Sat. 19th September ’26
Having chatted to the lady in the visitors centre yesterday, we bought our lift passes and have a plan for the day. As it is a sunny Saturday morning we head out early and are 11th and 12th in the queue to catch the Whistler Village Gondola as far up the mountain as possible to an altitude of 1,850m. We have 40 minutes to wait before they let us on the gondola though we watch pre booked groups go up before us and more intriguingly bicycles. I can confirm you can get four bikes and owners crammed inside one eight seater car! At 10am it is finally our turn and we pile in with a group of four from Arizona. The trip up the mountain takes about 30 minutes way above the ground. It looks quite different in the summer without all being covered in snow.
Our original plan was to use the Peak Express to reach the Skybridge at the summit at 2,182m above sea level and walk from there, but the chair lift had closed on Labour Day about ten days earlier. Now the only option to reach the summit was to walk up the final 332m of altitude the top. So, we headed off up Pika’s Traverse gravel road, along with many other hikers as each gondola car deposited its occupants at the top of the cable car route. It is steep in parts so we adopt the “Pole Pole” (Swahili) method of taking it slowly to avoid getting out of breath. It took us an hour to get to Harmony chair lift top (also closed) and then another half hour to climb up Mathews’ Traverse road to the Skybridge. The place was almost deserted, so although no longer spring chickens, we are pleased to see we are pretty fit in beating some of the young ‘uns.
To make us feel better about the uphill slog, we spot a couple of marmots chomping on a rare patch of grass and we forget about our legs for a few minutes. As a further bonus we are surprised to see the Skybridge was open and free! We have the bridge to ourselves to take some photos down the length of the bridge, before we cross the 230m bridge from the Peak of Whistler Mountain to the West Ridge. By the time we have finished taking in the view the bridge begins to become busy. It makes the early start and queuing worthwhile. Our original plan had been to walk the High Note trail back down to the top of the Whistler Village Gondola but we have already walked a fair distance and the thought of adding at least another hour trek seems too much and truth be told a beer and the hot tub calls.
We walk back the way we came and reflect that, even though the morning was not what we expected, it was still spectacular with the Skybridge a bonus. We felt smug watching those still ascending the route breathless from their exertions, knowing we had 
already suffered that and now we could enjoy the descent, but still be kind to our knees by taking it gently. We have a lovely chat with fellow travellers from Bath on the way down discussing places we have been to, and where else we want to go. We are distracted for a while watching the mountain bikers speed down narrow rough tracks, round tight corner and over bumps and jumps. Not for us.
We do have one last visit to make today as we are staying opposite Whistler Golf Club we want to go into the Pro Shop as Dave fancies buying a bear driver head cover. Not only did they have one but we also saw a bear munching away on the first fairway just outside the window. Dave gets a double dose of bear! At home we grumble about a hole being closed for a few weeks in winter, well here the whole course has been closed for restructuring work and then over winter.