Whistler alpine July 23 2006

Whistler Alpine - July 23 2006

Since none of us had technically suffered heat-stroke the day before when riding in Pemberton we decided to press our luck once more with a bracing ride up to the Whistler alpine. The heat wave was still in full force but not too bad at 8am. Chris leads out the peloton as we bust out through Kadenwoods.

Climb, climb, climb - Peak to Creek in the background.

Brew has the right idea - seeking out creeks and shade at every opportunity.

We keep climbing. The views keep getting better.

The bugs get pretty bad just as we crest the last bit of fire road and get to the hike-a-bike bushwhack section.

Obligatory bush-whack shot; no-one was harmed or traumatized too badly by this bushwhack (I hope).

By now the cool morning temps are a distant memory and we're hitting the mid 30's again. Thankfully the creek's are still running.

More hike-a-bike as we have to gain 400m in less then 3 km. Ugh what a slog this was.

We reach a bench at one of the ski-hill access roads where we run into curious hikers wondering how the heck we got there.

Chris suffers mightily, perseveres, bends - but does not break, and makes it this far. I don't have the heart to tell him that we still have another 150m of elevation to go.

Looking up into West Bowl

Climb, climb, climb .... stupendous views

It's now getting just a tad hot as we cross another ski run

and now we really start gaining some serious elevation

But all climbs must come to an end. This looks up to Bagel Bowl on Whistler Peak - another 300m above us; thankfully we don't have to go there today.

... and this very big panoramic shows the peaks south from the Tantalus Range to north all the way to the Pemberton Icecap looking west from Whistler Peak. Usually hot weather brings dust and haze; limiting visibility. Not the case today as we could see very far!

This is the terrain of the powder stash that Sharon and I mine in winter just downhill from Cockalorum

Looking up to Frontier Pass

Time to ride; Sean starts downhill

Chris waits for a bit before starting down while the Turner 6-Pack looks on with bated breath

We ran into Dave Burch and Chris Clarke up high. Dave takes the opportunity to get a postcard shot.

I start down this cherry alpine singletrack

Sean rapidly descending into the sub-alpine

Although the trail doesn't see a lot of use, it still has its challenges

The trail breaks into two sections - finishing the top section with beautifully soft rooty singletrack with just enough downhill you basically pump your bike with very few pedal strokes to keep up speed. The next section is just as fun as we keep descending to the valley. Here's Kris and Brew finding more views.