Tomorrow will be the 19th Christmas I’ve spent in British Columbia away from my Australian family. I like to think it’s grown easier to bridge that distance with video conferencing, free messaging apps and all the other tech that makes communication in our lives easier, but as we now know all too well, there will never be a real substitute for physically being around your loved ones.
There were two rather large barriers to not making it home for Christmas all those years. One was the hectic schedule one experiences when working on the frontlines of Whistler’s customer service. You work so the visitors can have the best possible vacation and the Christmas-New Year week is one of the busiest of the season. So forget about any time off. My career has moved on from the frontlines now, so I can’t really leverage my work schedule as an excuse anymore.
The other barrier was the cost of travel. The holiday period coincides with Australia’s summer break, which in turn ratchets up the cost of flights a few hundred per cent. For a ski bum on a modest wage surviving Whistler’s cost of living, this was a constant deal breaker. While I don’t enjoy blowing the budget of two vacations on a single return flight, I’m in a much better position to afford travel over the holidays than I used to be.
The last couple of years have introduced a third barrier, a recurring inconvenience known as COVID-19. Australia has—for the most part—done reasonably well containing the virus, but not without some Draconian lockdown measures and brutal two-week hotel quarantines. It’s getting better now as the world’s travelling populace gets vaccinated, but each Australian state can enact its own policies at the drop of a hat. So—at least right now—there’s a substantial risk of the family reunion getting kyboshed by coronavirus at the 11th hour. So chalk up another B.C. Christmas for 2021.
Like so many Whistler lifers that immigrated from afar, I’ve found solace over the holidays by spending time with my Canadian clans. This includes my friend groups and their families, the family of my partner, my roommates and my dog. After so many years, these folks really do feel like family, but I always make sure I catch my Aussie OG fam on Facetime with the appropriate time difference.
The other place I’ve found solace? You guessed it. Out skiing.
Skiing on Christmas Day is about as good as it gets. It snows almost every year on Dec. 25th and Whistler Blackcomb gets everything open as quick as they would on any other powder day. The lifties still have their early-season chipper attitudes and chair lift conversations with strangers always wrap up with a hearty exchange of “Merry Christmas!” as you slide down the unload ramp. And it’s never that busy in the morning, either, since everyone seems to prefer opening presents over getting face shots. The afternoon, however, well let’s say it’s worth coming off the mountain early and beating the rush to apres, too.
The backcountry can also be a special place during the holidays and I’ll go touring to escape the bulging lift lines, sure. But not on Christmas Day. Getting up to ski with all the other Christmas orphans, enjoying a sneaky midday pint before heading home to walk the dog, kicking back on the couch and queuing up Die Hard, well that’s a pretty bitchin’ Christmas for me.
It’s been a rough year for B.C. with the pandemic, heat domes, wildfires and floods. We’ve been lucky to escape the majority of those disasters here in the Whistler Valley, something I certainly won’t take for granted as we pray for a full season of operation at our resort. Hell, we’ve earned it.
Finally, I’d like to close out 2021’s Outsider by acknowledging Pique’s longtime editor Clare Ogilvie, who—as you read this—is no doubt working as hard as ever to get the final issue of the year ready for all you readers. Ten years ago she gave this rookie writer a chance to report news for Pique, and I never imagined I’d eventually end up with a page in the paper to call my own every two weeks. I learned so much about journalism, ethics and the community of Whistler as a whole from Clare, all of which has helped shape me into the writer I am today. So thank you, Clare, for all your mentorship, support and service over the years. Our community is stronger for it.
Vince Shuley wishes you all a happy holidays and a pow-filled new year. For questions, comments or suggestions for The Outsider email vince.shuley@gmail.com or Instagram @whis_vince.
