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Published: September 10th 2016
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Top of the World Summit
Linds amongst the mountain tops What a perfect day!
It started with a superb breakfast of fresh fruit, croissants, crepes filled with spinach and cheese sauce and scrambled egg. It was beautifully cooked and presented.
Later, in Whistler Village we bought a day ticket to the gondolas to take us high up on the mountains. We were amazed at the number of mountain bikes and bikers in the area also going up. There are many trails for them and the bikes are put in the gondolas ahead of the riders in the next car. It seems to be the craze for the younger set at present.
The first gondola was the Whistler Village Gondola up to Roundhouse Lodge on Whistler Mountain at 1850m which took 30 minutes up over forest and finally to the rocks, trees and alpine plants above. Whistler sat in the valley below amongst the trees and lakes. It is a very pretty setting. We walked down hill to the open air Peak Express chairlift to continue up to the Top of The World Summit at 2182m. It got very cold and we were very happy to have hats, gloves and an extra top. From this location we could see
A mountain robin?
This very friendly little bird has the habit of our little NZ robin so I'm assuming the same bird family all the mountains around with snow and glaciers. It was a superb view and we spent some time enjoying the view before returning down to the bottom and walking back uphill to the original station. We were amused to see a chairlift going up to the Summit and all four women/girls were on their mobiles! What about the fantastic views?
Our next adventure was on the Peak to Peak gondola which is an amazing work of engineering. It stretches across a valley for 4.4km with a height of 436m above the ground over the valley floor. It is the longest spanned gondola in the world with very few towers holding the cables. It truly is amazing. This put us on another ridge called Black Cone Mountain at 1860m. From here we set off to hike across to Black Cone Lake. First we encountered some extremely tame marmots who weren't in the least concerned about all the people about. The whole family frollicked on the rocks while big fat Pop waddled about eating grass. He had a brown tail, was the size of a cat and had a light colour around the body. He was quite different that European marmots
A Pika
This cute little creature is a Pika. It is very friendly and not at all afraid of humans. that whistle when humans are about and disappear. Further along the trail a bird like a big robin swooped around us and landed nearby. Once again it was not concerned by humans and was quite happy to come close.
Our trail took us across rocks on an excellent track with some climbing and some downhill until we reached a pretty tarn which we sat beside for lunch. On the way back we encountered another marmot grazing alongside the track and further on a creature called a Pika. It looked like a fat little furry mouse with no tail and it just sat on a rock beside the track and looked at us without moving. Another darted around my feet and I was a little worried about it shooting up my trouser leg. We had had a real treat with small creatures but we have still to encounter a bear or a moose.
It has been absolutely fabulous to be back in the mountains, our most favourite environment. There is nothing like the serenity, beauty and peace in the high mountains and today was our fix for this year. It's a pity it is only one day but one
is better than none.
We went back to our B&B for a shower followed by wine and cheese until dinner time when we headed into the Village. Whistler is very busy at this time when people are back from their day's activities and are settled in for some socializing. We found a nice bar and restaurant for our dinner and had a prime people watching table right by the Square. It is a marvellous way to spend time over dinner watching the people traffic.
All in all, a most satisfying and fabulous day in a very nice location
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