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Well the first thing to report is that we slept in. We both think that it had something to do with the heat in our hotel room as it was a lot hotter than it had been in Victoria where we could not seem to control the air conditioning. We had breakfast in our room having stocked up on a few essentials at the local supermarket. Today was the first day of us not eating so much (or at least trying to) so it was fruit and yogurt washed down with a nice yellow ripe banana.

First stop of the day was the gondola lift ticket office to purchase our peak to peak tickets. The weather was a lot cooler today and Whistler is obviously not a town that likes to rise early as we were out and about by 10:30 and there were very few people about. The mountain bike track at the bottom of the slope was virtually empty.

There was no queue for the lifts at all (how so unlike when there is snow on the ground) and we boarded the Whistler gondola first to take us up to the peak. Now this gondola ride is a good twenty minutes from top to bottom and its amazing how you see the mountain in such a different light to when it is covered in snow. Now you can see al the fallen trees and small trees and canyons and crevasses that are normally hidden beneath the three metres of snow that falls here. On top of this you also have the dirt that has been spread for all the mountain bikers that are now king of the slopes here.

All the shops is Whistler town must revolve their stock as the last time that Jonathan was here they were full of ski wear and keep warm clothing etc but now its all bike bike bike with tyres and inner tubes etc that is drawing the punters in!

So back to the lift as we got just over half way up the whistler mountain it started to rain. On top of the rain we also had relatively low cloud so the cable car rose through it revealing blue skies up above. Snow was still pretty much everywhere that you looked when you reach the top third of the mountain. The resort does not kick into its full summer season until the end of July..

We reached the top of the peak and hung about taking in all the vistas and views. It was certainly not as cold as we both though t that it was going to be (and what the weather man had reported) but still it was covered in snow with quite a thick cloud coverage. It was weird looking at ski runs that you had been down that were now semi fenced off with temporary logs and barriers. All the names of the runs came flooding back to Jonathan as we passed each and every sign, it was great being able to share all this with Trevor.

After taking on the top of the mountain we headed for the peak to peak gondola that would take us over to the second big mountain and area.....Blackcombe.

Now the peak to peak gondola is a world record breaker. It is the longest chairlift / gondola that has the least central supports in the world meaning that those wires carry you an awful long way and at an awfully high height up above a ravine and mountain river. As the wires sag as it crosses the valley you actually go through the clouds and at times it can look like the wires end in the middle of the sky as you can't make out where you are heading due to the cloud coverage. Its a hugely impressive feat of engineering and something truly quite special to experience.

Over on the Blackcombe side we stood around in the snow and again took in all the vistas, Jonathan was itching to get on a snowboard and go!

At this time of the year its a very one way journey so you have to take the peak to peak gondola twice to get off the mountain. The Blackcombe side shuts down apart from a skeleton service in the ski restaurant "Rendezvous".

Back down on the ground in Whistler village we watched the mountain bikes come haring down the mountain for a while before heading off back into the village to wander through all its shops and restaurants. Whistler really is the perfectly designed ski resort. You dont see a car the whole time you are here along the village stroll as it is called. It has been designed so that all the service roads and hotel approach roads are hidden behind the main shopping/eating artery.

Having eaten a far more sensible lunch on the top of the mountain we now talk a walk over to the base of Blackcombe mountain and actually walked up the ski slope itself to the hotel that Caroline and Jonathan had stayed in. Blackcombe is a lot quieter than Whistler although the posher hotels seem to be over on the Blackcombe side such as The Fairmont Chateau or The Four Seasons.

The next stop of the day was scheduled to be the Lost Lake (ranked on trip advisor as being the number two thing to do in whistler). Now there is a very good reason as to why I say scheduled stop because, well we did not actually see it as we were meant to. From the base of Blackcombe mountain we followed the blue signs that clearly stated the Lost Lock. These signs stated the number of KM's left to travel so when they disappeared and we could tell that we had walked more than enough we were rather disappointed that we were still in the middle of the thickest pine forrest that either of us had ever been in.

To add to that picture we had now been walking up hill for the last thirty mins or so and yo could hear that on our breathing. We turned around and headed back down the hill to take a different path to something called the lost lake lodge hoping that this would take us to where we were trying to find.

Now I should add at this point that having now walked about in Whistler quite a lot and this new search for the lost lake had taken us through the back end of the resort we need to tell you that everything in this resort is immaculate. The grass is all regimented in its length, the edges of all the lawns are tidy, the planting is all symmetrical.....you name it this place is almost artificial in how tidy and kept it is.

Anyway back to the Lost Lake. We walked and we walked and we walked, up hill, down hill, along mountain trails and in the thickest of woodland and we were only ever rewarded with the tiniest of glimpses. All in al we must have walked the best part of five miles in those woods, all headed in the wrong direction and as we finally made it out and back into the civilization of the village, we were definitely glad that we were out. We had passed a mountain bike trail that was called "The Torture Never Stops" and that was exactly how this walk felt (although it had ben very very pretty and we think we may have even heard wild bears along the way button a single sign of one).

Back in the village we crashed in the room for a short while before heading back out to the Dublin Gate Inn. Jonathan had taken quite a shine to a local ale that was fermented with grapefruit and he thought it was great. We had dinner where all the visiting Americans seemed to be engrossed in a game of basketball between Texas and Miami. What shocked us is that none of them were ordering drinks but the bar was allowing them to stay in and watch the game, it would never happen like that in England.

Dinner over we headed back to our Hotel "The Crystal Lodge" and put some washing in. As this os predominantly a sporting destination each floor has a washing machine and a tumble dryer that you can use wich is great news for us. No need to stop off in Vancouver now as we will be completely up to date.

Its been great coming back to Whister for Jonathan and great to do what we have done but now its time to move on again to pastures new. Another moving day tomorrow so stay tuned to see what it brings us.

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