THE 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics might well be called the 2010 Whistler Olympics because so many of the key events will be staged there. They include the downhill, Super G and giant slalom, the skeleton, luge and bobsled events, all the Nordic events and the Paralympic curling and sledge hockey.

It’s the fulfilment of a dream that is more than 40 years old: four Vancouver businessmen had the idea in 1962 that Whistler could be a potential venue for the Winter Games.

At the time, the concept of hosting a world-scale event there took some imagining. Until 1964, there were no roads, electricity or water in the valley. But the pace of development was fast, and Whistler felt ready to submit a nomination to the Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) in 1968, which it lost, along with subsequent bids in 1976, 1980 and 1988. So when the winner of the bid for the 2010 Winter Olympics was announced as Vancouver (with Whistler’s ski area) you can imagine the scale of the party.

In those 40 years, Whistler has changed tremendously. In the 1970s, the heart of the resort moved to Creekside, and at the end of the 1990s, Whistler merged with the adjacent Blackcomb resort, and started to be marketed as Whistler Blackcomb. And it’s still changing, with many improvements in readiness for the Olympics.

One of the most obvious changes is the work in progress on the Sea-to-Sky Highway, the road that links Vancouver to Whistler through an area carved by glaciers that remains stunningly beautiful. A £260 million project is under way to widen the road to three lanes and to straighten out some of the bends. Whistler is occasionally cut off because of snow or accidents closing the road but the improvements should reduce these, as well as cutting the journey time of a couple of hours by 15 minutes.

Creekside, at the heart of Whistler, completed a four-year facelift last summer. The base area has been pedestrianised and is now known as Franz’s Trail. There are new shops, restaurants and other facilities, making it a more interesting place to stay, particularly for families who want to avoid the hubbub of the village and those who don’t want to face the early morning queues in the village centre waiting for the Whistler Gondola.

Not everything in Creekside has changed though. The long-established après-ski haunt Dusty’s, at the bottom of the Dave Murray Downhill, is still there and gets lively after the slopes close. It has live bands at the weekend, and its barbecue is legendary. Whatever you do, don’t miss the nachos.

Hoteliers are in a frenzy to build their new properties and refurbish their existing ones in time for the Games. The Four Seasons Resort Whistler, based at the bottom of Blackcomb Mountain, opened this winter with 242 lodge-style rooms and has already become a firm favourite with visiting celebs. Two “boutique” properties are soon to open in Whistler too. The 82-room Pan Pacific Whistler Village Centre opens this spring, while in Creekside, the Nita Lake Lodge opens in summer 2006 in an old-growth cedar forest overlooking the lake.

Whistler’s flagship hotel, the Fairmont Chateau Whistler, has spent millions upgrading in anticipation of increased business as interest in the Games grows.

The mountain has new ski terrain too, with four new runs opened this year. At the top of the mountain’s ski area, where much of the existing terrain was for experts only, more average skiers can now enjoy the new Peak to Creek run, with spectacular views of the Coastal Range from the top of Whistler Mountain.

A 3.4-mile (5.5km) run, and more than 5,000 vertical feet lead down to Creekside. Starting with some bowl skiing on the edge of Bagel Bowl, the run then passes through a slightly gladed area before widening out, giving skiers the choice of three more difficult single black diamond trails— Dusty’s Descent, Big Timber and Home Run — which have really opened up this area.

There has also been an extension of the Whistler Mountain ski boundary to include Flute Bowl, an area long known to off-piste lovers. While this means that the area is now patrolled on a regular basis, it still feels as if you are in the back country, and you’ll need to make a 25-minute hike carrying your gear. The first descents into the bowl are the steepest but good intermediates can walk farther around the rim to reach a pitch that suits them.

Local residents are hugely excited about the forthcoming Games, with barely a note of discontent — and what a mix of residents.

If you didn’t know you were in Canada when in Whistler Blackcomb, you would be forgiven for thinking you were in Australia. Lifties, ski instructors and waiters working in the resort all sport name badges that show where they hail from. Every second badge seems to say Brisbane, Perth or Wagga Wagga. So here’s to Australia’s first Winter Olympics in 2010.

Need to know

Getting there: Mark Frary travelled to Vancouver with Air Canada (0871 2201111, www.aircanada.com), which has 112 scheduled flights between the UK and Canada each week. Return flights cost from £500.

The bus fare from Vancouver airport to Whistler on the Perimeter Whistler Express (001 877 317 7788, www.perimeter bus.com) is £30 one way and takes about two hours.

Mark Frary stayed at the Fairmont Chateau Whistler (604 938 8000, www.fairmont.com), where doubles cost £200 in March.

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