WHISTLER (chairlift to 7th Heaven)

Today's itinerary is a visit to the peaks of Whistler and Backcomb mountains. Originally we had intended to walk on some of the hiking trails but the visitor centre told us yesterday all the trails are still snowbound which seems amazing with these scorching temperatures.

We took the Village Gondola up to Roundhouse Lodge (1,850 m). We bumped into Ellie, Ross and mates and took photos of each other at the Olympic Rings (here from the 2010 games) with the great mountain back drop. We got inline for the Peak2Peak Gondola and opted for the glass floor cabin. Els and co. had ringo rides on the snow slope, a better location than Calshot ringos! The Peak2Peak ride did as it said and took us from high up on Backcomb Mountain to Whistler Mountain over a valley. We were now at about 2,000 m, there were helicopter flights from here and, of course, a cafe so we stopped for a coffee break sat on the terrace overlooking the great view. A very charming Australian couple, from near Melbourne, invited us to share their table. We ended up having a very enjoyable chat for about 90 mins which facilitate us seeing the helicopter take off and seeing several Marmots.

We then took a bus ride, on a winding mountain track, to the base of the 7th Heaven Express Chair Lift. The chair lift ride was very peaceful as we ascended to the top (2,284 m). We were gliding over the ski runs and at the top we were walking around in snow and people were 'doing' snow angels. We could overlook the ski run that had jumps and skiers were performing amazing tricks. We had another lunch stop with an awesome view.

On our return journey on the Village Gondola we spotted yet another mama bear and cubs, mountain bikers were within metres of the bears on their trail but blissfully unaware!

We meet up with Ellie and Ross for a final meal together before we set off tomorrow for Vancouver and home. We had to wait for a table so we did a little retail therapy in the part of the village we hadn't explored. After dinner we went to a great ice cream shop Ellie and Ross had discovered and did some more pics by the village Olympic Rings.En savoir plus