A long way from home with Bruce

The ski season in Europe is still months away, but in western Canada the countdown has begun. By Graham Leach

A long way to go for nine days skiing, we thought. Ten hours across the Atlantic, flying over Greenland and Iceland as well as leapfrogging all of North America's four main time zones, to reach Canada's far Pacific coastline. Since Whistler is under 100 miles inland, you find yourself even further from Gatwick than are the Rockies.

But, then again, the Canadian dollar was weak, so the country was a far more attractive financial proposition than France or Switzerland, from where friends have returned with horror stories of a round of six beers and a couple of Cokes setting them back pounds 40.

There was also the appeal of skiing in North America for the first time and especially in Canada, a conservative country, we thought, full of quiet, unassuming Canadians.

"Hi, I'm Bruce and this is Kylie. Anyone who wants to join our group has to tell a filthy joke first." Bruce and Kylie are among the army of Australian ski instructors in Whistler this winter. They're everywhere. Unrestrained Aussie voices dominated in the lift queues rather than the mellow Canadian accents we'd expected. Bruce explained: "All the Canadian instructors are in Oz, and we're here - part of a Commonwealth exchange."

Bruce outlined how runs were graded differently in Canada, compared to Europe. "Blues, reds and blacks over there. Greens, blues, diamond blacks and double-diamond blacks over here. I don't pay much attention to what colour the slope is," he added disconcertingly.

In Whistler, each ski-school class is graded by numbers, as in Europe, and then sub-divided into "aggressives" and "apprehensives". Determined not to come across as some wimpish Pom, I opted for Bruce's Grade 4 group of "aggressives" while Kylie headed off with the "apprehensives" - or the "girlie blouses", as she described them. Big mistake on my part. Bruce worked wonders with me but after two days I was a wreck and retreated miserably and humiliated into Kylie's group. She didn't take prisoners, either: "Get yer bum down the mountain, Graham, this ain't a Tupperware party," she yelled one morning.

Skiing with Australians as instructors is an altogether different experience from learning under Swiss or Austrians. You rarely get European instructors daring to talk about politics, for example. But Bruce and Kylie loved nothing better than a good political chitchat while on the gondola or the chair-lift. Bruce sounded a true note, it seemed to me, when comparing value for money in Whistler as against most European resorts. "Over there," says Bruce, "the attitude is, `Aren't you privileged to be spending your money in our country?' Whereas here in Canada it's, `Great you're here - what can we do to make your stay enjoyable?'"

And Bruce was right about that. Mind you, you're not in the best of moods when you first arrive. A massive rebuilding programme turned Vancouver airport into a disaster area - almost two hours to reclaim baggage and a shrug of the shoulders when you inquire as to its fate. The delay foreshortened the hours of daylight left to enjoy what we were told was the stunning 75-mile drive from Vancouver to Whistler.

Once there, though, the resort works well. The neighbouring mountains of Whistler and Blackcomb are well served by lifts. None of the hotels is too far from the resort's gondola stations. Both mountains have huge restaurant lodges two-thirds of the way to the summits where the lunchtime fare comprises practically any cuisine you can think of. We found that, in general, meals worked out at about pounds 6-pounds 8 per head, with drinks. You'd be hard pressed to make your pound stretch that far in Zermatt or Obergurgl.

One rewarding wheeze is the "Fresh Tracks" breakfast. Take the 7.30am Whistler gondola up to Pika's restaurant, enjoy a sumptuous Canadian plate of sausages, bacon, eggs and pancakes, all laced with maple syrup, and then be first on to the slopes around 8.30am once the piste control has declared them open and before the hordes arrive. Your first morning, when you're bound to be awake by 5am with jet lag, is best for this expedition.

The weather can be a problem at Whistler. Not being part of the Rookies, the resort has a temperate climate, which can cause long periods of mist. But once the clouds clear, the views are majestic. One of my sons, a veteran of Switzerland, said, when the clouds cleared, that he'd never seen so many peaks in one vista.

All three sons were impressed by the Whistler slopes, which are generally expansive and uncrowded. The Jolly Green Giant was a challenging introduction to the world of moguls without being as precipitous as, say, the Sohilthorn. The youngsters cruised it. Dad gained confidence from negotiating the field without serious mishap or humiliation. By contrast, Mum, a hesitant skier at the best of times, enjoyed some not too troubling descents on the gentle Pony Trail. Whistler also boasts Highway 86, the longest descent from summit to resort in North America. Ascending to its start-point, however, involves the most terrifying ride in the world - the Peak Chair Lift, which is suspended hundreds of feet above the ground alongside the sheer drop of a cliff face.

On the whole, the instructors prefer skiing Whistler to Blackcomb. Kylie said Blackcomb's slopes were designed by computer and were therefore less interesting than Whistler's, which were carved naturally out of the mountainside. Safety is a strong feature on both mountains: there are regular speed patrols, motorised buggies with howling sirens remove the injured speedily from the slopes, and there is a strict overtaking code - "Passing on your right" or "Look out to your left" are frequent shouts on the narrower descents.

One friendly touch is that the ski-instructors stay with their groups for an hour or so of apres ski. Bruce took us to Blacks pub near the gondola station, where the ski school treated my group to a giant pizza.

WAYS TO WHISTLER

Graham Leach paid pounds 444 for his trip in March with Ingham's (0181- 780 6600), staying at the Fairways Hotel. An increasing number of British operators are offering skiing holidays in Whistler. For example, Airtours (01706 260000) has introduced the destination for this winter. A 10-day holiday from Gatwick or Manchester, beginning 15 December, with accommodation at the Bumper Inn, costs pounds 463.

In his skiing column this coming Saturday in The Independent, Stephen Wood meets Erna Low, who took her first clients to the Alps in 1932 and recalls that "in 1946 the only transportation offered for the three-hour ascent to the village of Saas Fee was a mule".