Whistler Edge card
If you live in Washington or BC and ski or snowboard, you owe it to
yourself to check out the
card. I’ve had this for two years and just got my early bird deal
for next season - here’s why:
- Great deal on lift tickets - the price basically amounts to you
buying a few days worth of lift tickets ahead of the season at the
lowest price of the season (so go at peak season for low season
rates). You can get great ticket prices with vacation packages or from
the 7-11 in Squamish on the drive up, but the Edge card prices are at
least as good as you’ll find elsewhere (and generally better). - Convenience - skip the lift lines since you’ve already paid for
your tickets which are deducted from your pass when it’s scanned on
the way up. Only had a 1 day pass and now you’re going again later?
Since you probably tied your credit card to your pass, you need only
have your pass scanned again and you’ve paid for that day without
waiting in lines again. You can also pay for food on the mountain this
way (and there are a bunch of deals where I get 20% off lunch all the
time, it seems) and now you don’t really need currency on the mountain
at all! Be careful, though, because the establishments in the village
don’t take the pass, which means if you forget money, you can’t get a
beer on the way back to your lodge. - Deals - most things are overpriced to begin with so it’s nice that
you can get discounts on food on the mountain, in the Can-Ski shops in
the village, at the outlet store, and elsewhere with the Edge card.
Typically toward the end of the season they will send email tempting
you to load additional days on your card at discounted rates,
too. - Earlybird deals - this year I got the earlybird deal for the 5 day
pass. Whistler tempted existing cardholders to sign up early by
offering next year’s passes at last year’s prices, throwing a 6th day
for free, and offering additional days for the current season beyond
what you paid for at $19 Canadian! Tanya and I used one extra day
this season so (provided we go all 6 days next year) that comes out to
$38 Canadian per day. The
dollar isn’t what it used to be and it’s hard to tell if that
trend will turn around but that means we bought lift tickets for about
$31.50 USD per day, which is a steal!
When I went up last weekend, mother nature and mechanical failure
conspired to create one of the best trips I’ve ever had on the
mountain. It was probably less great for the people stuck in the
gondola on Friday who had three hours stuffed in a small box to
contemplate the best snow of the season just 50 feet below while they
waited to have whatever mechanical problem fixed, but I like to
accentuate the positive, and the happy end to that story
involves me, Tanya, and 2 feet of fresh pow-pow in the Symphony bowl
on Saturday.