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What your friends and family really think about your life in Whistler

By Lisa Powell Holdaway I moved to Whistler in search of a better life. I wanted to wake up every day, excited to be alive. I wanted to be a part of a place with a strong sense of community.
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By Lisa Powell Holdaway

I moved to Whistler in search of a better life. I wanted to wake up every day, excited to be alive. I wanted to be a part of a place with a strong sense of community. And I wanted to ski!

Through the ups and downs over the years, I have always loved living here. For some time, I tried to convince my friends and family to move out here too. Whistler was so beautiful, and although sometimes it wasn't easy the lifestyle made up for the challenges. But very few people took my suggestions seriously, as if life here was not sustainable, or expecting that I'd probably move back home in a few months.

My friends and family didn't get what I was trying to do by moving to Whistler. I was looking for the lifestyle I had always dreamt of - a life where it was more important to be happy with your everyday rather than move up unhappily in your career; a life where fulfilment was found in being outside enjoying nature, not hamster wheeling on cardio equipment in a gym. My friends and family had varying views on my life in Whistler. Some just couldn't grasp why I would want to live here. Some were jealous and some could never understand why I would take the jobs I did just to make enough money to stay here.

Mike from Peterborough told me that, "People come and go every year, but there are some of us who stay here for the long run - despite what people think of our lives, fighting through dead seasons, bad snow years, sad economies - and find joy in being a local in such an amazing place."

After moving here, I found what I was looking for; a rewarding life full of recreation, friendship and a sense of community.

I can't understand your life!

My first job here in Whistler was at a grocery store. I actually heard my dad grimace over the phone when I told him with jubilance that I had found a job and would be staying longer than I had expected. He said nothing, but I could tell my newfound "career" stung a bit as he had helped afford the thousands of dollars I needed while working towards my degree. I'm sure he hoped that it was just a phase and I would soon be home interviewing for jobs in my field. After a few months I took a job in a restaurant which gave me a seasons' pass. This led me to stay for another season, further raising my family's concern for my career that was waiting in the wings.

"My dad really struggled with my life in Whistler. He thought I should follow his recipe for a 'good life.' Four cups of high school, four cups of university, 25 to 40 dashes of career, two tablespoons of family, then serve death. Ouch!  Was that the future he had planned for me? He had never been to Whistler, or ever skied for that matter" said Larry, a local who moved here 14 years ago, right after high school. Larry's dad struggled with the idea that his son was a dishwasher and thought his life was ridiculous. But Larry didn't care because he loved waking up to the sound of avalanche blasting, and going to the grocery store and having the deli counter guys know him by his first name. This was the life he loved, and had always dreamt of.

"When I moved here from Quebec, I had been working as a civil engineer, but I got laid off. I thought I would take the winter and come for a ski season. That was six years ago, and I have never looked back. I work in a rental shop and I have never been happier" said Josh.

But it wasn't that easy for Josh because his family was very hard on him. Constantly telling him he should come home and that he was pissing his life/brains away.

"The first couple years Josh was gone, I called almost weekly to see if I could buy him a flight home. He had a promising career here and he was wasting time playing in the snow," shared Josh's mother Marianne.  "We have plenty of snow in Quebec, why would he take a mindless job to stay there?".

After several years, the pleading from home lessened as Josh grew to love Whistler more and more. Eventually his mother came out for a visit, and though she agreed how beautiful Whistler was she still couldn't understand why her son would rather make $12 an hour and struggle to pay bills, than a respectable career where he could be near his family.

To those who have never experienced life in Whistler, it probably does seem ridiculous.  In other provinces, and other countries, there are jobs to be filled and money to be made; all the while most Whistlerites barely scrape by, waiting through dead seasons for the next bout of fun to start. Call it unfortunate that some people are quick to judge our simple yet fulfilling lives here, but maybe it's a good thing. If everyone knew the joy you could have from being happy with what you have, and not being defined by your job, maybe Whistler wouldn't be the same.

Benny from South Korea told me that, "Here, it doesn't matter if you are a floor washer, ski instructor or barista, your friends are your friends because of who you are and what you have in common." Going against his culture, Benny fought hard from his traditional family, and has been living happily in Whistler for two years.

 

"I'm so jealous!

Ah, those who get it! There are a distinct few who truly understand what we are trying to do, living here in Whistler. We are maximizing our lives, living in a place that is clean, beautiful and has so much to offer. I remember last season I was on the chairlift enjoying idle chit chat with a tourist. He asked what I thought of the snow that day, and I said it was so-so. The week before we'd had a huge dump, so visions of shredding POW were still pretty vivid on this groomer day.

"Wow," he exclaimed with a huge grin. "I can't believe you live here!" I laughed, agreed, and off I went feeling so lucky to live here.

"I've only been to Whistler once and it was about three years ago. I came up from Seattle for a Stag weekend with four buddies. I had the time of my life skiing and partying. By the time I left, I couldn't believe that people actually get to have this life every day. I am eternally jealous!" said Marco. "I wish I could do that. But I have a family, and a construction business that I could never leave. I just hope another buddy gets married so we can plan another ski trip!"

Like Marco, many tourists spend thousands of dollars a year; fly across the world only to enjoy a few shorts days of what we call everyday life here. Imagine if the weather was bad?

Lucky for us, we don't have to worry about that. My friend Scott said, "We get to live here all the time, and if the weather sucks, wait a few days and it will be better. If the snow is crap, wait a few days and it will dump. They should be envious of our lives; we are in the most beautiful town ever. It's got all the benefits of a small town, with all of the amenities of a big city! You feel like Sushi? Like Italian? Like West Coast Fusion? Don't worry, we have world class everything here!"

Well said Scott, well said.

"Wow, that's commitment!

"Getting set up in Whistler has its challenges. If you come at the wrong time of year, it can be months before you get a good job, and sometimes years before you make the right connections to get the real money makers.

"My first few years in Whistler were tough. I wanted to stay here but I had trouble figuring it all out. I lived in a house with 10 other people, I kept getting laid off from my jobs when the seasons ended and anyone I became good friends with seem to leave after only one season. I was broke, crowded and lonely, yet I didn't want to leave."

This was Eric from Sydney's experience for the first while he lived here. Eric's sister Julia would always email him encouraging words because she was so proud of her little brother's pilgrimage across the world to find a place where he'd be happy.

"Honestly, I don't know how he did it" shared Julia about her brothers struggles. "Every time we spoke it felt like he'd had another bout of bad luck. But he had just learned to snowboard and was so into it that he didn't want to leave. He was determined to make a life there and I was really pulling for him."

Eventually, Eric figured it all out. He now works in a hotel, gets a free pass and enjoys Whistler as much as he did when he was a bright eyed boy freshly landed in Canada!

Over the years, I've been a little surprised when people have commended me on my commitment to staying in Whistler. We all know it has its challenges, but let me generalize if I may:

Most people who live in Whistler long-term choose to stay here. No one (that I know) is being forced to stay here because of their circumstance and can't seem to get away. Just a short drive away in Vancouver there is cheaper housing and more jobs.

People decide to stay for a reason, and I think it's fair to say that Whistler is home to people who want a better life. My husband and I always joke that if you live in Toronto, you brag about how many hours you worked. If you worked 86 hours in a week, your colleagues are impressed and think you are great.

In Calgary, it's all about how much money you make. If you make a lot of money, then you are the cat's ass. But here in Whistler, what makes you the coolest guy on the mountain is how little time you spend working, and how much free time you've got to do whatever makes you happiest. It's all about enjoying the life you have.

Local Whistlerite Harold told me, "I moved my family up from Vancouver a few years ago for a better life. I had three young children, and wanted them to grow up around nature. Being self employed in Vancouver, I was working long hours and hardly spent any time with my family. Now, we go mountain biking after school and my clients understand that I don't book appointments until after 10:30 a.m. on weekdays because I go up for First Tracks almost every day - and most of them do, too! What a life!"

So there are people who don't get your life? Perhaps there are people who will be eternally jealous of you? Maybe there are those who can't get over the lengths you go to stay here?

But, at the end of the day, it's your life and it doesn't matter what people think of it. Whether you stay in Whistler forever or you return to your hometown, the lesson that I have learned living here in Whistler is that it's my life for the enjoying. If I'm happy living in Whistler then it doesn't matter if others don't get it. I am happy here, and hopefully others have figured out the secret as well. Live the life you love, and the rest will fall into place.

 

 



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