Whistlers Mtn Jasper

Mon 15th Aug. Today it was a climb up Whistlers Mtn. Most people take the skytram (gondola) up, but when you are on a budget, $57.30 each can't be justified so hiking it is, and since we were staying at the campground decided to walk from there (an extra 3 or so kms). It was a good climb up, and once you get to the skytram terminal, you join all those who took the easy way up, to walk the final 1.1 km, 150 m elevation gain to get to the summit, which offers 360° views of the Athabasca Valley and surrounding peaks. Reading the information panels at the top we found out what we were calling chipmunks are actually red ground squirrels, and the other rodent creatures we see are pikas. On the way down, we spotted another marmot, we also read up top that they eat for 4 months over summer and sleep for 8 months - what a life. Stats for hike are: 21.07 km, active time 5hr35, elevation gain 1420 m. With the money we saved we decided to treat ourselves to pizza in town for dinner, since we had to go in and fill up the van with petrol for starting the drive south down the Icefield parkway tomorrow- apparently one of the most scenic drives in the world. The petrol in Jasper is about 50 cents per litre cheaper than the last petrol station we filled up at - must be the difference between B.C. and Alberta, because I wouldn't have thought Jasper would be cheap otherwise.Read more