Pre-Olympic Whistler Weekend – Final
Without a doubt, Whistler is almost always associated with downhill skiing. So what’s a group of five people to do that don’t ski? Fortunately, Whistler has an endless number of outdoor activities that don’t involve downhill skiing.
One of Barb and my favourites that we started last year was snowshoeing. Living within 45 minutes of two ski hills (Cypress Mountain and Mount Seymour) last year we decided that if we weren’t going to do skiing that we should try another outdoor activity and felt that snowshoeing was something that appealed to us. After our fourth or fifth time up the mountain we decided to stop renting the equipment and we bought our own snowshoes.
Almost within with Whistler Village limits and just a few minute drive from our place in Whistler we snowshoed the trails around Lost Lake for several hours yesterday. While the weather was around 2-3 degrees while we were out and a lot of the snow was melting off the trees and dropping on us like rain, over the few hours that we were out the skies turned blue and by later on that evening, turned much colder.
Getting around Whistler Village couldn’t be easier. Since we arrived here on Thursday we haven’t drive our cars once as there is an excellent (and free) bus that stops right in front of our house. We’ve never had to wait more than 5 minutes and the bus stops at many locations including the main village steps right by the ski lifts.
Last night we went out for dinner at a restaurant called Araxi. We had made the reservation for Friday night before we left Vancouver as we weren’t sure how difficult it would be to get a table for five once we were here. The food at Araxi was incredible and I can easily say that it was one of the top ten restaurants that I have eaten at anywhere in the world.
As I had mentioned, by Friday afternoon the sky had cleared and it started to get quite a bit colder. That evening when we went out for dinner there was ice all over the street in the village and just walking to the restaurant was taking your life in your hands.
The good news with the clear skies is that it made our trip up to the top of Whistler mountain on Saturday afternoon all the better. We took the gondola up to the top of Whistler mountain and were treated to some of the most spectacular panoramic view that we have seen in our life. A 360 degree view of mountains that were perfectly lit in the sunshine was to be seen and it is clear why Whistler is such a coveted destination for ski enthusiasts. Barb and I were commenting that the views from the top of Whistler Mountain this afternoon were very reminiscent of the views that we saw from the top of Zugspitze that we saw in Germany when we went there in 2001. Zugspitze is the highest mountain in Germany and borders with Austria and offers similar panoramic view of the Alps mountains .
From the top of Whistler mountain, we took the 11 minute Peak 2 Peak gondola across the valley to the top of Blackcomb Mountain – enjoying further spectacular views from the gondola of both peaks and also of Whistler village below. The weather on top of the mountain was about -10 degrees and the wind blowing considerably on the top of Whistler and hardly at all on Blackcomb. While I’ve never skied at any time in my life, watching the people skiing down Whistler and Blackcomb today and being able to see the fantastic scenery it made me really wish I could have gone down both of the mountains as well.
It’s late Saturday night as I write this last section and tomorrow we will be leaving Whistler and return home to Vancouver. The drive up to Whistler on Thursday morning only took about 90 minutes from North Vancouver and the new section of the Sea to Sky Highway that was built this year has made a big difference in how long the drive takes. While driving up on Thursday morning was quite quick, we expect the drive down on a Sunday to take much longer with the much greater traffic expected for people returning home after spending a weekend in Whistler.
Within a few weeks, the whole Whistler area will be transformed as the Olympics will begin here and in Vancouver. No doubt the number of people who will be in Whistler will skyrocket for those weeks. However, by next winter I can see us wanting to return to Whistler again given how much fun we have had this time.
By the time I post this last installment of our Pre-Olympic Whistler Weekend, I will have posted the pictures of our Whistler trip here .
Until next time.
Baden
