A Broke Shredder's Guide to Free Adventures

Living in a resort town presents you with the potential for all kinds of exciting adventures, some of which are not planned and other which are. I’m here today to talk about the latter.

Dog sledding, zip lining, bungee jumping, horse-drawn carriages to fondue huts, cat skiing, heli skiing (!!!), sledding adventures galore… all of these sound wonderful, but seeing as they are catered to tourists, they all cost an arm and a leg (or a new snowboard and Gore Tex jacket). What’s a broke shred bum to do?

I’m on your side, homies. Here are my tried and true solutions for enjoying exciting and expensive experiences for free or on the cheap.

Friends in High Places

It is wonderfully convenient to have friends who work in reservations, as guides, or really in any capacity for any of these adventure companies. Be sweet to them and pay them in your own Whistler currency, whatever it may be (mine is baking).

Once I got to do this because of a friend, and it was fun:

Win Stuff

Winning stuff is the best! Not only do you get that special feeling of having won a thing, but you get an actual prize, too! There are an amazing number of giveaways and contests in Whistler. You can win a pair of skis on just about any given night, depending on the bar you hit. I once went to a Coast Mountain Culture magazine event, where one of my friends won a gift certificate to an adventure tour company as a door prize, and another won the same thing (plus a snowboard) for telling the most radical story to the audience at the intermission. Friends! Winning stuff!

Weird Opportunities

I have a unique skill for scouting out weird opportunities, which often lead to fun adventures and good stories down the road. Sometimes they work out, and sometimes they don’t. Here’s one that DID work out: part of my job as a house-selling wizard involves updating our social media, and while doing so one day, I came across a call-out for “athletic-looking and enthusiastic people” to do a photo shoot for zip lining. Well, I’m no body builder, but I have the enthusiasm of a hundred Golden Retriever puppies, so I sent them an e-mail. A week later, I was frying freely through the trees, being told to “act like you’re having fun!”. REALLY hard when you’re zip lining through a magical forest. Luckily, I am a great actress. They paid me in gift cards for MORE zip lining. Yeah!

(Actress skills not evident in this photo, where I look a bit mean. Photo credit to The Adventure Group Whistler— and to the photographer's credit, the other three adventurers look great, so it's not her bad).

Invite your Parents to Town

My friends’ parents obviously love them more than my own parents love me, because sometimes they come visit their children. (I know my parents read this; if you love me, come visit me 🙂 ).

The first good thing about having your parents come to town is having an excuse to check out all the tourist attractions that you otherwise negelct. I tagged along to a champagne-sabering session when my friends’ mum was in town, and I think I had the most fun of anyone.

The free bit comes in because a) sometimes your parents feel generous and b) often (always) they are richer than you. If you show them your skeezy accommodations and tell them about your favourite flavour of Mr. Noodles, they might take pity on you and take you for a pony-ride-to-fondue. Or a heli tour if they really love you.

Look for Local and Seasonal Specials

I got to try skeleton because they were having a food bank charity day where a run cost a fraction of the price that it normally does. There are also secret groups for locals telling you when a last minute heli spot opens up, so you can tag along at a great discount. Read your local paper and stay in the know.

This is me having an adventure:

Adventure on, friends! And if anyone knows how I can take the stupid horse drawn fondue tour, let me know.