"Walking Our Camino(s)": Blackcomb/Whistler, 32 kms, first 2 days, 30°

Alpine Hiking

Ok. Most of the time I try to behave like the maturing adult that I am. After all I’m going become a grandpa for the first time in the next couple of months. But as this weekend approached and not being able to walk into Rome to celebrate my 65th birthday as planned this past year was something that I really wasn’t looking forward to. At the beginning of Covid when I was forced to cancel my walk from Canterbury to Roma along the Via Francigena I kept telling myself that these things happen and that it is what it is. I pretty much put it behind me as things progressed into shutdown and social isolation. Everyone was sacrificing so no big deal. However as my birthday and the day that I was to have walked into Rome approached I began to feel a bit of a sense of loss. Life was sadly becoming pretty Covid routine. Hate that word, routine! Sorry Dad! Sure we were walking loads, had completed a long virtual Camino with good friends, loads of other activities were happening, however I was feeling in a bit Covid rut! Annemarie sensing this told me that we were going away for my birthday...for a week. I kind of probed a bit trying to figure out where, but it wasn’t until Annemarie made the mistake of suggesting that we might need to make a ferry reservation that my questions all led to a trip to Whistler.

Right or wrong, in my head Whistler is a pretty touristy place where the wealthy have expensive properties and things are pretty unreal. The sort of place we typically avoid during our travels. Anyway I left home with an open mind knowing I badly needed a break from Netflix! We eventually arrived and after settling in we went to sort out the hiking opportunities. When I was younger I hiked quite often in the Whistler Garibaldi area, but that was years ago when I still lived in Vancouver. I’d also skied at Whistler in the good old days so the area was familiar, but now so very changed. A huge development had happened, a second ski hill added and even an Olympics had happened. Not enjoying huge crowds we watched the Olympics on TV.

Anyway, day one the town was super crowded. After being in semi isolation these past months I found it a bit more than I was looking for. We decided to hike out to a small lake to have a look see, but it was crawling with folks heading there to walk, swim and bike ride. Very little social distancing. Wow! Eventually we were able to find some quiet paths up higher and away from the crowd with just a few serious trail riders rolling through.

As we worked our way higher it was better and better. Quiet trails, deep shaded forests and something even nicer, freedom from the whole Covid thing.

We ended up back on the edge of town just beside the Blackcomb gondola station. We decided to check out what options there were to access the hiking up in the alpine. Turned out there were lots. We settled on season passes which we would payoff by using twice. As the price of these passes we’re going to increase considerably the next day we decided to purchase them. But hold on. Yes I said, today is my birthday, and did I know I qualified for the seniors rate? Jackpot! I’m going to like this part of maturity! After a brief chat we decided to jump right on our new passes and headed up the mountain to research possible hikes for the next day.

We arrived at the top and decided to actually continue on with our day hike. It was still early and we would then have time for a beer and then clean up for my birthday dinner.

It was a simple hike, but it felt good and got us thinking about the options for today.

Feeling pretty good about our options for the next day (today) we finished up our hike,

took a photo or two of the birthday boy, Note the hat I’d found in California in January. The perfect hat for long distance walking. A hat I’ve been looking for these past 7 years. A hate for the hot Via Francigena! Works brilliantly. So light you hardly realize it’s on your head, yet it doesn’t flap up like my Tilley and other hats I’ve tried. A real shade provider for my face and neck.

and headed back down the mountain in time for a well deserved....

There was a younger fellow who was born the year I graduated from high school who was also celebrating his birthday. He came over to chat, social distancing, and we were outside. When we went to pay our bill our waitress told us that he’d picked up our tab. Wow! This 65th birthday thing is great! Wonder how long I can stretch it?

We returned to our hotel and cleaned up for my birthday dinner which was very kindly hosted by my parents who had planned this for when I arrived into Rome. Nice parents, eh? Dinner alfresco was brilliant, the company excellent and the wine very good.

This morning we started slowly as it was the last day of the British Football Premiership season. So of course with Champions League on the line for ManU I just had to watch the 8 AM start. After all, they’d come back from 14 points behind Leicester to catch and pass them As well as Chelsea, but still had to at least tie them in the final game to qualify. It was a nail biter, and not really a very good game, but ManU managed to win 0-2 and held down 3rd place. It means good things going forward, from many different angles.

Finally up and on the road we again went back up Blackcomb and found some great hiking. Over 30° in the valley it was a more comfortable mid-20’s in the alpine. Some photos from our walks today;

Black Tusk. I climbed up to that from the other side in 1972 with my childhood friend Ken. We hiked together all over that area.

We stopped to have lunch and to just take all this beauty in. It’s not as striking or as difficult to reach as trekking in Patagonia, but it’s accessible in these Covid days and it’s pretty nice too!

Looking across to Whistler Mountain, our hiking destination for tomorrow.

The flowers in the alpine meadows were beautiful and a delight to find. All this has long disappeared at lower levels. A bit spring like as a result of our late summer start this year.