[sandworm101]

>> We badly needed the highway and transit improvements, too

There is much debate about this, particularly in regards to the Sea to Sky highway improvements. The old highway wasn't great, it was rough in spots, but the improvements have had unwanted effects. Making the highway easier means more people are doing day trip to whistler from Vancouver. Rather than stay in whistler people are staying at cheaper hotels in Vancouver. That means less local revenue and increased highway traffic. And no effort was made to improve non-car traffic along the route. No rail improvements. No bus lanes. Nothing much other than making the existing 2/4-lane road straighter and faster.

[dleslie]

I, for one, am glad that Whistler is more accessible to those who could not afford the high prices of Whistler hotels.

For most of my life skiing at Whistler was totally out of reach. The one or two of my peers who went yearly were among the wealthiest.

Glad it's no longer an exclusive playground for Vancouver's wealthy.

[vl]

Skiing by itself is very expensive (equipment and lift tickets). For Whistler there are cheaper options if you are staying not in the main village, basically price-wise it’s comparable to staying somewhere else and driving (and hotels in Vancouver are not that cheap in the first place).

[sandworm101]

It has become out of reach. In the 90s a seasons pass was expensive but reasonable. I had a "dual mountain" pass from back when it was two different mountains, back when harmony bowl was considered backcountry/out-of-bounds skiing. We were not wealthy and the mountain was a mix of different people. Now it is all uber-wealthy clients. The mountains seem to have more staff than customers. People who just want to ski on their own are being pushes aside for "mountain experience" clients who want guides and expensive food services. We used to bring a bagged lunch, sometimes eating out on the slopes in one of the secret spots. Good lunch doing that these days. There are no secret spots anymore.

[dleslie]

The bag lunch, secret smoke spot crowds are all at cypress. ;)

[vl]

I’m sure Whistler overall saw increase in business. And improvements to the road were long overdue. This “highway” was in disrepair with constant traffic jams.

[dleslie]

And deaths.