Biking at Whistler

Whistler is a resort town built at the base of Whistler mountain about an hour's drive from Vancouver. Its one of the largest (and best) ski resorts in the world and in the summer it still attracts alot of visitors, mainly for hiking and mountain biking.

I was keen to try the biking but also a bit wary as I didn't want to end up on a plane home with a broken leg so early into my trip! Biking at Whislter is very different to the sort of biking back home. Most of the biking I do at home involves around 2 hours of uphill riding interspersed with fast downhill sections that last for around 2-3 minutes. The downhill is by far the most fun part and involves tons of concentration on the trail ahead to avoid ending up over the handlebars! Its a real adrenaline buzz. Biking at whistler is 30 minutes of this in one go! I hired a full suspension bike and some body armour, which got me a bit nervous as to what I was taking on as we only ride with helmets back home. It does give you a nice feeling of security to be so well protected!

three or four, I can't remember

The chair lifts take you up to the top of the mountain and then you pick your route down via a series of graded, man made trails. After 3 hours of this I was pretty exhausted and my fingers kept locking up after intensely gripping the handlebars! It was a great day and with the confidence of the body armour and some locals knowledge of the routes from Darren and Theresa I quickly progressed from the green trails to some of the harder runs with ominous sounding names like 'Heart of darkness' and 'Devil's club".

After the biking I met up with the rest of the group at the 'Lost Lake' which is made from glacial water, it was a bit on the nippy side but nice to cool off from the sun. We walked back via a hiking route to the village and took in some more of the fantastic views.

The nightlife in Whislter was pretty good too, although it was quite quiet most nights compared to peak season. It seems each night the clubs take turns being the place to go and everyone crams in to the designated place leaving the rest largley empty.

Whistler is definatley somewhere I'd like to go back to. I'd love to go snowboarding and see how different the mountain is covered in snow. On the last day we took the cable car right to the top of the mountain for some sight seeing (most of the biking is in the bottom third). The views were pretty spectacular.

While wandering off to use the facilities behind a bush, I stumbled across a bear. I really wanted to get a picture but was understandably nervous as I've sometimes suffered minor injuries when wrestling with bears in the past. As I pulled out my camera, I was spotted and the bear gave chase, I issued a salvo of punches to his torso and turned heel while it roared in agony. I managed to clicked off a couple of shots as I darted off though.

I may have made some of that last bit up.

More Whistler pictures here:

Whistler pics

Whistler videos, please excuse Rick's language :)

Snowballs