Editor’s Note: This piece was originally written in 2016, but has been updated in December 2024 by Dee Raffo with what’s new at Escape! Whistler.
For a lot of people, the anxiety kicks in before they even make it into the Escape! Whistler rooms.
“You need to hand over your cell phones before entering,” explains owner/operator Kori Klusmeier.
Audible gasps: “But I might need it as a flashlight!” “What if we need help?” or “Yeah but how am I going to?”
Kori stands his ground with a shrug and a smirk (no one seems to mind that he also takes your house keys, wallets and purses). Part of the appeal of Whistler’s Original Escape Rooms comes from not knowing what you are getting into. In the era of cyber reviews, digital Insta-gloating and socially networked everything, there is a rare sense of vulnerability that comes with stepping into the unknown completely untethered from your digital lifeline…
… and then Kori slaps handcuffs on your wrists and ushers you into the dungeon of a pirate ship (or into an underwater lair, down a psychedelic rabbit hole or into a backcountry ski cabin buried by an avalanche). Suddenly you’re alone in a strange world with only your wits, your companions, and 45 minutes to find a way out.
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What is an Escape Room?
An escape room is a real-life gaming experience where groups of people are “trapped“ together inside themed rooms and must solve puzzles and work together to escape. Klusmeier first heard about the rooms while travelling through Europe with his longtime girlfriend Karen Mizukami.
“We had a rail pass and were zipping around from city to city,” he explains, “and with only a few days in each spot, we would hop on Tripadvisor to see what not to miss. Every single city had escape rooms in the top two or three—number one thing to do in Budapest, in Prague or wherever—we tried to go but couldn’t get in because they were so busy.”
The couple chatted about setting up an escape room in Whistler but quickly forgot about the idea once they got home and merged back into their regular lives (Kori was recently voted Whistler’s favourite DJ). Escape rooms didn’t come to mind again until one rainy day while visiting a friend in Vancouver.
“We didn’t want to waste a day sitting around,” Kori recalls. “So I checked to see if there were any escape rooms in the city. They have several so we did two and I thought – this is perfect for Whistler. I am doing this. I went home, sat at my kitchen table and just started sketching things out and making it come to life.”
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Building the Dream
Bridging the gap from idea to functioning escape rooms took months of business planning, funding meetings with Community Futures Howe Sound, location hunting, and some super-intricate design and construction processes.
“Think of the biggest art project you have ever done,” explains Kori. “Now expand that into an entire room. Now expand that into 1,700 square feet of craziness. Karen has been integral throughout the entire process and we also got to work with some excellent local artists and builders. There is a real local feel, especially in the buried ski cabin room.”
Escape! Whistler opened in Whistler Village on December 26, 2015, and was quickly fully booked. And for good reason: the attention to detail in the design and puzzles instantly creates a new world that is believable and incredibly fun. The exhilaration of racing the clock, working as a team and thinking through real-world problems is both unique and electrifying.
“It’s been amazing,” Kori says. “We are getting couples, families, work groups, staff parties. Everyone gets through, even if we have to give a couple of hints. The record for the Pirate Ship room is 34 minutes, but they were real ringers.”
Escape! Whistler staff monitor each room via closed circuit camera and can offer tips or clues via radio if participants get baffled or need assistance. The puzzles, clues and processes vary in difficulty, and there are six themed rooms to choose from; Pirate Ship, Buried Cabin, Pinball Machine, Yukon Gold, Underwater Lair and Rabbit Hole.
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Expanding the Escape Rooms
“Back in the fall of 2019 the space across from us became available,” says Kori. “We decided to build two new rooms and signed the lease in February 2020, just in time for the world to shut down due to COVID.”
The silver lining was that Kori, Karen and his team could spend time on their designs and elevate the experience. One of the new rooms, Yukon Gold, was inspired by a trip the couple went on with friends. They canoed along the Yukon River for eight days and spent time in Dawson City, which resulted in an escape room that takes you back to the 1890s for the Gold Rush. The other new room is the Underwater Lair.
“That one was actually on our first list of ideas when we started in 2015,” explains Kori.”It was fun to finally bring that room to life. The challenge is to strike the right balance between a room being too hard and too easy, but Karen and I have honed our craft over the years. We love surprising people, giving them something unexpected, but never anything scary.”
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Since they opened the team has seen thousands of people come through their doors and have had countless successful escapes! There’s a running leader board and at the top is a team from Red Bull who completed the Buried Cabin in 20 minutes 34 seconds with no clues.
“We’ll have a little kid drag their family in, only to see the teenager who doesn’t want to give up their phone and the parents thinking they’re entertaining the kids. Then they all end up getting really into the game and working together as a team,” says Kori. “It’s an immersive, involving experience for the whole family and it feels good to have that kind of impact on someone’s Whistler vacation. It’s also a creative outlet for us and the artists and builders we work with.”
Just think how much fun you could have in one of these escape rooms. And all without your cell phone.
Get some early festive feels and a deal! Book 3+ nights between November 21 and December 20, 2024, to receive a free $100 CAD Whistler Shopping Voucher, with rooms starting from $175 CAD per night, accommodation and lift packages at 25% off and rentals at 35% off.
Come experience Whistler Blackcomb’s extensive terrain and adventure at every turn to see why we're known as one of the best resorts on the planet. Secure your mountain getaway with Whistler.com for personalized service and the local knowledge of our Whistler-based team.
Come experience Whistler Blackcomb’s extensive terrain and adventure at every turn to see why we're known as one of the best resorts on the planet. Secure your mountain getaway with Whistler.com for personalized service and the local knowledge of our Whistler-based team. If all this has you dreaming of Whistler, enter the Find Your Edge contest to win a six-night trip, including flights, accommodation and adventures.
