Tag: skiing

Golden, British Columbia – Part 2

August 10, 2025

After checking out the pedestrian bridge over the Kicking Horse River I meandered downtown to get a feel for what the town is like. The highway that takes you to town from the TCH is one block off the street where many of the restaurants and shops are located.

I should mention that some of these photos were taken on different days but I am showing them all in this post.

I drove away from town on the street which brought me in from Hwy 1 as I wanted to go up the mountain to check out the Kicking Horse Mountain Resort. It is the 3rd largest ski area in Canada and has the 4th highest vertical drop in North America at 4,314 feet. It is normally a very busy place in the winter but this past ski season there was an incident which put a considerable damper on things. I will explain what happened in a moment.

The slopes can be seen from the Trans Canada Highway as one descends into Golden from the east. The base is located 4 miles west of downtown. The resort has a very wide footprint and obviously the top is pretty high, at 8,200 feet. I am going to post a map from their website to help illustrate what I am about to explain. Please keep in mind that I am NOT a skier so forgive me if I get some of the terminology wrong. I will try to keep it simple.

(Photo credit: KickingHorseResort.com)

There are two traditional ski-lifts (purple lines) which start at the bottom of the mountain. One is located at the main hotel and lodge (a little right of center at the bottom of the map) and the other further right near the resort “village” (next to the red and white “+” sign). For the moment please disregard the longer purple line between them.

As you can see, the two ski lifts only go part way up the mountain. From where the lift on the left ends one may ski left or right to get to various trails to ski back down to the base. From the lift on the right, which goes slightly higher up the mountain, one may again go left, right or immediately back down and ride one of the lifts back up. Going left from that vantage point gives the skier many more trail options.

OK so far?

Now, the long purple line which is between the two described above is the Golden Eagle Express gondola which goes all the way to the top of the mountain. Those upper trails are mostly rated “double-black-diamond” which means they are ONLY for expert skiers, although there are other “single-black-diamond” trails which are difficult but not as severe.

One of the reasons I went to the resort was to ride the gondola all the way to the top and check out the view looking west towards Glacier National Park (which, as the crow flies, is only a few miles away). This enterprise was suggested to me by the folks at the Golden Visitor Centre.

Everything was going very well until I arrived at the base only to find that the gondola was not running. I subsequently learned that at 920am on March 10, 2025, one of the gondola cars dislodged from the cable and fell to the ground. Fortunately for the 8 occupants (and the resort, no doubt) the car was only a few feet from the boarding station at the base and only fell a little over 3 feet before tipping over. Thankfully there were only minor injuries among the occupants, but the gondola ride was immediately stopped and the occupants of ALL the other gondola cars had to be rescued from where they were, either by rope or by helicopter.

Hence the gondola was still not operating while I as there in August, though they did get it up and running before the current ski season began. I suspect it being out of order seriously curtailed the remainder of the 2025/26 ski season as skiers could only go part way up the mountain, although they do offer a heli-ski option for those who can afford it.

But no gondola ride or Glacier NP view for JohnBoy.

Now that I’ve explained all that, here are some photos I took while up on the mountain:

Using my digital camera with the zoom lens I took a photo of some of the cars near the top, which would have dropped a much more considerable distance if they had become dislodged from the cable).

Aside from skiing, many ski resorts offer the use of their trails to mountain bikers when there isn’t snow on the ground. Because of the severe slope of the upper trails, mountain biking is usually extremely popular during the summer at Kicking Horse, but not being able to ride the gondola to the top also put the kibosh on that activity. The resort was practically deserted when I was there.

There is a bear enclosure (the call it a “refuge”) part way up the mountain which has a single grizzly bear as it’s occupant. One may get to it by riding the left chair lift but I passed, as I felt that seeing a grizzly bear in an enclosure was cheating, and I didn’t see any other takers, either.

WhistlerBlackcomb Ski Resort

After I visited the 2010 Olympic Park northeast of Vancouver I drove further up the mountain road to get to Whistler. The town itself was renamed to Whistler after marmots found here, which have the unfortunate nickname “whistle pig” because of the warning sound they emit to warn others of predators, and because they can grow to be rather chubby. A marmot is the largest member of the squirrel family (squirrels, groundhogs, marmots, chipmunks, etc) and I will be sharing photos of some in other posts later. I posted photos of some marmots when I was in northeast Colorado a few years ago.

WhistlerBlackcomb is comprised of two large ski areas, one on Whistler Mountain and the other on Blackcomb Mountain. Almost all of the trails end up in Whistler Village. Together they form the largest ski resort in North America:

(Photo credit: SkiTDS.com)

The Village is a very busy place! Lots of big hotels, restaurants and bars, shopping, and various activities in both winter and summer.

This is one of the chairlifts to the top of Blackcomb Mountain.

It was overcast with low clouds in the area the day I was here, which occasionally obscured the various mountain peaks. I hope to come back to Whistler later in my trip, hopefully on a nice, sunny day, and to visit a particular facility which was closed the day I was here.

In addition to the chairlifts, there are enclosed gondolas which go up the mountain from the Village. I also saw a gondola package advertised which brings people up TO the Village from the highway at the base of the mountain near Squamish, at the coast, many miles away!! It is a very expensive, multi hour affair which promises spectacular views (so long as you are not claustrophobic and/or afraid of heights).

There are large electronic signs which, in the winter, indicate the status of various lifts (e.g. you don’t need to ski all the way down and ride all the way back up).

Only two operate in the summer.

The day I was here, people were engaging in various activities other than skiing, and the village was quite busy. There is a large bike (bicycle, not motorbike) trail at the base of the ski lift, which seemed to be the most popular.

There weren’t riders on it as I took that photo but there were lots of young people with bikes queuing up to be released together.

There many more, not shown in the photos.

Canadians are very big on recycling everything. There was a place to put used, blown out tires and innertubes, and there were tools (tied down) to enable folks to work on their bikes.

People in another area were getting outfitted to ride the chairlift part way up the mountain and then zipline down.

There was also a place to rent a 4-wheeler or other ATV.

You see a small child, maybe 4 or 5 years old, riding his tiny bike towards the vehicles on the right side of the photo above. He dismounted, carefully leaned his bike against the rock wall and immediately climbed up on the 4-wheeler in the foreground. I told his mother “I guess you know what he wants for Christmas!” In a few years, maybe… I told the young man I really liked his helmet (which he still had on) and told him he was really smart to wear one. I always try to tell kids that when I see then wearing safety equipment.

As I mentioned, there are lots of big, fancy hotels in the Village, and in other areas nearby.

And lots of fancy restaurants:

There is also a Squamish Cultural Centre in town (the indigenous tribe on whose land all of this sits!):

As I was heading out of the Village to drive back down the mountain to Squamish and then on to my Airbnb in Maple Ridge, I noticed this sign on the traffic light at a big intersection. Space in the Village is really at a premium and there was no place to land a helicopter in an emergency – so they just stop traffic and it land on the street!!

I have never seen that done anywhere!

Finally, as I drove down the mountain I stopped to photograph this unusual vehicle I had seen as I arrived in the morning. It is used to catch your attention to promote a local business.

Mission accomplished.

Final images from Olympic Park

Here are a few photos I took of other things before I left the Olympic Park to head further up the mountain to Whistler Blackcomb ski resort.

These are two, relatively short (in my opinion), ski jumps. I am not a skier. My three brothers all skied but I never had any interest in it. My opinion of these ski jumps is based on others I have seen firsthand. Maybe my depth perception is skewed, but this is a training facility and perhaps they scaled things down for maximum “repeat time”.

You see – very compact.

There were ski areas in eastern Pennsylvania, where my family lived for many years. They were small by Rocky Mountain standards, but we were two hours from both New York City and Philadelphia so they were very popular with city folk. My older brother and his wife built a house after they got married, in a small resort town about 45 minutes away from where our families lived. They could see the slopes of Big Boulder ski area from their deck.

My youngest brother, who was born after we moved to Pennsylvania, lived in Salt Lake City, Utah for many years and when I would go out to visit, he and his wife would take me up to Park City, which has also hosted Winter Olympic games and has training facilities similar to these. The ski jumps we saw there seemed much bigger than these.

Here is something I noticed as I walked back to my car after having taken the photos above:

Once again, the electric bear fence.

Within walking distance of the ski jumps I found a large Inukshuk statue, perched high on a boulder:

This symbol has meaning the indigenous Inuit language, and was adopted as the logo of the 2010 Winter Olympic games.

As you can see of you look closely at the photo on the sandwich board above, the large Inukshuk has inspired many “Mini-Me’s,” constructed by visitors.

Some better than others…

I have a small, wooden Inukshuk keychain which I bought in Toronto when I was there in 2019.

My next posts will be of what I saw when I visited Whistler Blackcomb ski resort, just up the road from the Olympic Park. For now – a JohnBoy Travel Update. As I write this post I am in Canmore, Alberta, just south of Banff, in the Canadian Rockies. I drove down here yesterday from where I had been staying in Golden, British Columbia. From Golden, I drove through parts of six National Parks. I will be based here in Canmore for four nights before moving on to Calgary and points east.

I’ve been lots of places and seen lots of things between Whistler and Canmore, and I will be getting to those posts soon. Thank you for your continued patience. My days are filled with seeing new, amazing things and I am accumulating LOTS of photos and stories.

I’m peddling as fast as I can….

Olympic Biathlon facility

Tucked up on a hill away from everything else is a gun range used to practice one’s Biathlon skills in the summer. Here is a board explaining how a Biathlon works:

So given the lack of snow, athletes train by using skis on wheels. There is a fairly level oval paved loop immediately behind the gun range that the athletes use their ski poles to propel themselves around. When they get to their assigned station at the shooting range they stop, lay their ski poles down and quickly pivot their rifle (a .22 caliber gun with certain weight specifications, containing a 5-round clip) which they have been carrying on their back. They then shoot at 5 white targets which will each change to black when they hit them. Simple, right? Probably not, which is why they constantly train to hone their skills, and it IS an Olympic sport so it certainly isn’t a cakewalk!

Here is the gun range, seen from a distance.

You’ll get a closer look in a moment.

I spoke with a young man working in the small shed to the immediate right of the range as seen in the photo. I asked if he was operating the range and he said no, it is automated. He was cleaning and repairing rifles. Later in the day I could pay to try the shooting part if I wanted to (and could demonstrate I wouldn’t be a threat to myself or others). I told I would pass on that offer, but thanked him anyway. There were a few people, male and female, making laps on their roller skis, some were pobably training, others may have just been doing it for exercise. I imagine it alone is a pretty good workout.

I stood and watched for a while and it soon became clear that one young woman and three young men were clearly here to train.

I didn’t want to take pictures while they were making laps but I did take a few while they were focused on shooting.

When he was done shooting and was talking with his buddy I did engage the guy in the red shirt in a brief conversation. I didn’t bother the young woman who seemed to be getting pointers from someone.

The guy in red has been shooting for ten years. I didn’t ask how old he is but he appeared to be late teens or early 20’s. His shirt indicated he is part of Team Canada, but I don’t know if he is a candidate if he can prove himself or if he is already on the team.

Here is a better look at what they are shooting at:

He was shooting at target 14, below the right-most two Olympic rings. Looks like he hit 2 out of 5 shots.

Keep in mind, he is doing this now in pleasant temperatures, wearing shorts and a t-shirt. Conditions and attire when they are competing would be VERY different.

I thanked him for his time and for discussing things with me and wished him good luck. Later, as I was driving away from the Park I saw his buddy “skating” out on the main road, down a rather steep hill!