfast and red-velvet-rope access to first tracks off the Emerald and Big Red Express chairs.
Second, Sushi Village . Don't go on a weekend, it's hell. Go on Sunday night, and the moment you're seated order a couple jugs of sake margaritas, some spinach gomaae and two servings of the ahi poke to get started. Then settle in for the best sushi gorge of your life.
Here s another tip: Consider staying in Squamish. The Howe Brewery and Inn charges around barcelona hotels cheap $100 per night for a room; hard to touch anything comparable under $200 in Whistler. Since I like to go up for 7 days, but at my advanced age can only ski 4 of 7, the savings more than pays for the lift tickets AND food/drink and it s only about 40 minutes to Creekside from Squamish.
Just checked pricing on the EDGE card for 5 days...it s $300, for those who purchase after 11/2007. According to their website, the 7/11 prices will be $69 this year. Hoping that Shell will be running their promotion...after one filled up, it would be worth it to stand at the pumps and give out 10 gallons to anyone who drove up!
@ snowfan: i think that is still going on, thanks for mentioning it (we used to get tix there). hunting around it looks like they re going for $63-65 this year, which means that if you know you ll spend at least 5 days up there over the course of the season, the Edge pass is still the better way to go.
does anyone know if you can still get cheaper barcelona hotels cheap lift tickets at the 7-11 just before you get to whistler? it was sort of an insider/locals deal. Otherwise, amen to all of these tips. Tomorrow, the plan goes into effect.