Whistler’s TELUS World Ski & Snowboard Festival Set to Hit the Heights: When you have a winter setting that ranks in the wonderland category, there’s really only one thing to do: throw a really big party sure to have the joint jumpin’. Such is the case with the annual TELUS World Ski & Snowboard Festival, a 10-day, 10-night fiesta like no other; this festival, set for April 17 – 26, lays claim as the biggest annual gathering of winter sports, music, arts and culture in North America. And they’ve got the goods to back it up. Competitions are out of the box: the Orage Masters, April 19, features eight teams of four skiers mixing it up during a competition that is one part slopestyle, one part free-for-all, and one part masquerade party (think: skiing heavyweights barreling down the slopes in pirate costumes, for example). Its snowboarding counterpart, the Grenade Games, April 20 – 26, brings the legends of shred culture to compete with current pros and upcoming amateurs in a series of events including a superpipe, a slopestyle competition, skateboard sessions, a poker run and the first-of-its-kind dual slalom moguls event (pro skiers compete in the World Skiing Invitationals Superpipe for a $10,000 first place standing). The annual World Skiing Invitational Big Air event will see pro skiers light up the night, April 18, with live music backed by a 15,000-strong crowd…oh, and another cool $10,000 for the champ. Off slope, there will be free daily performances throughout the village during the Zune Concert Series, plus a few other gatherings sure to get the blood pumping. Park n’ Fly Skate Jam, April 17, brings skate back to the streets of Whistler with an epic day devoted to the sport and art of skateboarding. For the artistically-inclined, the 72 Hour Filmmaker Showdown asks if would-be Spielbergs have what it takes – stamina, endurance, vision…coffee. (Competitors shoot, edit and produce a three to five-minute video in the Whistler area and present their Oscar contender in just under 72 hours.) And let’s not forget the fashion shows, photography and art exhibits, film screenings, theatre and all-night parties complete with beats from international DJs. Sure to take this party off the charts. www.whistler2009.com