When we talk about going to “Whistler”, we generally mean the village. In fact, Whistler Village ski resort abuts both Mount Whistler and Blackcomb Mountain.

According to the tourist pamphlets, Mount Whistler, the most prominent peak in the Garibaldi range of the Pacific Coast Mountains, is 2,181 m (7,156 ft) tall, with 464 m (1,522 ft) of prominence, and is flanked by glaciated mountains on both sides. On the other side is a group of mountains which are part of the larger Pacific Ranges and are fore-ranges of the Pemberton Icefield.

Forming the boundary between the ski resort and Garibaldi Provincial Park is the even taller Blackcomb Peak, with an elevation of 2,436 m (7,992 ft) but a prominence of just 86 m (282 ft).

For comparison, while the highest mountain in the Canadian Rockies is Mount Robson at an elevation of 3,954 m (12972 ft), the highest mountain in the Pacific Coast Range is Mount Waddington at 4,019 m (13185 ft), so while “The Rockies” may be what everyone talks about, the Pacific Coast Range (within BC) is actually taller.

The plan for our Whistler visit: fly in via Harbour Air seaplane, do the gondola/lift “peak to peak” experience to access both mountains, explore the village and trails, enjoy 2 nights at the Pan Pacific Hotel, and take the panoramic Epic Bus back to Vancouver via the Sea-to-Sky Highway.

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The glitch in our plans was the weather. After successfully dodging each day’s forecasted rain all last week, our luck finally gave out.

Once we had boarded the 14-seater Canadian-built de Havilland single-engine Otter that would take us to Whistler, our pilot (Dave) informed us that the weather between Vancouver and Whistler was deteriorating, and warned us that if the winds increased too much or the visibility decreased too much, he’d turn around and return us to Vancouver rather than attempting a flight alongside the mountains and the planned landing on Green Lake. Fortunately that didn’t need to happen. While we flew below the clouds most of the way, and skies were grey with light rain, we not only completed the flight but also got some pretty spectacular views.

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Our first evening’s dinner was at The Old Spaghetti Factory, bringing back memories of Helga’s first visit to Ontario in 1995 (with my Aunt Lydia, but without Doris) when our whole family ate at the restaurant’s Toronto location. It still offers a “complete” dinner which includes warm bread and garlic butter, minestrone soup or green salad, spumoni ice cream, and tea or coffee to supplement your main course.

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Day 2. Up the mountain, rain or shine.

This morning we headed through the covered bridge to the North Village. There was drizxle, but no real rain, so we were hopeful for decent mountaintop views.

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The plan was to be first in line to go up Blackcomb via the gondola when it opened at 10 a.m., so we were early in line at Guest Services to get our tickets. Each ticket allows access to all the open gondolas and lifts, but there is no discount if you only access one, which would make it prohibitively expensive. The guest services attendant warned me that weather conditions at the top were not favourable – much too windy – and suggested we wait to see whether the peak-to-peak line would in fact open. If not, we could get a refund, but once we accessed any single portion of the gondola route our tickets would be non-refundable.

Ted kept an eye on the gondola Twitter-feed, and the rest of us watched the lit signage at Blackcomb Base in the hope that our route would change from red to green. After an hour, it had only changed to yellow (signifying stand-by), so we decided to hike one of the trails rather than continuing to stand around in the cold just waiting.

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No sooner had we headed for the trails than the Tweet came through green-lighting the peak-to-peak, so we hurried back to Blackcomb Base to board the upward gondola. It’s still off-season, so we had an entire cabin to ourselves and Ted could move around freely taking photos.

We were all thrilled to see a black bear contentedly munching dandelions below us.

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The view as we ascended through the clouds was particularly beautiful.

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At the top of Blackcomb we stopped for hot cider and hot chocolate in the Rendezvous Lodge and wandered a bit, taking in every spectacular view, including a hoary marmot!!

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Then it was time for the peak-to-peak journey. We chose to wait for one of only 2 glass-bottomed gondolas, even though for a portion of the 11 minute ride we were engulfed in cloud and saw only white through the windows and floor.

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The top of Whistler Mountain is the area that Ted and I visited by chairlift 20 years ago on our last trip to Whistler. The café at the top hasn’t changed much, but in addition to the chairlift being replaced by gondolas, several additional viewing platforms and chairlifts have been added. Snowy conditions at the top meant that none of the lifts were open except for a pre-booked group of glacier skiers, and we couldn’t have accessed the Cloudraker Skybridge even if we’d wanted to – and after seeing it, we definitely did NOT want to.

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After spending some time sipping hot coffee in the Roundhouse while overlooking the mountains, we ventured onto the Harmony Lake Loop trail for a 60 minute walk in the trees. Mountain springs, waterfalls, lakes, and pine-scented air were our reward for a sometimes steep (for old folks) trek. In the end, we couldn’t complete the final loop around the lake because the trails were closed due to unsafe snowy conditions.

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Then it was back down into the village via the Whistler gondola.

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We felt that we really deserved our cheese, Asian pears, and French sparkling blanc de blancs brut upon returning to our hotel, but all our outdoor activity had us craving more, so we headed to Dubh Linn Gate for dinner, and then the plan was to retire quite early to bed, but… as so often happens when we cousins are together, we left poor Ted to his own devices and headed to the hotel bar where we enjoyed some wonderful curated cocktails, and conversation with both the bartender and some very interesting patrons. Pretty sure morning regrets await.

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Back to Coquitlam tomorrow via panoramic bus along the Sea to Sky highway. It was a fun couple of days!