A Return To Whistler

Sam & Keira were waiting for us when we disembarked from the ferry in Horseshoe Bay - in fact they had been waiting a while because they had underestimated how long the ferry crossing actually took. No matter, we were soon loaded up in their car and on the way to Whistler.

First stop was in Squamish where Keira had to get a new Social Insurance Number to go with her work visa. Afterwards we did some shopping at Walmart - which seems to have become a bit of a feature of this trip.

Thereafter it was non-stop to our lodgings in Whistler. Our room at the Village Inn & Suites featured a Murphy Bed, which was the first time we have ever had occasion to try one of those. Sam & Keira left us to get settled in and go for a wander to re-acquaint ourselves with Whistler village. Last time we were here it was the middle of winter, not early spring, so it was somewhat more pleasant just going for a stroll.

Our snow cat transportation

About 5:00pm Sam and Keira were back to pick us up for the evening's excursion - the twilight tour on the Super Fly zipline where they both used to work. In fact, Sam had even worked on the building of the Super Fly line and also had a brief cameo on camera when the Channel 9 Today Show visited Whistler last July and tried out the Super Fly.

The Yurt - much more comfortable than the one at Chena Hot Springs

However the Twilight Tour is a little more special. It begins with a ride in a snowcat up to near the start of the Super Fly, where the eleven in our group sat down to a gourmet three course meal in a Yurt erected on the mountain. Sam told us that it was in fact the same Yurt that we had used when we went dog sledding with him back on Christmas Day 2011, although he said this time it had been erected by people who knew more about how to put it up than he and his cohorts had back then! The chef for the occasion was from one of the fancy restaurants in Whistler and he did a damn fine job of preparing a delicious meal half way up a mountain.

Keira and Sam dining with us in the yurt

With dinner completed it was time for the more active part of the evening. We all suited up in our harnesses and the guides took us through all the procedures and safety instructions (which Sam & Keira could probably have recited by heart - they were getting to ride the zip lines for the first time as guests!). It was about twilight when Laura and I took off on the parallel zip lines for the first of four legs that would take us down the mountain. This zip line was about one kilometre long and took us right across the valley, allowing a bird's eye view of the snow covered trees below.

By the time we started the second zip line (at 1.4kms it's the longest in Canada) it was dark, so we had the eerie sensation of hurtling through the air with only some stars, a dim view of snow covered trees and the sight of the glowing lights on our companion's helmet. Plus the lights of the landing platform getting rapidly closer. The third zip line was much shorter but very steep - so it was a very quick ride through the darkness until you hit the braking mechanism at the other end. For the fourth and final zip line the house rule was that you had to go down holding hands with the person on the other zip line - which in the case of Laura & I meant that Laura was dragged into going faster than she otherwise would have.

That was the end of our twilight zip line adventure. How to describe it? It was different, delicious (the meal part), exciting (the zip line part), a fun and memorable way to spend an evening and great value for the price (it was Keira & Sam's shout - many thanks!). It was also interesting to hear more about what it had been like for Sam & Keira working there, and to be able to experience the thrill of the long zip line rides that they had been down so many times already.

Sam gets some air over a jump

The next day had been set aside for me to go skiing with Sam and Keira (who both snowboard) while Laura explored Whistler village (and its bakeries). By the time I had hired all the relevant ski gear and bought ski passes it was nearly 11:00am when the three of us headed up the mountain. Unlike last time I was here we went up Blackcomb Mountain rather than Whistler. In his time here Sam has mostly gone snowboarding on Blackcomb because he believes the runs are as good if not better and it is less crowded.

Our ski/snowboard party

When we stopped for lunch it was only about 12:30pm yet I felt like we had been going for longer. I guess it was because the runs are pretty long and the lift queues pretty short, so our time on the slopes was maximised. Although I hadn't been skiing since I was here with Sam on Christmas Eve 2011, I found some of the rhythm returning pretty quickly and I even found it a bit easier than last time. Around mid afternoon we caught the Peak to Peak cable car across to Whistler Mountain where I was soon able to confirm that Whistler is more crowded. Sam thinks it's partly because of the name - people associate Whistler with skiing so tend to gravitate to the mountain of the same name. We had planned to do another run before skiing down to the village but in the end we decided just to ski out - we had managed to fit in a pretty good day on the snow.

Meanwhile Laura had had a nice relaxing day. With the fine weather she had started out on a walk to Lost Lake but had only reached the park near it when she realised she was on a dedicated cross country trail, so had abandoned the rest of the trek. However there was the Purebread bakery to visit (highly recommended by Sam and Keira), other shops around the village to explore and the Lil'wat Cultural Centre to visit.

Our dinner plan was to eat at the local favourite tapas bar, called Elements. It was after 7:00pm before we turned up there, to find that it seemed half of Whistler had had the same idea. The staff said if would be up to an hour and a half before they had a table for four so they took Sam's phone number and we retired to a nearby pub for a drink while we waited. In the end it was only about an hour and a quarter before we received the call and headed back. Sam and Keira had eaten here before and so were able to explain the process - which was to order about half a dozen dishes for us all to share. We settled on the mussels, minted goat yogurt, salmon, gnocchi, duck and pork belly dishes. Later when given notice of last orders we also had a steak dish to share, and rounded the evening off with a cheesecake dessert. It was a very nice meal and a lovely evening.

The next morning we not only had to pack up to check out but we had to pack ready for our 11:40pm flight home from Vancouver. Sam and Keira returned at 11:00am, along with Roland (with whom they co-owned the car) so we piled all our gear in the back before we all drove down to the Re-use It Centre at Creekside (south Whistler). This is pretty much like a Salvos store in Australia and we had fond memories of perusing its eclectic collection of second hand goods the last time we were here. Shopping finished we dropped in at the nearby Pure Bread bakery for a late morning tea before heading back to Whistler village.

A cinnamon beaver tail - yummy!

Sam and Keira dropped us there with a plan to meet in a few hours for a late lunch before Keira had a job interview (successful!) and then they were to drive us down to Vancouver airport. Laura and I started by making sure that we sampled one of the local specialities we remembered ever so fondly - a cinnamon "beaver tail". Not exactly health food I guess, but hey, we're not in Whistler that often!

Afterwards, being a lovely sunny day, we set off on a walk along a trail partly through a wooded area next to a golf course that took us to Alta Lake. The lake was still frozen, of course, though we were warned that it might not still be frozen enough to safely walk on. After the walk we rendezvoused with Sam and Keira at the Whistler branch of the Pure Bread bakery for a late lunch. This is another favourite haunt for the locals and we could see why with lots of delicious things on the menu.

Brandywine Falls

The end of our holiday was approaching though and it was time to pile into the car and head south.  A little north of Squamish we pulled off for the short walk along a snow covered trail to view the Brandywine Falls. The falls are 70 metres high and, being early spring, the stream was running freely over the falls. We did amuse ourselves by seeing if we could lob a snowball far enough off the viewing platform to reach the water below. We could manage it - just. Further along the drive we pulled into a viewing area where there were terrific views across the valley.

Driving into Vancouver we hit the inevitable Friday evening traffic getting across Lions Gate Bridge. However we were fortunate enough to be able to park only about a block away from our chosen dinner venue - The Fish Shack, which is directly opposite the IH hostel where we stayed last time we were in Vancouver. Once again we have to hand out the kudos to Sam & Keira for knowing about this place, because although obviously very different to last night's venue, the food was nearly as good. And we didn't have to wait over an hour to be seated.

A great view from the Sea to Sky Highway

Afterwards it was back into the car for the final leg to the airport. We hadn't realised that at one stage Sam had had a part time job for a couple of weeks driving people between Whistler and Vancouver Airport, so he obviously knew the way very well. He also knew a little parking area next to a service station where we could pull in for a couple of minutes while we extracted from our luggage a few things from Alaska we had been carrying for them. Then it was on to the departures drop off area where luggage was unloaded and good byes were said before we parted ways. It was still only about 9:00pm so we had ample time to complete check in and Sam & Keira had ample time to get back to Whistler before it got too late.

Check-in was uneventful (we had secured a window seat and were seated together) and the flight home smooth, uneventful, and (since we flew nearly the whole way in darkness) blessed with more sleep than usual. After landing, we were home less than an hour from disembarkation.


It was great travelling with Sam and Keira and Sam's suggestion four months ago, that it might be nice to see the Iditarod, had resulted in a set of amazing experiences. Not just the Iditarod itself, where we were able to see the second closest finish in the 42 year history of the event, but also participating in the Running of the Reindeer, landing on a glacier on Mt McKinley, seeing the Aurora Borealis, visiting the World Ice Sculpture Championships and staying at Chena Hot Springs. And for good measure Laura and I were able to sample Vancouver Island, ride the longest zip line in Canada and (for me) have another day of skiing at Whistler-Blackcomb. A truly wonderful trip.