I’ll start today with a quick history of the area that Whistler now stands on. It was was occupied by the Coast Salish First Nations people for around 8,000 years prior to the late 1800s when the British started open up the area for hunting and trapping. The area was called Whistler because of the shrill call of the local Marmots. Through the 1950s many lodges were built around the lakes for fishing, making Whistler a popular summer retreat. In the 1960s and 70’s ski resorts were built and in the 1980’s the first gondola was commissioned and Whistler became the most popular ski destination in North America. In 2010, some events in the Vancouver Winter olympics were held here in Whistler. Here’s some snaps of what Whistler looks like today.
Despite being a modern go-ahead kind of place, there is only one laundromat that we could find which luckily was attached to a diner. We were able to satisfy the dual needs of clean clothes for the next week or so and a full stomach for the next few hours. We met some interesting people including one young girl who’d never had the pleasure of a laundromat in her whole life to date. Life is indeed a voyage of discovery!
With the ‘life admin’ part of the day done we headed to one of Whistler’s popular spots, ‘the Train Wreck’. The backstory is that in 1956 there was a derailment of a train that was travelling too fast after getting behind schedule. In order to clear the tracks the cars that were damaged beyond repair were pushed into the forest. In the 1990s graffiti artists were invited to paint them. There is a fairly easy walking track to get to them, but does include a suspension bridge over the Cheakamus River. There seems to be a trend of building suspension bridges at tourist attractions, so I am getting better at walking on suspension bridges as a result.
We came back to the hotel for a quick snack and then we went to the Audian Art Museum which houses a permanent collection of British Columbian art. There is a superb collection of indigenous masks and several works by Emily Carr and EJ Hughes (famous British Columbia artists). There is also an exhibition by Japanese artist Manabo Ikeda who specialises in ink on paper and produces the most amazingly detailed pieces. (He is currently in residence)
Whistler has a series of gondolas that connect Blackcomb and Whistler Mountains. Today was quite cloudy and a little rainy at times and we were hopeful that the clouds might clear for our gondola trip. Unfortunately, that was not the case with Blackcomb being 1609 metres up and Whistler Mountain being 1530 metres, we were well in the clouds. The Peak 2 Peak gondola that goes between the two mountains is spectacular, even in the clouds. Hopefully we’ll get better mountain views later in the trip.
Once back on the ground it was time for dinner and Deb had a recommendation for an artist that lives in Whistler, a restaurant called Araxi which was excellent. We had a collection of east and west coast oysters and some foie gras to share, then I had venison and Deb had scallops. We finished with chololate fondant with caramel gelato. It was probably our best meal so far on the trip and a fitting end to a busy day.
Lastly, most people who come to Canada keep a bit of a wildlife check list and now that we are starting to see a few critters, the update is that we’ve seen 1 whale, 3 deer, 1 chipmunk and 1 squirrel. We did see evidence of bears near the train wrecks, but no bears yet.
We head deeper into the Rocky Mountains over the next few days, so stay tuned!
Until tomorrow!
Rob's "Beats Working" Blog 