What’s Whistler all about?
Whistler is place in British Columbia, Canada – located in the Coast Mountains and only about 2 hours from Vancouver. It’s really a place where all tourists’ dreams come true, all year round. For us the main idea was of course to hike our socks off, but it’s also famous for mountain biking and skiing in winter.
In 2008, the peaks of the Whistler and Blackcomb mountains were linked with the PEAK 2 PEAK Gondola. Apparently this is the highest gondola and therefore appears in the Guinness Book of World Records. It allows you to soak in the best of both marvellous mountains and the views they have to offer.
The 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter games were held in Whistler, which is still very visible when walking around the community.
Go to www.whistler.com and www.whistlerblackcomb.com for all detailed information, including very useful maps of both the village as well as the trails for hiking, skiing and biking.
The Village
The Village is the central neighbourhood of the Whistler town, located at the base of the Whistler and Blackcomb mountains. It’s a very laid-back atmosphere and relaxing to stroll around. There’s plenty of restaurants and shops to recover from after an exciting day in the mountains.
Our hiking day
Gondola riding
After a decent breakfast at Dubh Linn Gate Irish Pub at the Pan Pacific Mountainside hotel where we stayed at, we were ready to kick it.
We took the gondola up to Whistler Mountain, which was a fun trip all on its own. We’ve never went skiing, not even in Europe, so to be fair: this was all new to us. It took us about 15 minutes to get to the top. As we were a bit early for the PEAK 2 PEAK gondola up to Blackcomb mountain, we explored the Roundhouse Lodge a bit.The PEAK 2 PEAK can be quite scary! It’s the longest free span between ropeway towers (about 3 kilometres or 1,8 miles) and it is the highest point above the ground (436 metres or 1.430 feet) and that, we could tell. As we were rather early, there weren’t a lot of other tourists yet and so we had a cabin all to ourselves. Like little children we were goofing around – that’s what a vacation is for, right?
Blackcomb mountain trails
First thing we saw, when we arrived at Blackcomb mountain’s Rendez-vous lodge? A long haired marmot family – what better way to start our hike?
We combined 3 walks – starting with half of the Alpine Walk, going to the Overloard trail and then taking the Lakeside Loop back. The first part on the Alpine Walk is a really great way to start, as it’s a pretty easy trail and offers tremendous views and photography opportunities. Even though the Overloard trail isn’t that bad at all (it’s said to be perfectly feasible for “intermediate hikers”), I gotta say – there are some pretty steep parts, where I really needed to catch my breath. Very humiliating, when a 70 year old guy passes you with the least amount of effort.
The Lakeside Loop – as the name says – brings you near Blackcomb Lake – a great place to pause a little, before continuing the rest of the trail and heading back to the Blackcomb Lodge.
The entire track took us about 4,5 hours, including stops.
Views at Whistler mountain
After we took the PEAK 2 PEAK back to Whistler mountain, the Peak Express brought us to the top, offering us again amazing views on the glaciers. As the Peak Express doesn’t have cabins, but just seats, you feel as free as a bird.
Other Countries we visited
Have a look at the other countries we ‘achievied’ to visit, and other Achievies…
