Whistler, British Columbia Whistler, British Columbia Whistler (Squamish language: Sḵwiḵw) is a resort municipality in the southern Pacific Ranges of the Coast Mountains in the province of British Columbia, Canada, approximately north of Vancouver and south of the town of Pemberton. Incorporated as the Resort Municipality of Whistler (RMOW), it has a permanent population of approximately 11,854, plus a larger but rotating population of seasonal workers, typically younger people from beyond British Columbia, notably from Australia and Europe. Over two million people visit Whistler annually, primarily for alpine skiing and snowboarding and, in summer, mountain biking at Whistler Blackcomb. Its pedestrian village has
Whistler Blackcomb is located from Vancouver International Airport. Microsoft Windows XP is codenamed "Whistler" after this ski resort, as many Microsoft employees skied at this resort during its development. Also, Windows Vista is codenamed Longhorn after the valley that runs in between the two mountains and Windows 7 is codenamed Vienna or Blackcomb The valley area between Whistler and Blackcomb was first surveyed and documented in 1858 by Hudson's Bay men looking for an alternate route into the Cariboo area further north. Although little-used at the time, the route would later become one of the many paths used during the Gold Rush