When tourists come to Whistler in the summer, a ride up the mountains in a gondola is a must do activity. There are two main gondolas from the village, the Whistler Mountain and the Blackcomb Mountain. Once one is at the top, one can ride another gondola between the tops of the mountains called the Peak to Peak ride. This ride is world record breaking as it traverses 2.7 miles between the two mountains at 1427 feet above the valley floor. It takes about 11 minutes to travel this distance.
I give you all this information to say that we were unable to do the Peak to Peak. The Blackcomb gondola was the only one in operation during our visit as the other ones were out for maintenance. So the Blackcomb Gondola it would be. After buying our tickets we headed to the gondola. There was no wait so we quickly got in a gondola. There were four of us, but the gondola could have easily held six adults.
The ride up was fairly slow, and it took a while. There was one stop along the way. However, the attendants informed us not to leave the gondola even thought the doors opened. We were not particularly high above the ground during our trip so it didn’t feel all that dangerous to be riding in it.
On the ride up (and back) we were on the look out for bears. Bears are common in the area, and my brother indicated it is common to see bears underneath the gondola’s path. However, this was not our lucky day, and we never saw any bears going either way.
Once at the top we began a hike. The hike we chose was to be a fairly easy hike. As we started, the air temperature was fairly cool. However, the sun came out and warmed us up pretty quickly as we ascended the mountain side. When we got above the gondola area, the nearby mountains began to make their presence known. We could see the large range of mountains on the other side of the valley.
We started on the Alpine Loop trail. The trail was nice and wide. Although it was pretty steep at the beginning of the trail, it began to level out and became a comfortable hike. We could see views of Whistler Mountain through the trees as well as the mountain range across the valley. There were a lot of fantastic views so it was hard not to stop all the time and take photos.
From the Alpine Loop trail we decided to take the Overlord Trail instead of going back around the loop. Since this was the only activity we had planned for the day, we decided to take full advantage of it and hike farther than we had originally planned. At the juncture of the trails there was a large area of rocks. When we first approached it, I saw some pikas bouncing around on the rocks. Unfortunately they moved pretty quickly so I was unable to get a photo. Fortunately I did get some pika photos on my previous hike with my brother to Lake Ingalls during the summer.
On a rock above where the pikas were, my brother spotted a marmot peeking over the rock. I could barely see him so I didn’t try to take a photo. However, as we went to the other side, he was much more visible. I snapped a photo but realized I really needed my telephoto lens. Before I could change lenses, some kids tried to get too close to the marmot and scared it off. I left on my other lens, and then the marmot started peering out from between rocks next to the trail. It was pretty close to me. I didn’t get photos of his whole body, but I did get his face.
This was not the only marmot we saw. A little farther up the trail another one appeared and was jumping between the rocks. He followed along with us for a little bit before disappearing into the rocks.
The Overlord trail gave us nice views of Whistler Mountain and the glaciers high up. The trees in this area were not very tall. A few spiked high, but most of them were pretty short so we could sometime get views over the trees as well as through breaks in the trees. The trail remained pretty easy to follow.
We finally came to the juncture of the Marmot Trail. It was near a ski lift. On this trail we would begin to head back towards the gondola. However, we established pretty quickly that this was a different trail. The trail was very narrow so we had to walk single file. It was also much steeper. We found ourselves climbing up the mountain. It was definitely a more challenging trail to hike.
However, the trail also offered some great views. At higher elevations we could see even more of Whistler Mountain as well as a peak farther back on Blackcomb. At this level we also saw more color in the plants. Fall colors were definitely coming on in the brush of the mountain, and it added some great color to the scenery.
We took this part of the trail quite slowly. Eventually we came out into an area devoid of trees for the most part and covered with a lot of rocks. The trail here was often created by putting rocks alongside the trail to form a curb so it was easy to follow. It was also not as steep. Just above us was an access road for workers, and we did see a couple of trucks drive up the road.
We finally reached the top and began the journey down. We came to a large man-made water retention pond. Apparently the water is kept here and used to make snow when needed during the winter. It looked like a big swimming pool.
Toward the end of our hike the trail became fairly steep going down. We walked down pretty slowly to make sure we didn’t slide on the loose rocks as we walked. It was a relief when we finally made it to the bottom. While we had anticipated a fairly easy hike, the choices we made provided a more challenging but not difficult hike. Nevertheless, it felt good to have accomplished it when we were done.
The ride back on the gondola was pretty routine. We didn’t see anything exciting as we traveled down. At the bottom we walked back to the condo for lunch and some well deserved ice cream before taking a nice nap. We had an enjoyable dinner that night at the Mongolian Grill.
This was our last full day at Whistler. Friday we would travel back to the US and home. Hopefully in the future we will be able to take the gondola from Whistler and do the Peak to Peak ride although that does sound a little more scary hanging so high up in the sky. Has anyone done that ride before? I’d love to hear your experiences in the comment box below.
Next week I’ll begin to share about my next big adventure to Malawi. In the meantime be sure to sign up to receive my weekly blog post if you are new to my blog. It comes out every Wednesday. I look forward to sharing more adventures with you.