Spirit Pass session and a day trip to Pemberton

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Living and working in Whistler for a season entitles you to Spirit Pass. Getting a lift pass for the whole season means that you need to attend a Spirit Pass session. The Spirit Pass session basically informs you on the history of Whistler, the main rules and tips on staying safe on the mountain and also, as a worker in Whistler, how you can improve the overall experience of the people who visit each year and make it the great town that it is. The session was hosted by local celebrity Mike Douglas - pioneer of the first ever twin-tip ski amongst other things! To be honest, I'd not heard of him before todays session, but afterwards, I was wondering how I could not know about him. His relaxed, friendly approach to his presentation meant that the whole audience was engaged and the time just flew by. It definitely did not feel like two hours passed by. One of the things that made me realise what a great decision it was to come here was the following video:

To be honest, this video doesn't even do Whistler the justice it deserves. This place is truely amazing, and listening to a guy who has spent 24 years calling this place home, reminded me of what I came here for.

After coming out of the Spirit session, I decided to take a trip up the Sky-to-sea highway, to Pemberton. Taking the Greyhound bus from Whistler Village and back only cost me $13. Bargain. The journey is a comfortable 30 - 40 minutes and it drops you off in the centre of Pemberton - a small but charming Canadian town. My only reason to heading over to Pemberton was to visit the wool shop there. I finally found it towards the edge of the town, next to a liqour store and a vets office. The ladies in the shop were chatting amongst themselves and only acknowledged I was there when it was time to part with my cash. I was annoyed that they hadn't bothered to reply to my quiet, but polite "hello" and realised how used to the friendly Canadian attitudes I'd become. I didn't spend any more time than needed in the shop, and after purchasing my wool, I went back down to the bus depot. I'm sorry to say that I have absolutely no idea what there is to do in Pemberton, and as I had an hour to kill, I just went over the road to a cute little Swiss owned cafe. There were already a couple of people inside, sat at the tables, drinking coffees and chatting amongst themselves. The lady behind the counter asked me what I would like and I instantly recognised the hint of Swiss dialect in her accent. We got talking and after establishing that she was from Switzerland, we switched to speaking German. Her husband heard us and came over to chat too. It turns out that they are from St Gallen in Switzerland, which isn't that far from where I was when I lived in Southern Germany. Small world. They were both so warm and friendly, compared to the experience I'd just had in the wool shop. We talked about a whole range of things, and I got so comfortable there that I almost missed my bus back to Whistler. Those two contrasting experiences really brought home the ideas of customer service, and how to exceed the expectations of someone in this industry, that had been so animatedly illustrated in the Spirit Pass session.

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