Party Weekend in Whistler

Whistler is one of Alex and my favorite places to vacation, so we were more than happy to attend our good friends’ Carrie and Patrick’s combined bachelor/bachelorette party in Whistler this past weekend. Their wedding isn’t until September but they share a love of skiing and actually got engaged just over a year ago at Whistler, so a bachelor/ette party up there was a perfect idea for them. The weekend was mostly spent as one big group of around 25 people, but Saturday night after dinner the girls split off and did their own thing while the guys gave Patrick a bachelor night on the town. Patrick had strict instructions that all of the guys should arrive with a mustache and that the game of gnar would be played on the mountain. We all knew it would be a fun weekend with those prerequisites!

The boys sporting their 'staches
The boys sporting their ‘staches

We made awesome time on our drive up to Whistler (4 hours!!), checked into our hotel and somehow managed to score a free upgrade to a one bedroom suite. Alex credits “the power of the ‘stache” for our win. There were five couples that were able to arrive on Thursday and make it a long weekend, so we met up with the other four couples in Carrie and Patrick’s hotel room for some drinks before going out to Black’s Pub for dinner.

Friday morning we woke up to a beautiful blanket of fresh snow. We knew that the Cascade mountains were expecting a massive snowstorm, but Whistler was only expecting a couple inches. We were pleasantly surprised to find ourselves with around 8 inches of light and fresh powder when we got off the gondola.

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The upper mountain never opened on Friday, due to high winds, so Saturday was epic. Our first run of the day was off of Spanky’s Ladder on Blackcomb Mountain and it was one of the best lines I have ever skied. It was worth the gnarly hike up the ladder to get there! We continued to lap the Glacier Chair all morning before taking the Peak 2 Peak gondola from Blackcomb to Whistler Mountain to join the rest of the group for lunch. After lunch, the fog rolled in and my legs called it quits pretty quickly so Alex and I headed down to our hotel room for a quick dip in the hot tub and a power nap before the bachelor/ette festivities began.

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Saturday was the big party night. We started our evening as a co-ed group at 21 Steps, a restaurant that Alex and I enjoyed with his parents during our Christmas trip to Whistler. I think everyone agreed it was as awesome as we had originally thought. From there, the boys split off and went to smoke some cigars and drink whiskey, or whatever it is boys do at a bachelor party. The girls went back to Carrie’s room and had junk food, Skittles shots and played some girlie bachelorette games together. It wouldn’t have been a bachelorette party without going dancing, though, so we hit up some live music at Dubh Linn Gate before meeting up with the boys around midnight.

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The bachelorette!

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Before heading back to reality, the group got together for one final event on Sunday morning. We met at the Fairmont for their world-class brunch. We were seated in their private dining room and feasted on an incredible assortment of everything you could imagine. The prime rib and Yorkshire pudding were my favorite “lunch” items and surprisingly, the pork sausage was my favorite “breakfast” item, along with roasted tomatoes and sauteed mushrooms. Who knew.

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Alex and I are always sad to leave Whistler. It is truly one of our favorite places we have ever been. It feels like home to us. We hope to someday be able to live somewhere comparable, but for now, Whistler is only a 4-5 hour drive away….

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