Ablation Zone: the lower altitude region of a glacier where there is a net loss of ice mass due to melting, sublimation, evaporation, ice calving or avalanche. The ablation zone of a glacier such as the Wedge Glacier has meltwater features such as englacial streams and a glacier window. An englacial stream refers to meltwater flowing inside a glacier. A glacier window is a cave-like opening at the mouth of a glacier where meltwater runs out.
Accumulation Zone: the area where snow accumulations exceeds melt, located above the firn line. Snowfall accumulates faster than melting, evaporation and sublimation removes it. Glaciers can be shown simply as having two zones, the accumulation zone and the ablation zone. Separated by the glacier equilibrium line, these two zones comprise the areas of net annual gain and net annual loss of snow/ice on a glacier.
Russet Lake sits in a wide, glacier carved valley at the base of The Fissile. In the direction opposite The Fissile, up on a plateau less than a kilometre away are two small tarns called Adit Lakes. Adit Lakes sit in a broad, boulder strewn alpine zone with an incredible view of Spearhead Range. Just a few metres from Adit Lakes the plateau drops off quickly into the huge valley that separates the Spearhead Range and Fitzsimmons Range.
Aiguille: a tall, narrow, characteristically distinct spire of rock. From the French word for "needle". Used extensively as part of the names for many peaks in the French Alps. Around Whistler and in Garibaldi Park you will find several distinct aiguilles. Shown here is the prominent aiguille that stands like a tower at the summit of Rethel Mountain above Wedgemount Lake. Standing near the hut at Wedgemount Lake, Rethel is the towering mountain directly across the lake.
Alpine Zone or Alpine Tundra is the area above the treeline, often characterized by stunted, sparse forests of krummholz and pristine, turquoise lakes. Mount Sproatt is an excellent example of an alpine zone in Whistler. Dozens of alpine lakes, rugged and rocky terrain and hardy krummholz trees everywhere you look. The hostile, cold and windy climate in the alpine zones around Whistler make tree growth difficult. Added to that, the alpine areas are snow covered the majority of the year.
Every unusual phenomenon in the forest seems to have a name, but one natural work of art seems to be without a commonly used name. Big trees with sprawling roots that wrap around huge boulders, glacier erratics or jagged bedrock are sometimes called lithophytes which translates from Latin lith and phyte as stone and plant. Lithophyte is not the best description for these because they don't so much live on rock as encompass it.
Arête: a thin ridge of rock formed by two glaciers parallel to each other. Sometimes formed from two cirques meeting. From the French for edge or ridge. Around Whistler and in Garibaldi Provincial Park you will see dozens of excellent examples. At the Wedge-Weart Col above and beyond Wedgemount Lake is a prominent arête that links these two highest mountains in Garibaldi Park. Wedge Mountain is 2892 metres(9488 feet) and Mount Weart is 2835 metres(9301 feet).
Twentyone Mile Creek begins its long and steep journey from Rainbow Lake, high up and between Mount Sproatt and Rainbow Mountain. Cutting between the two mountains, Twentyone Mile Creek flattens out somewhat, passes under Alta Lake Road, then winds its way through a deep and dark forest before flowing into the River of Golden Dreams near the end of Lorimer Road. This hidden forest extends from Rainbow Park to Emerald Forest and between Alta Lake Road and the River of Golden Dreams.
Armchair Glacier is one of the many easily identifiable mountain features around Whistler. Along with Wedge Mountain and Black Tusk, Armchair Glacier has a distinct shape that it is named after. Armchair Glacier can be seen from a considerable distance and from many places in Whistler. In the winter it is a solid white ridge with three peaks and in the summer the ridge and peaks are bare rock and the glacier can be seen as a solid, horizontal line below.
The Barrier formed as a result of huge lava flows from Clinker Peak on the west shoulder of Mount Price during the last ice age. About thirteen thousand years ago, the Cheakamus River valley was filled by an enormous glacier, part of the Cordilleran Ice Sheet. Lava flowed from Clinker Peak and pressed up against the massive glacier. The lava ponded and formed what geologists call an ice-marginal lava flow.
The rocky and narrow row of islands in Garibaldi Lake just offshore from the Garibaldi Lake campsite are known as Battleship Islands. Named by the prolific mountaineer Neal Carter in 1927 "..because they are a group of tiny islands with often a single tree as a mast, presenting the appearance of boats, as viewed from Panorama Point(a lookout on Panorama Ridge)." The name "The Battleship Islands" originally appeared on AJ Campbell's 1928 map of Garibaldi Provincial Park.
Whistler, the surrounding mountains, and Garibaldi Provincial Park are home to two types of bears. Black bears and grizzly bears. Black bears are frequently seen throughout the valley and often in Whistler Village. Grizzly bears, on the other hand, are rarely seen, and only deep in the wilderness, well away from Whistler Village. Black bears around Whistler are generally skittish and will flee into the forest when approached by people.
Bench: a flat section in steep terrain. Characteristically narrow, flat or gently sloping with steep or vertical slopes on either side. A bench can be formed by various geological processes. Natural erosion of a landscape often results in a bench being formed out of a hard strip of rock edged by softer, sedimentary rock. The softer rock erodes over time, leaving a narrow strip of rock resulting in a bench. Coastal benches form out of continuous wave erosion of a coastline.
Bergschrund or abbreviated schrund: a crevasse that forms from the separation of moving glacier ice from the stagnant ice above. Characterized by a deep cut, horizontal, along a steep slope. Often extending extremely deep, over 100 metres down to bedrock. Extremely dangerous as they are filled in winter by avalanches and gradually open in the summer. The Wedgemount Glacier at Wedgemount Lake is a great way to view bergschrund up close in Whistler.
Bivouac or Bivy: a primitive campsite or simple, flat area where camping is possible. Traditionally used to refer to a very primitive campsite comprised of natural materials found on site such as leaves and branches or simply sleeping under the stars. Often used interchangeably with the word camp, however, bivouac implies a shorter, quicker and much more basic and naturally constructed camp setup.
Back in 2011 Kris Kupskay, a Whistler local and now professional muralist painted a hauntingly beautiful, blue face on the side of this house. This beautiful mural, along with the fact that this is the last fully intact house in Parkhurst makes it the most well known and photographed structure in the old ghost town. It is difficult to figure out why the Blue Face house outlasted all the others, but it appears to still be quite structurally sound.
Whistler Bungee Bridge, also known as the Cheakamus Bungee Bridge is a very convenient and beautiful attraction on the way to or from Whistler from Vancouver. Just 20 minutes south of Whistler Village on the Sea to Sky Highway, then just a 3 kilometre logging road takes you right to the stairs up to this amazing bridge. Open year-round and surprisingly accessible, even in the snowy winter months. Thousands of cars drive the Sea to Sky Highway past the turnoff to this wonderful bridge every day and never take a look.
Bushwhack is a term often used in Canada and the United States to refer to hiking off-trail where no trail exists. Literally means 'bush' and 'whack'. To make your own trail through the forest by whacking or cutting your way through the bush. A bushwhacker is a term sometimes used to describe someone who spends a lot of time in the wilderness. Bushwhacking is also usually needed to plot a new trail through deep forest.
Cairns, inukshuks or inuksuks are a pile or arrangement of rocks used to indicate a route, landmark or a summit. The word cairn originates from the Scottish Gaelic word carn. A cairn or inukshuk can be either large and elaborate or as simple as a small pile of rocks. To be effective a cairn marking a trail has to just be noticeable and obviously man-made. In the alpine areas around Whistler, above the treeline, cairns are the main method of marking a route.
Neal Carter (14 Dec 1902 - 15 Mar 1978) was an early explorer of the Coast Mountains around what would eventually be called Whistler Valley. In the summer of 1923 he and UBC classmate Charles Townsend set off from Rainbow Lodge and climbed the previously unclimbed Wedge Mountain. From the summit of Wedge they spotted an impressive mountain to the north in the midst of a maze of glaciers. They named it Mount James Turner and managed its first ascent as well.
Along the shore of Green Lake, you will find a monstrous old Caterpillar tractor that dates from the 1930’s. Abandoned here in the 1950’s, it looks as if the driver parked it one day and just never returned to work. In fact that may have been the case as one day in 1956, the sawmill at Parkhurst shut down forever and the town was abandoned. For a logging town in the 1950's having everyone suddenly leave was not unusual and in fact Parkhurst vacated every year when the sawmill shut for the winter.
The second Caterpillar tractor at Parkhurst Ghost Town is considerably harder to find despite being just a few metres from the hulking Caterpillar at the shore of Green Lake. If you bushwhack through the dense forest toward the point of land that the Parkhurst sawmill was located you will find this second tractor also abandoned in 1956. This tractor is much easier to identify than the other one and appears to be a Caterpillar RD8 built in 1936.
Chimney: a gap between two vertical faces of rock or ice. Often a chimney offers the only viable route to the summit of a mountain. An example of this is Black Tusk in Garibaldi Provincial Park in Whistler. The final ascent of Black Tusk requires climbing a near vertical chimney with crumbling rock all around. Black Tusk is the extraordinarily iconic and appropriately named mountain that can be seen from almost everywhere in Whistler.
Cirque: a glacier-carved bowl or amphitheater in the mountains. To form, the glacier must be a combination of size, a certain slope and more unexpectedly, a certain angle away from the sun. In the northern hemisphere, this means the glacier must be on the northeast slope of the mountain, away from the suns rays and the prevailing winds. Thick snow, protected in this way, grows thicker into glacial ice, then a process of freeze-thaw called nivation, chews at the lower rocks, hollowing out a deep basin.
Coast Douglas-fir trees are medium to extremely large trees that you will encounter in Whistler and Garibaldi Park. They are the second tallest conifer trees in the world after the coast redwood and the third tallest of all trees in the world after Eucalyptus regnans. Coast Douglas-fir, also known as Pacific Douglas-fir, Oregon pine and Douglas spruce range along the coast of British Columbia, Washington and Oregon and have been known to reach heights of 120 metres (390 feet).
Adjacent to the huge Caterpillar tractor in Parkhurst is a large disintegrating wooden dock that is a great place to take in the wonderful view of Green Lake. From the dock if you look to the right you will see a large triangle of deep forest jutting out into the lake. This is where the Parkhurst Sawmill once operated for thirty years. Looking at the almost impenetrable forest now, it is hard to picture this area without trees and with train tracks extending into a large building housing the sawmill with an enormous steel chimney several dozen metres tall.
The Cloudraker Skybridge and the Raven’s Eye Cliff Walk are new additions to the summit of Whistler Mountain. The Cloudraker Skybridge stretches 130 metres from just steps from the top of the Peak Express Chair across to the West Ridge. The Raven’s Eye Cliff Walk is a viewing platform that extends over 12 metres up and out from the West Ridge. Both of these exhilarating viewing areas tower way above Whistler Bowl.
The Coast Mountains run from the Yukon down to Vancouver along the west coast of British Columbia in a band that averages 300 kilometres wide(190 miles). The length of the Coast Mountains is roughly 1600 kilometres(1000 miles). They are often referred to as the BC Coastal Range or the Coast Range. The Coast Mountains are comprised of three mountain ranges, the Pacific Ranges, the Kitimat Ranges, and the Boundary Ranges.
Col: a ridge between two higher peaks, a mountain pass or saddle. More specifically is the lowest point on a mountain ridge between two peaks. Sometimes called a saddle or notch. The Wedge-Weart Col is a popular destination at the top of Wedgemount Glacier. The Wedge-Weart Col connects these two highest peaks in Garibaldi Provincial Park and is easily visible from much of the area around Wedgemount Lake.
Columnar Jointing: bizarre looking columns of oddly angular rock formations that can be found in many places around Whistler and worldwide. Generally found in large clusters packed together in a uniformly vertical array of columns that appear to be several metres long and usually more than 30 centimetres in diameter. Surface erosion causes the columns to fracture and break apart, giving the appearance of an ancient, crumbling wall.
The Cordilleran Ice Sheet covered most of north-west North America for much of the last 2.6 million years. At the Last Glacial Maximum during the Last Glacial Period(26,500 years ago), the Cordilleran Ice Sheet likely covered as much as 2.5 million square kilometres. Stretching from Alaska to Oregon, British Columbia was entirely covered in ice that in many places over two kilometres thick. At the Continental Divide of North America the Cordilleran Ice Sheet merged with the Laurentide Ice Sheet.
Cornice: a wind deposited wave of snow on a ridge, often overhanging a steep slope or cliff. They are the result of snow building up on the crest of a mountain. Cornices are extremely dangerous to travel on or below. A common refrain of climbers is that if you can see the drop-off of a cornice, you are too close to the edge. Cornices are dangerous for several reasons. They can collapse from hiking across or they can collapse from above.
Corrie Lake is the surreal looking lake that can be seen across the valley from Whistler Mountain. While hiking the High Note trail along Whistler Mountain it slowly comes into view, seemingly hanging in the forest on an otherwise steep sided, broad mountain. The broad mountain that Corrie Lake sits within is called Corrie Ridge, which extend from Corrie Peak to Gentian Ridge. The ridge is named Corrie Ridge because Corrie Peak is the highest peak along the ridge.
Crevasse: is a split or crack in the glacier surface, often with near vertical walls. Crevasses form out of the constant movement of a glacier over irregular terrain. Crevasses are both revered for their dramatic beauty and feared for their inherent danger. Crevasses are often dozens of metres deep and less than a metre wide. The fear of slipping into one of these treacherously narrowing chasms is well founded.
Alec Dalgleish (1 August 1907 - 26 June 1934) was a highly respected mountaineer and climber out of Vancouver in the 1920's and 1930's. His enthusiasm and dedication to climbing was boundless. He used The Camel, a vertical cliff on Vancouver's Crown Mountain to train. Though commonly done today, in Dalgleish's day, training for rock climbing was very unusual and underscored his drive to excel at the nascent sport of climbing. In the late 1920's he became friends with Tom Fyles, a veteran Vancouver mountaineer and arguably the greatest climber of the era.
Deadfall means a tangled mass of fallen trees and branches. There are several name variations for fallen trees that are commonly used in Whistler. Windthrow, blowdown and windsnap are used somewhat interchangeably with deadfall. Deadfall is a more generalized term that literally means dead and fallen, as in a dead and fallen tree. Windthrow and blowdown, however are more specifically used to refer to trees blown over and uprooted by strong winds during storms.
Emerald Forest is a cute little forest that is well hidden between Whistler Cay and Alpine. From Whistler Village, if you go down to the end of Lorimer Road you will see the Valley Trail branch off in three directions. If you take the direction toward Meadow Park, you will immediately cross the bridge over the River of Golden Dreams. The paved trail then continues to Meadow Park, but if you take the first left after crossing the train tracks, you will come to the old gravel pit and the start of the Emerald Forest trails.
Erratic or Glacier Erratic is a piece of rock that has been carried by glacial ice, often hundreds of kilometres. Characteristic of their massive size and improbable looking placement. Erratics are frequently seen around Whistler and Garibaldi Provincial Park. Either as bizarre curiosities or a place to relax in the sun. On a sunny day, a large sun-facing erratic will often be warm and sometimes even hot, providing a comfortable and surreal place to rest.
The Fissile is the stunning Matterhorn-looking mountain that is visible from Village Gate Boulevard in Whistler. Looking up from Village Gate you will see the distant Peak2Peak Gondola spanning Whistler Mountain and Blackcomb Mountain. In the background distance you will see The Fissile. In the bright sunshine of summer it will be vibrantly coloured red. In the evening it turns dark red then fades into an ominous black. In the winter months, of course, The Fissile is a striking, white pyramid.
Fitzsimmons Creek is the beautiful and huge creek that crashes through Whistler Village. When walking from Whistler Village to the Upper Village, you will cross the nice, covered bridge over Fitzsimmons Creek. It passes through Whistler Village and pours into Green Lake at the north end of Whistler. Fitzsimmons Creek originates from Overlord Glacier and Russet Lake, about 12 kilometres up the valley that separates Whistler Mountain and Blackcomb Mountain.
The Fitzsimmons Range is a subsection of the Garibaldi Ranges that covers the area between the valleys of Cheakamus Lake and Fitzsimmons Creek. Fitzsimmons Creek cuts between Whistler Mountain and Blackcomb Mountain and largely originates from the Fitzsimmons Glacier. The Fitzsimmons Glacier and Mount Fitzsimmons are part of the Overlord Massif, which gets its name from the highest peak in the area, Overlord Mountain.
Tom Fyles (27 June 1887 - 27 March 1979) was an astoundingly skilled climber that figured prominently in the climbing community of Vancouver for more than two decades. From his apparent introduction to climbing and mountaineering in 1912, to his prolific array of elite level climbing ascents that began in earnest just four years later. In 1916 he solo climbed The Table in Garibaldi Park, a mountain almost universally considered to be too difficult and dangerous to climb.
The Garibaldi Ranges are a subdivision of the Pacific Ranges of the Coast Mountains. Deriving its name from Mount Garibaldi, the Garibaldi Ranges cover the huge stretch of mountains between two enormous river valleys. The Lillooet River valley on the east side and the Cheakamus River/Green River valley on the west. Whistler is located on the west edge of the Garibaldi Ranges, while Pemberton near the north end and Vancouver at the south end.
The Garibaldi Volcanic Belt is a line of mostly dormant stratovolcanoes and subglacial volcanoes largely centred around Whistler and extending through much of the Coast Mountains. Divided into sections with the Mount Garibaldi Area at the southern end and the Mount Cayley area southwest of Whistler. The Mount Meager Area is west of Pemberton and the Bridge River Cones Area northwest of the Meager Area.
Inosculation is the technical name for two or more trees that have fused together into a single bizarre looking tree. They are colloquially known as gemels, a name derived from the Latin word gemellus which means "a pair" or "twin". Gemels are a natural phenomenon where trees of the same species grow close enough to rub against each other. Gradually the bark where the two trees contact each other wears away and exposes the cambium.
Glacier Window: the cave-like opening at the mouth of a glacier where meltwater runs out. Glacier windows are often extraordinarily beautiful. A blue glow often colours the inside and the walls are filled with centuries old glacial till. You can often see deep into the clear walls and the enormous magnitude of a glacier can be appreciated from up close. The popular and easily accessible glacier window at the terminus of the Wedgemount Glacier at Wedgemount Lake is a stunning example of this.
Green Lake is the marvellously vivid, green coloured lake just north of Whistler Village. Driving north on the Sea to Sky Highway, Green Lake appears along the highway on your right. The vivid colour is always impressive and on a sunny day can be spectacular. One of the best, and easiest places in Whistler to capture an extraordinary sunrise or sunset photo is along the Green Lake viewpoint along the edge of the highway.
The Green Lake Loop is the original trail that runs around the back side of Green Lake. Before the Sea to Sky Highway was cut through the valley in 1964, the road for vehicles went through a treacherous route on the opposite side of Green Lake. With the Sea to Sky Highway open for cars, the old road behind Green Lake became the trail known as the Green Lake Loop. The Green Lake Loop stretches a windy and often steep 6 kilometre arc up around Green Lake and emerges from the forest 30 metres to the left of Wedge Creek bridge.
Hoary Marmots are the cute, pudgy, twenty plus pound ground squirrels that have evolved to live quite happily in the hostile alpine areas around Whistler. In the northwest of North America, marmots have a distinct grey in their hair, a hoary colour, so have been named hoary marmots. They manage to survive quite happily in the alpine, largely by hibernating for 8 months of the year and largely for having a surprisingly varied array of food in such an inhospitable environment.
When you hike in the alpine in Whistler and Garibaldi Provincial Park, you will often encounter unbelievably hardy and sometimes mangled looking trees. Weathering high winds, freezing temperatures, deep snow and usually growing where most other things can't. These weather battered trees are called krummholz. Krummholz is a German derived word that comes from two words, krumm and holz. Krumm means bent, crooked, twisted and holz means wood.
Along Whistler’s Valley Trail near Rainbow Park you come across some impressively unusual trees. Unlike most other Whistler trees with straight trunks and slender branches, these lodgepole pines have wide gnarled trunks and magnificently huge, muscular branches. The branches of are of various sizes, ranging from very thick and long to enormous and long enough to disappear into the forest canopy. The more impressive branches emerge from the trunk nearly horizontal, then abruptly bend skyward.
Moraines are glacially deposited ridges of debris that accumulate at the sides or terminus of a glacier. Lateral moraines form at the sides of glaciers and terminal moraines at the terminus of a glacier. Terminal moraines mark the maximum advance of a glacier. Moraines are made up of glacial debris ranging in size from enormous boulders to fine glacial flour. Boulders and rocks in moraines are generally rounded due to the churning and grinding within the glacier as it moved.
Mount Garibaldi is the huge, potentially active volcano that Garibaldi Provincial Park is named after. Mount Garibaldi also lends its name to the Garibaldi Ranges, the group of mountain ranges that fill Garibaldi Park. A subsection of the Garibaldi Ranges is the Garibaldi Névé, which is the large icefield that stretches out along the east side of Mount Garibaldi.
If you make it to the summit of Wedge Mountain you will notice off in the distance a beautifully symmetrical mountain that stands out among the rest. Surrounded by glaciers on all sides, Mount James Turner has an almost to perfect cone shape to it. The third highest mountain in Garibaldi Provincial Park at 2703 metres(8868 feet), it is only surpassed by Wedge Mountain at 2892 metres(9488 feet) and Wedge's neighbour Mount Weart 2835 metres(9301 feet).
Mountain hemlock is a species of hemlock that thrives along the west coast of North America from Alaska to California. In Whistler and Garibaldi Park you will encounter them high up on the mountains in subalpine areas battered by harsh winters. If you encounter a brutalized, yet strangely beautiful tree mangled by long winters, it is a good chance it is a mountain hemlock. Trees that have a weather worn, twisted appearance are known as krummholz, and the mountains around Whistler have plenty of these extraordinary trees.
Northair Mine is a surreal little world of colourful murals on abandoned cement foundations, surrounded by an astoundingly tranquil little lake in a secluded forest. Just a short logging road off of the Callaghan Valley Road takes you to this unusual little abandoned mine. You would have driven by the turnoff if you have been to Whistler Olympic Park or Alexander Falls, both of which are just a couple kilometres away.
Whistler can be expensive. Everything worth doing seems to cost a lot of money. But if you step back from the noise and crowds you may spot some secret spots of beauty. The North Arm Farm in Pemberton, just a 40 minute drive north of Whistler, is one of these secret spots. It's startlingly beautiful in a wonderfully charming and unexpected way. And even more unexpectedly... it's free.
Surprisingly often in Whistler's forests you will find a tree growing on an old fallen tree or out of a decaying tree stump. Decaying logs and stumps in the forest actually give new trees some interesting survival advantages. Though a tree stump or log appears to be an inhospitable place for a new tree to grow, the opposite is actually true for a bunch of not so obvious reasons. Known a nurse log or nurse stump the fallen or cut down and removed tree opens some of the forest canopy and allows more sunlight in.
Nunatuk: a rock projection protruding through permanent ice or snow. Their distinct appearance in an otherwise barren landscape often makes them identifiable landmarks. Nunatuks are usually crumbling masses of angular rock as they are subject to severe freeze/thaw periods. There is a very prominent nunatuk on Wedgemount Glacier, high up near the summit of Wedge Mountain. Another nunatuk once stood down the glacier near Wedgemount Lake, however the glacier retreated above it several years ago.
Overlord Mountain is the highest peak in the Fitzsimmons Range. Overlord is surrounded by several mountains that collectively are named the Overlord Massif. Massif is a term geologists use to refer to a group of mountains that tends to move as a unit while shifted by movements of the crust. The Overlord Massif is dominated by Overlord Mountain which is impressively visible from Whistler Village, Whistler Mountain and Blackcomb Mountain.
The Pacific yew or western yew is a coniferous tree that grows in Whistler and along the coast from Alaska to California. The Pacific yew’s unique appearance stands out among other more numerous and commonly known trees. The trunk is often contorted in angular directions toward gaps in the forest canopy and the branches are extremely long and sinewy. Branches tend to stretch toward the light and needles tend to only grow near the ends where light is found.
Hidden in the tangle of forest along Green Lake where the old Parkhurst Sawmill once operated, is the bizarre and beautiful Parkhurst Plow Tree. A very large aspen tree has managed to grow, probably since 1956, through a big triangular gap in a huge, 4 ton steel tractor plow. Spilling over the top of the plow, the bark of the aspen has molded itself over the plow and has grown to a width about twice the size of the gap within the plow. Seemingly unbothered by the choke hold the plow has it in, the tree has grown to fill the absurdly elongated triangle shape of the plow.
Parkhurst Ridge is an incredible spot for a lot of reasons. Of course, the view is spectacular with Green Lake's absurdly vivid green coloured water. Snowy mountains all around. Wonderfully varied clifftop terrain with easily accessible cliff plateaus leading like giant steps down to the water. The forest on the ridge is sparse enough to be always sunny, but with plenty of trees to make it feel secluded.
The Peak 2 Peak Gondola connects Whistler Mountain and Blackcomb Mountain at a dizzying height of 436 metres(1427 feet). It runs all winter and in the summer when the mountains are open for sightseeing and hiking. The Peak 2 Peak Gondola runs very fast as it carries up to 4100 people per hour at 7.5 metres per second or 16.8 miles per hour!
Paper birch, also known as white birch is a type of birch tree that grows in northern North America. Named for its paper-like, white or cream coloured bark that easily peels off in large white, horizontal sheets. Leaves are rounded at the base and with a pointed tip and have a length ranging from 5-12cm or 2-5 inches. Wood is excellent for firewood and pulpwood. The bark is particularly flammable. Usually grow to 20 metres (66 feet), but have been known to grow at tall as 40 metres (130 feet).
Rainbow Lodge was a popular wilderness lodge in the small community called Alta Lake, and what would eventually be called Whistler It was a fishing and relaxing destination and easily accessible from Vancouver via the train route that counted it as one of the main train stations in the valley. Open by Alex and Myrtle Philip in 1914, Rainbow Lodge brought tourism to a sparsely inhabited region populated mostly by loggers and miners.
The Rubble Creek trailhead is the main access point for many of the best hikes and sights in Garibaldi Provincial Park. Rubble Creek is located midway between Whistler and Squamish, just 2 kilometres from the Sea to Sky Highway. The name Rubble Creek is evidently quite appropriate when you reach the parking lot and see the remnants of the terrific rock slide that swept down the valley not that long ago.
The Roundhouse Lodge is the centre of activity on much of Whistler Mountain. It is where the Whistler Gondola drops off and next to where the Peak 2 Peak Gondola crosses to Blackcomb Mountain. Restaurants, patios, gift shops and even the fantastic Umbrella Bar perched at the edge of the newly expanded outdoor patio with incredible mountain views.
The Parkhurst Sawmill operated on the triangle of land that juts out into Green Lake and also extended along the shore between the train tracks and the shore. The old sawmill was almost certainly crushed under heavy snow in the years following its closure in 1956. With the town abandoned there were no caretakers to maintain any of the old structures and the crushing weight of spring snow eventually flattened all but two of the old houses and the old sawmill.
Scree: from the Norse “skridha”, landslide. The small, loose stones covering a slope. Also called talus, the French word for slope. Scree is mainly formed from the annual freeze/thaw periods of spring and fall, where water seeps into cracks in the rock and expands when freezing. Scree slopes are a common obstacle or simply part of the scenery around Whistler. The terrain at Wedgemount Lake is dominated by scree slopes and a massive erratic field around the lake.
The Spearhead Range is a subsection of the Garibaldi Ranges that runs in an arc that connects Whistler Mountain and Blackcomb Mountain. The Spearhead Range is effectively the brother of the Fitzsimmons Range which runs east from the summit of Whistler Mountain to Russet Lake. The Spearhead Range covers the area on the north side or Blackcomb Mountain side of Fitzsimmons Creek.
The Table is an extraordinary flat-topped mountain located in Garibaldi Park just one kilometre south of Garibaldi Lake. Sometimes reflexively referred to as Table Mountain, The Table is its commonly used name and distinguishes it from the dozens of mountains worldwide named Table Mountain. About 12000 years ago, the Cordilleran Ice Sheet covered much of North America with a thickness measured in hundreds of metres. The Table formed when an erupting volcano forced magma to the surface of the ice and solidified with a strikingly, near-perfect flat surface.
Tarn: a small alpine lake. The word tarn originates from the Norse word tjorn which translates to English as pond. In the United Kingdom, tarn is widely used to refer to any small lake or pond. In British Columbia tarn is used specifically for small mountain lakes. Around Whistler tarns number in the hundreds and many are so small and/or hidden as to remain unnamed. Russet Lake in Garibaldi Provincial Park could be called a tarn, however its relatively large size dominates the area and the term lake seems more appropriate.
Charles Townsend climbed and explored several mountains around Whistler back in 1923, when much of the area remained unexplored. Along with his friend Neal Carter, they embarked on a mountaineering expedition that was recorded in detail and expertly photographed. Wedge Mountain, the strikingly wedge-shaped mountain next to Blackcomb Mountain was first climbed by them, and the following days they pressed on through unknown glaciers to summit and name Mount James Turner.
The pale green shub-like growths hanging from trees in the forests around Whistler is called usnea. These bushy, coral-like fruticose lichens anchor to bark and branches on trees and hang like tinsel on a Christmas tree. known as old man’s beard, usnea tends to thrive on dead and dying trees and is can appear to be harming their hosts. They actually do no harm to trees and prefer dying ones for their lack of sunlight blocking canopy growth.
Waterbar and Cross-Ditch: the purpose of a waterbar or cross-ditch is to capture and redirect surface water from the road and channel it across the road surface beyond the shoulder of the road. A waterbar differs from a cross-ditch as it collects only road surface water and not water flowing down a ditch line or creek. Waterbars often form naturally across forest service roads over time by seasonal flooding. Man-made waterbars are visibly different than natural ones in that they are deeper, straighter and have a berm on the downhill side.
Wedge Creek cuts through the valley that separates Wedge Mountain and Blackcomb Moiuntain and empties into Green River near the north end of Green Lake. Wedge Creek is notable for the mountain pass between Wedge and Blackcomb that runs between it and Billygoat Creek. The original name for the pass, officially adopted in 1930 was Wedgemount Pass, however it was changed in 1957 to Wedge Pass to avoid confusion with nearby Wedgemount Creek which flows from Wedgemount Lake.
Western redcedar is a very large tree commonly found in the Pacific Northwest. Frequently growing up to 70 metres and with a trunk diameter of 7 metres, they can live well over 1000 years. Specific is tricky to accurately measure on living trees, however, the oldest verified western redcedar was recorded as 1460 years old. The big western redcedars in Whistler's Ancient Cedars forest are thought to be 1000 years old.
Whistler spruce is a hybrid of the Sitka spruce and the interior Engelmann spruce. Sitka spruce trees thrive in the rainforests of the Pacific Northwest along the West Coast of North America, whereas Engelmann spruce trees grow in the much drier interior. The Whistler spruce is a fast growing tree that gets impressively large very fast. Possibly the best place to get a good look at big Whistler spruce trees is along the Valley Trail at the end of Lorimer Road.
Western hemlock (tsuga heterophylla) is a large evergreen coniferous tree that is native to the west coast of North America. Unlike many other trees in Whistler, western hemlocks don't mind growing in the shade, and their tolerance for shade is only surpassed by two other local trees, the Pacific yew and Pacific silver fir. The Pacific yew and the Pacific silver fir are also quite numerous in Whistler and manage to thrive under the taller and more established trees blocking much of the sunlight.
Mills Winram was a very active mountaineer from Vancouver with some very notable ascents in the 1920's and 1930's. He, along with Fred Parkes and Stan Henderson made the first ascent of Mount Slesse in August of 1927. In 1932 Mills Winram, Tom Fyles, Neal Carter and Alec Dalgleish went on an exploratory expedition to the headwaters of Lillooet River, where they made the first known ascent of Mount Meager and several surrounding peaks.
When hiking to Parkhurst Ghost Town, the first area you will encounter after you cross the disintegrating bridge over Wedge Creek is the wye. In railroad terminology a wye is a large turnaround area which traces a large triangle shape and allows trains to exit the main train tracks and turnaround. The original wye in the area was Mons Wye located about where the Catholic church at the end of Lorimer Road is today.
