Whistler

Yes Christmas day, here we are in Edmonton airport leaving for Vancouver, fog has delayed the flight. It is leaving a two hours later than expected. Our bus connection in Vancouver is not going to line up so we will take another bus.
The sea to sky highway from Vancouver to Whistler where the winter Olympics are being held is a beautiful piece of construction. The highway is built part way hanging off the side of the mountain with concrete and rock bonding the three and four lane highway to the mountain . The town of Whistler is built in a valley the main part of Whistler Village is constructed at the base of the ski mountain. The village is built so there is no driving all walking streets as you wander from shop to shop and food sources.
We ventured up the Whistler mountain in a small gondola which will hold about six people and ski equipment about a twenty-five minute ride. It was quite weird there was a thermal inversion that day. At the base of the mountain the temperature was minus ten at the top at twenty-one hundred meters the ambient temperature was plus ten snow was melting and the day was absolutely stunning not a cloud in the sky sun bearing down with extraordinary heat. We then boarded the Peak to Peak gondola it holds twenty-five to thirty people. The structure holding the cables are massive. Two cables suspending the gondola and one push pulling, I heard that it is one of the longest free suspended gondola's in the world. It is a very smooth ride of eight minutes, the view is stunning all the way over to the top of Blackcomb. We had lunch out on the patio in the sunshine, viewing the valley of green pines covered in snow and the sun glistening off the snow covered peaks. Skiers and snow boarders carving the snow as they make their way down the mountain. We rode the gondola back to the top of Whistler mountain and back down to the village. The Peak to Peak was a beautiful day of unbelievable scenery and well worth the trip. Something to be aware of is to make sure it is a sunny day. I now see why so much money was spent on upgrading Whistler, there is so much skiing at this wold class facility that you can ski for weeks and not take the same run twice. British Columbia has done quite a wonderful job of preparing for the Olympics, I will be focusing my full attention all sports events this February.
Sifu Hayes www.silentriverkungfu.com
Stony Plain Alberta Canada