Ride Day 14: Squamish to Whistler

It is mostly up from Squamish to Whistler (i.e., sea (Squamish) to sky (Whistler)) and we hope to leave a couple of panniers at the Howe Sound Brewery -- we'll be passing back through on our way back in a day or two and it would be great to lighten the load going up  The climbing is actually pretty minor compared to what we've done in the past, so it shouldn't be too bad.  Just a gradual, slow grind on das bike.

We've always enjoyed Whistler, especially in winter though it gets pretty crowded.  Summer is fun, too, especially watching the downhill bike guys flying off the ramps.  Our wheels are happy being firmly on the road.  Keeping the rubber-side down!

It was a bit smoky in Squamish this morning.  The interior of BC is burning pretty badly with hundreds of wildfires and the smoke is making its way to the coast.  It looks to be heavier to the northeast, toward Whistler.

We had a good breakfast at the Howe Sound Brewery where we stayed last night – the brewery has guest rooms and we’ve stayed there many times.  The addition of breakfast is a new thing.  And speaking of new things, Squamish is really growing and getting fancy – flowers, street vendors, gentrification.  It is no doubt experiencing the same growing troubles that many towns are, notably Bend.

From Squamish to Whistler is about 75 km and about 1,500 meters of climbing.  There is nothing that is super steep, but it is a fairly constant climb.  But we left 2 panniers at the brewery in Squamish and took just what we needed for a night in Whistler – that lightened our load significantly.  We’ll pick up our panniers on the way back through tomorrow.  But watch out for bears!

I promise to not feed them

Tantalus in the center

Cheakamus River flowing out of Garibaldi lake/reservoir

They had a big winter but the reservoir is super low

We just get into rhythm on the climb and grind it out. It is chilly first thing in the morning but it heats up fairly quickly to the upper 20s – pretty warm to be riding a 3 hour climb.  But we take breaks every hour and the weather is perfect (save the smoke) and it is a nice ride.

We made it!

The ski runs on the Whistler side

And on the Blackcomb side

We get into the main village at Whistler before mid afternoon.  It is always fun to be here, but wow, the place is swarming.  It is mostly families on vacation but there are thousands of the gravity bike guys – I have heard that Whistler actually has more summer revenue on the lifts than winter revenue because the gravity bikes ride the lifts up, then go down by, well, gravity.  And the buzz really seems to have caught on as there are lift lines in summer just like there is in winter.  And that doesn’t even consider the many thousands of folks who go up the lifts to see the sights and ride the Peak to Peak gondola.

We took a nice hike out to Lost Lake, then retreated to our room to turn on the air conditioning.

Discussing the latest big air

The gravity park

Creek flowing out of Lost Lake

Lost Lake

 Tomorrow is a long day to Horseshoe Bay, then a ferry to Nanaimo (back to Vancouver Island), then to south Ladysmith.  I guess in a big sense we’re heading home, but first we get a week with our youngest out in the Gulf Islands.