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.
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