Whistler and Blackcomb

Maggie and I went to Whistler on Monday and Tuesday. We were initially going to go for only one day, but she convinced me to stay for a night and that was a pretty good idea, considering how little time was allowed for people to stay up on the mountain.

Us and the Inuksuk.

On the first day, we drove up the Sea to Sky highway, and we had some fantastic views of the coast and the mountains but figured that we would have more time on the way back to take pictures. We had a hiking excursion at two which we did not want to miss, and wanted to make sure we arrived with time to have lunch before our hike.

View from the Roundhouse.

Side note: Actually, we wanted to do the Via Ferrata on Tuesday, but it was booked up by the time we had called on Sunday. In fact, we were told that there were no spaces available for any of the guided hikes on Monday or Tuesday so we kicked ourselves for not booking ahead of time. Moments after we hung up, while we were trying to book our gondola tickets, we got a call back from the company and they told us that some spots actually opened up on the Monday. I had not actually left my number, but she dialed *69 to call us back. What a convenient service! Well, we did not get what we wanted, but still got something we thought we would enjoy. On the other hand, the calls to book the two day gondola pass failed miserably. There was a promotion to get a two day pass for the price of one day, but you had to book 24 hours in advance. The lady was unable to do it over the computer, and she told us to call guest services, but they were closed by the time we called (just after five).

Whistler peak from the Roundhouse.

 In any case, we made it to Whistler with plenty of time and had a quick lunch on the Roundhouse. I ordered the pulled pork poutine, but the pork was not pulled, the poutine had no curds, and well, it still did taste fairly good even though it was not what I had expected. We took a few photos before joining up for the hike.

Maggie is ready to take on the glacier behind her.

The hiking group consisted of us, the guide, and one other person. That was it! We told our guide that we were actually interested in doing the Via ferrata, and the German tourist (Mike) also mentioned that he was interested. Our guide told us that if we had told her our interest an hour earlier, we could have switched our glacier hike to the Via ferrata instead! But due to time constraints, we were limited to just the glacier hike. She did say that it was the second most interesting hike after the Via ferrata.

View down from the bottom of the glacier.

The hike itself was not very difficult. It was a warm summer so the glacier itself was quick slushy and soft, so we did not need any picks on our boots. In fact, I got pretty darned hot as we started so I took off all my outer layers before heading up.

Maggie on the glacier. We were all roped together for safety.

We were given all the gear: The helmet, boots, ice pick, harnesses and the backpack. More than enough to protect us from the dangers of the glacier!

We made it to the top!

The hike was actually quite enjoyable, and went by quicker than I thought it would. However, the time also went by fairly quickly. By the time we got to the top of the glacier, we were told that we only had half an hour to walk to the peak and look around. We decided to take some quick photos before we headed up.

View from the back of Whistler from the top of the glacier.

Our guide also told us about the extinct volcano that was pretty obvious in the distance: Black Tusk.

Another view from the back of Whistler. Note Black Tusk in the background.

We took a few more photos at the peak before heading back down. We did not bother taking too many since we were going to be back the next day.

On Tuesday, we took the Peak 2 Peak gondola and visited Blackcomb mountain. The hiking trails there were a bit less intense than Whistler, and since we were not really geared up for hiking we decided to try out those trails first before heading back to test out the hiking trails on Whistler. Conveniently, there was a box of abandoned ski poles that were offered as walking sticks for hikers. Maggie took a couple.

Maggie and her walking sticks.

We first started on one of the easy trails. But finished them so quickly that we decided to keep going deeper into the bush.

I bumped by head against that rock.

Eventually, we ended up taking the route that would lead to Blackcomb lake, about an hour's hike away. Along the way, we were able to see some really nice views of the area, despite the overcast skies.

In one of the bowls of Blackcomb mountain.

We had a really good time hiking on these trails, and the weather was fairly good for this type of exertion. Neither of us found the trails difficult, even though it was classified as intermediate and we were not quite prepared for hiking.

The view out of the bowl with Maggie off to the side.

Blackcomb lake was interesting to see, although the sign warning of unexploded explosives was a little worrisome to see. We stayed on the trail and did not come across any bombs.

Blackcomb lake. Note the sign warning of unexploded explosives.

The hike back was fairly uneventful, but I was so surprised as to how long we had been hiking: Over three hours. It felt like we had only been walking for an hour! We headed back to Christine's for lunch. The food was tasty, albeit expensive. We also saw some Marmots while we were eating and a very dense fog rolled in to cover our view. We headed back on the glass bottom Peak 2 Peak Gondola, but the fog basically covered everything, until we came under it partway across.

By the time we made it back to Whistler, it was last call for trips up the peak chair, so we decided that it was time to head back down the mountain. We wanted to get back to Vancouver to rest and recuperate. Unfortunately, because the weather had turned, a lot of the scenic points that we wanted to take pictures at on the way back were not very picturesque on our return trip.