A year later, this still gives me the chills. Not that it's a unique case by any means, but he was found 40km away from where he was last seen. It's all very suspicious and harrowing to think of what really happened. As another poster mentioned, yes, the Adara hotel is quite nice and during the ski season would definitely run you closer to $200/night.
The last I heard, police were trying to determine whether he was pushed into the gravel pit (off the cliff) or if he fell in. Considering the other factors - missing skis and other belongings - I'm not inclined to believe that he just fell in. I couldn't find any updates on the investigation.
Frankly, Whistler tends to give me the creeps as now I can only associate it with stories like Jake's. I don't necesserily feel unsafe, but whenever I'm there now, it's just unsettling to think of the tragedies I've read about. Can't say why, as tragedies and deaths happen everywhere all the time, but it just does.