Whistler has never been better than it is today. It’s at the top of its game, the number one ski resort in North America. The trick to being on top, however, is figuring out how to stay there.

In that regard, Whistler has an edge because what sets it apart from all the rest is a unique kind of magical quality that is simply true Whistler. It’s that feeling you get when you’re flying down the Gun Barrels or floating on powder down the Blackcomb Glacier or flying over the mountains for a heli-drop. It’s the same feeling when you’re still in your ski boots, reliving your day on the Longhorn patio — a feeling of fun, and living life to the max, pushing your boundaries, being part of something bigger than yourself.

You can feel it first hand in the thick of the World Ski and Snowboard Festival, which celebrates everything awesome about our mountain culture, or during Crankworx, when you’re watching mountain bikers do the impossible in the bike park. This is Whistler to a tee — fun, fresh, bold, cutting-edge.

Taken at the Whistler Ski & Snowboard Festival Big Air, sponsored by Gibbons Life.

This feeling is the spark that stokes the flames of this resort. This is why people want to be here. This is what makes us number one. Which brings to our travel company Gibbons Life. If we could bottle that Whistler feeling, we would sell it to the world. For the time being however, we’re going to bring the world here.

Gibbons Life is going to take that spark, that feeling, and make it burn even brighter, show people what Whistler is really all about. That will give them more reason to come back here, to feel the magic of our mountains. As we come of age, with Whistler Blackcomb celebrating half a century in the mountains this year, it’s crucial we stay true to who and what we are. Yes, we’re growing up but that doesn’t mean we should get old, or that our “magic” loses a little of its lustre, or that we change focus.

Gibbons Life is all about staying true to our original Whistler brand. We’re proud of Whistler’s wild side, it’s in our DNA — the untamed mountains, the life lived with true abandon, the need to explore and push beyond conventional limits. This is why people come here in the first place — to temporarily escape the ordinary and live the extraordinary. So, let’s embrace our “Whistler-ness.” Let’s pave the way for people to ski and ride their hearts out all day long and party all night too. Let’s give them once-in-a-lifetime opportunities that will keep them going until their next visit.

Gibbon Life is going to give people a reason to keep dreaming about coming back to Whistler because we’re going to show people “authentic Whistler.” We don’t need to be anything else but this; this is what makes us number one.

Let’s just be… Whistler.

Check out what Gibbons Life is up to on Apres Ski and you’ll really understand what we’re talking about.