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.
Whistler & Garibaldi Hiking
Alexander Falls 
Ancient Cedars 
Black Tusk 
Blackcomb Mountain Brandywine Falls Brandywine Meadows Brew Lake Callaghan Lake Cheakamus Lake 
Cheakamus River 
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Sproatt East Sproatt West Taylor Meadows Train Wreck 
Wedgemount Lake Whistler Mountain
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If you arrive at the Roundhouse Lodge via the Whistler Gondola, you can enter it without going outside. On the main level you see the large staircase on your left that takes you up to the restaurants and patios. Past the stairs you see a gift store and on the left are the washrooms. Another gift store is on this floor near the main entrance that takes you outside with an immediately striking view of the Peak Express Chair rising up to the summit of Whistler Mountain. At the summit, the new Cloudraker Skybridge is easily visible spanning the large gap above Whistler Bowl. From where you are standing, outside the front steps of the Roundhouse Lodge, you can walk to the Peak Express Chair in 5 minutes. Or start hiking the easy hiking trails that descend off to the left just beyond the Peak 2 Peak Gondola building. Or you can hike up the fairly exhausting, but beautiful Pika's Traverse and Mathews' Traverse for an hour to the summit of Whistler Mountain. Another option is to cross over to Blackcomb Mountain via the amazing Peak 2 Peak Gondola. On Blackcomb Mountain you have similarly good hiking trails, gift stores, restaurants and patios. When you finish on Blackcomb Mountain, you can return to Whistler Mountain on the Peak 2 Peak Gondola again or ride down on the new Blackcomb Gondola.
The Roundhouse Lodge gets its name from the original building that stood about where the new Umbrella Bar sits today. Back in 1966 a round shaped building was built with a big fireplace at the centre. A simple building designed mainly for skiers to warm their feet and relax. There were not even washrooms, electricity or running water in the first Roundhouse incarnation. In the years that followed additions and improvements were added. A lower floor was installed and running water was piped in, allowing for toilets and a kitchen. Inevitably, with Whistler’s massive growth in popularity, the original Roundhouse was completely redesigned and replaced. In 1998 the huge, very functional, and very not round, Roundhouse reopened. For a beautiful history of the Roundhouse Lodge and Whistler check out the wonderful Whistler Museum. This photo below is from their excellent blog.
Whistler Mountain has a dozen named hiking trails that range from extremely easy and short to very challenging and long. All of them are pretty beautiful on their own, however all of them tend to be combined with others into routes, depending on what hikers are after and how much time and effort they want to put in. Another factor is the time of year and snowpack. In May and much of June, for example, you won’t have the Peak Express Chair running and almost every trail will be still buried in snow.
If you are short on time and want to get to the obvious highlights, you will ride the Whistler Gondola to the Roundhouse Lodge, ride the Peak Express Chair to the summit of Whistler Mountain, see the Cloudraker Skybridge and Raven’s Eye Cliff Walk, inuksuk, Interpretive Walk, then ride back down to Whistler Village. If you are wanting more of a hike, you will not return via the Peak Express Chair, but instead hike the Half Note trail and check out the snow wall on Mathews’ Traverse. This route takes only a couple hours, but takes in a tremendous variety of sights and endless viewpoints.
For a more challenging and longer hike, the High Note trail is about a five hour trek that covers much of the Half Note trail and continues along the ridge toward the Musical Bumps. The trail then bends back through the beautifully lush, green valley in the shadow of Whistler Mountain, past lakes and through rocky terrain to arrive at the Roundhouse Lodge. If you are after a full day or overnight hike, then you can continue the High Note trail onto the Musical Bumps trail deep into Garibaldi Provincial Park. This trail takes you to Russet Lake, a hidden feeling lake in the midst of a pretty spectacular setting. At the foot of The Fissile, a stunning pyramid shaped, red mountain that Whistler Village was designed to allow for views of!
Hiking Trails Near Roundhouse Lodge
The Spearhead Loop trail is a short, very easy, 1.2 kilometre or .7 mile loop trail that begins just past the Peak 2 Peak Gondola building. It descends down a gravel path to a snowmaking reservoir before looping back to where it started. The last section from the reservoir to the Peak 2 Peak Gondola building there are three trail junctions. The Harmony Lake Loop trail bends around the back of the reservoir and through a lovely alpine forest to Harmony Lake. Another trail junction at Harmony Lake goes left to another loop trail section of the Harmony Lake Loop trail or continues past the lake to yet another trail junction to the High Note trail and the Musical Bumps trail. Or you can take the trail to the right and follow the short, but challenging trail section of the Harmony Meadows trail back to the Spearhead Loop trail. The third Spearhead Loop trail junction, just before reaching the Peak 2 Peak Gondola building, is the wide gravel road hiking route, Pika’s Traverse. This long and continuously steep ascent takes you to the summit of Whistler Mountain along a very beautiful and constantly scenic route.
The Harmony Lake Loop trail is another short, fairly easy loop trail, similar, to the Spearhead Loop trail, but deeper into the lush valley wilderness. A bit longer than the Spearhead Loop trail at 1.9 kilometres or 1.2 miles, the Harmony Lake Loop trail is a continuation of the Spearhead Loop trail and both trails together can be hiked from and back to the Roundhouse in an hour or two. The combined distance hiked is just over 3 kilometres or just under 2 miles. With fairly gradual elevation change overall, the Harmony Lake Loop trail and the Spearhead Loop trail are the only really good hiking option if you are with very young kids. There is a height/age restriction on the trail to the Peak Express Chair, so if you have kids under 5 years old, you won’t get on. You can hike the beautiful Pika’s Traverse Road to the summit of Whistler, but it is quite a gruelling trek for very young kids.
The Harmony Meadows trail runs parallel to the Harmony Lake Loop trail and is a fair bit tougher than the previous two trails here. It is a short trail, but very steep, winding and lots of loose rock to lose your footing on. With the steep elevation change, you get beautiful cliff views over the Harmony Lake Loop trail, and the massive valley that separates Whistler Mountain and Blackcomb Mountain. At 1.6 kilometres or 1 mile, the Harmony Meadows trail connects the High Note trail/Musical Bumps trail to the Harmony Lake Loop trail and/or the Spearhead Loop trail. If you have hiked this area before, you may notice the adjusting and renaming trail sections. The Harmony Meadows trail was previously part of the Musical Bumps trail, though it has been changed a bit and you will notice lots of zig-zags along the new route with "No Hiking" signs over the old, more direct sections. It appears that the new trail configuration is not much different than the old, slightly different route, and seems to avoid a section that was buried in snow well into the summer.
If this is all sounding a bit confusing, don’t worry, there are quite good signs at each trail junction indicating where everything is. There are the occasional mapboards to go with the very user friendly trail signs that point in the direction of each trail and even show the distance to the Roundhouse. You can easily just wander through these trails and decide at each junction where you want to go. All but a couple of the trails in this area return back to the Roundhouse Lodge. Keep in mind that all these trails, Harmony Lake Loop, Harmony Meadows and the Spearhead Loop trails are relatively easy due to their comparatively short hiking distances, however all have steep sections with loose rock. Baby strollers won't get far and if you are prone to losing your footing on irregular terrain, you should be aware. Having said that, all these trails are pretty kid friendly and short enough to keep them interested. The constantly zig-zagging, ascending and descending terrain is quite fun and very scenic. Also, nearly all hikers in the area head straight toward the summit of Whistler Mountain and even on extremely busy, summer days, these trails remain quiet and largely forgotten!
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