Birthday Zip – Whistler

You can always rely on Whistler to be a good time – usually TOO GOOD a time! The place is run by young, hard partying, friendly Aussies  – 70% of the general staff in Whistler are said to be from Australia!

We arrived late and headed out for a delicious (expensive) meal with friends, followed by too many drinks and late night shenanigans involving the olympic rings.

We were scheduled to zip-line the next day, but weren’t really capable of taking that into consideration during our evening fun!

 

Regardless, we awoke early and headed out for our zip trek tour.

Aside from an amateur line I zipped as a 12 year old, I had not been before – which is the reason I chose it for my birthday adventure. That and the fact that I am afraid of heights and love to be scared – as long as my life is not actually being threatened!

The views from the soaring tree top walks were incredible, and the tour guides were very informed. They taught us all about the history of the area, the nature of this type of rainforest, the ancient lichen.

Fascinating. And breathtaking, literally – at some points we were 20 stories up!

The tour takes you from the top of Blackcomb mountain, across to Whistler mountain and down into the village. There are 5 lines in total.

 

I can admit to being terrified on the first run – walking down stairs that drop to nowhere to be hastily ripped into the nothingness, carried along stories above ground by a flimsy harness and wire line, sometimes at speeds that top any other zip-line on the planet – 100km per hour!

My terror didn’t last long. I felt very safe, well secured, and our guides obviously knew what they were doing. They encouraged us to do tricks, and by the last run, I was upside down.

They even donate part of the proceeds to charity, and you can zip line all year round.

Our tour was about $90 CAD each ($20 of which is donated). Not bad, I think. Certainly worth it. The lines, suspension bridges and viewing platforms were clearly very well maintained. I don’t mind paying for that!

Though I struggled a bit with the stair climbing and the duration of one of the trips between lines, considering I have a back injury, and no feeling in my (useless) right leg, I would say it was surprisingly low impact, and very little physical labour.

Almost anyone could do it.

As a bonus, you also get to see a bit of the olympic luge track, and the memorial to the Georgian boy Nodar Kumaritashvili, who tragically lost his life to the sharp turns – actually we saw more than one memorial to him during our tour.

Would I recommend Ziptrek Eco Tours in Whistler, BC? Absolutely! I am ready to do it again, and I am sure we are going to work it into a yearly plan.

 

We finished off our day with another delicious (expensive) birthday dinner, some dancing at an Irish pub and a lot of juvenile behaviour along the ‘Whistler Village walk’.

I am not sure how or why I ended up barefoot, but I know it had something to do with free birthday shots!

On our way back home I noticed something I had not seen in this area before – more columnar jointing! Remember this post?

It always feels good to get home after a tour, but this feeling is always amplified after a Whistler visit, where you can be sure to get too much fresh air, to much food and alcohol, too much outdoor activity and far too much fun.

I need to sleep for a week!

Thanks Whistler for a great long weekend birthday tour!

Additional photos in the slideshow.

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Many more photos of our Whistler Eco-Tour at the Habitual Runaway on Facebook.