Whistler Blackcomb is the biggest ski resort in North America, and constantly ranked number one. It is also where the skiing and snowboarding events for the 2010 Winter Olympics are going to be held.
I started the season working in Guest Relations, which meant I sold passes, express cards, tickets, and listened to complaints (of which there were many).
In January, I also started working in Pass Administration & Direct Billing, where I chased up outstanding charges, made decisions on refunds, dealt with complaints and answered questions from front line staff, among other things. For my last two weeks I had the chance to run teh department while my manager, Sue, was on holidays.
I was also able to work in a few other departments on the mountain, including tickets, validation and lost and found (the only place in the world where you can have a thousand single black gloves and need to find a specific one for a guest!).
The fact that I could work in so many departments was awesome (for the record a word I have never used until after living in Canada!). As a girl from Perth where the biggest "mountain" is Kings Park (which I now describe as a hill), and the temperature rarely goes below zero, I had a lot to learn about living in the snow.
I received lessons on what clothing I would need, and was soon equipped with things I never even knew existed. I had a wardrobe full of ski pants, gloves, thermal underwear, waterproof socks, ski boots, torques, long sleeved shirts, and double thermal lined jackets with gortex and fleece. All of which I would wear at one time!
I nearly died at the start of the season when I watched the weather report saying that the maximum temperature the next day was going to be -4 degrees celcius. By the end of the season, if it hit -15 I dubbed it a heat wave!
The first day it snowed, I was the crazy one running around Alpha Lake Village yelling "it's snowing, it's snowing!" It was so exciting for me. Even at the end of the season, if it hadn't snowed for a while then started I would get excited, and the Canadian's would look at me with strange expressions on their faces, saying "you're in Canada in the middle of winter hon, what do you expect?"
I loved walking knee deep in the snow, and would deliberately avoid the patches of road which had been ploughed. I admit it, I was like a little kid! I got to have my first ever White Christmas, which reminded me of the movies, and even now at Christmas time when I'm sitting in plus 40 degree weather I wish for snow.
The staff I worked with were great, and very early on I learned why they nickname Whistler the "Australian capital of the world". It is full of Aussies! We got up to a lot of craz stuff while we were there, including being the talk of the Fire Station when the firemen came to check out a fire alarm and a few of us went running up to them yelling "the strippers are here, the strippers are here!" What can I say, Whistler Blackcomb were very good at providing drinks for the staff!
