Tag Archives: Canada

Lost Lake

Lost Lake is a within walking distance of the center of Whistler. The trail from the town takes you along the river. Once you get to the lake you can take a walk around the perimeter. There is a beach area that is at one end of the lake that was a popular spot that day. (You can park there if you don’t feel like a walk from the town.) While the temperatures were not that high, a couple of people were even making use of the clear skies to do some sunbathing!

We too an alternate route around one side of the lake. A trail was named the Upper Panorama Trail so we took it. I think we were justified in assuming that this route would give us an elevated view of the lake. I’m not sure if there were spots that you could see the lake if you went off the trail but, from the trail itself, we were deep in the trees the entire time. There was no view of the lake from up there. It was a good walk though and an opportunity to walk off some of the bakery goods we had been sampling!

Every Morning You Great Me (Well, Evening This Time)

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A bit of a crummy song reference for which I should really apologize. Edelweiss is a Swiss airline that flies to Vancouver. Their flight arrived while Mark and I were on the north side of the field. Lighting is less than ideal in that location but, once the plane is passed and turning to taxi to the terminal, you get some nice angles and very good light options. This was my first encounter with an Edelweiss jet and I was pleased that the livery is a bit more interesting than the average these days.

Whistler

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I have put together some posts of things we saw during our Whistler trip but not much of the town itself. It is a nice place to hang out. Like a lot of these winter sports resort towns, the center is predominantly restaurants/bars or places to buy clothing/sport gear. However, it isn’t a bad place despite that. The streets are laid out so nothing is too straight which means you feel like you are wandering around an old place, even if it is all relatively recently built.

There are water features and bridges, open spaces, sculptures and other forms of art. No shortage of people, too, even in the shoulder season when we were there. We found so great places to eat and some less inspiring ones. We actually went to a chain place one evening and it proved to be better than some of the supposedly nicer spots. Our favorite by far, though, was a bakery that had every conceivable thing you could want. They even had a cheese sandwich for toasting that looked like it would feed a family of four. We tried many of their treats but that one was left untouched, despite me giving it some serious consideration.

Finally an Air Transat

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Air Transat is an airline that I haven’t seen much of. I recall them flying to the UK decades ago with TriStars (if I am thinking of the right airline) but, since then I have not really come across them. To be honest, I actually thought they were long gone but it turns out they continue to ply their trade. As I was heading to Vancouver International, I saw one of their A330s climbing out and I was a bit annoyed to have missed it. However, it wasn’t their only scheduled departure for that evening. A later flight went while I was there and I managed to get my first shots of them in action.

Green Lake

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Just outside the center of Whistler is Green Lake. We took a trip out there because I was interested in seeing the floatplane base there. It was also a cool place to have a stroll. There is a golf course alongside the lake which was designed by Jack Nicklaus. Alongside the course are some large houses which I suspect are not too cheap. The lake itself had a nice beach area where the river was running in to it. A bunch of people had come here with their dogs and the dogs seemed happy getting in the water.

The color of the water was a bit odd and so the name is not hard to understand. I actually thought it looked more cloudy than green but I doubt anyone cares to much about the distinction. I thought there might be a difference in color where the river was flowing into the lake but I couldn’t see it. Maybe an aerial view would show a difference where the water was flowing in but I wasn’t flying that day.

Lost Lake PassivHaus

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On one of our hikes while in Whistler, we came across the Lost Lake PassivHaus. This building was the home of the Austrian Olympic Team during the Winter Games. After the games were over, it was converted for new uses. The interesting thing about the house is that it is designed to have minimal requirements for energy with no heating and cooling. It is aimed at using 90% less energy than a normal building courtesy of building techniques and materials. It sits at the entry to some trails so a lot of people get to see it. I am curious as to how many people stop to read its details.

Pemberton Community Barn

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A short drive north of Whistler brings you to a town called Pemberton. It is a little town and right in the center is a public barn structure. It is a modern structure and it has been built to provide a venue for the community to use. It has open sides so anyone can walk in from any direction. An event was being set up while we were there. It looked like it might have been a wedding. The wooden structure is very attractive and it appears that it gets a lot of use. What a great focus for the community.

Whistler Air at Green Lake

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A trip to Green Lake, a short distance from Whistler, was a chance to see the floatplane base. We had heard a few aircraft in the area so I was keen to see what was going on. We started out at the base where a Beaver and an Otter were both just getting ready to leave. I didn’t realize the direction of the wind so I didn’t make any effort to get out to the lake. I thought that they would be long gone. In fact, they taxied down the lake to take off back in our direction. I would have had plenty of time to get out to see the departure if I had left when they headed out.

Instead, I was walking through the trees when both planes took off. I got a couple of shots through the trees but missed the main opportunity. I understand that Whistler Air is a subsidiary of Harbour Air in Vancouver. They are clearly locally branded though. There was a bit more movement before we left with planes making their approach along the lake. They tended to land a little away from us but then keep up on the step as close in as possible to minimize taxi time. This meant they were still moving well as they got to us.

Nairn Falls

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Waterfalls seemed to be a popular part of our trip to Canada. We did a short hike to the Nairn Falls, a short drive north of Whistler. We chose a rainy day to make our walk but a combination of the right clothing and the tree cover the trails enjoyed for the majority of the walk meant this wasn’t a problem. The rain certainly didn’t hurt the amount of water flowing over the falls.

The falls themselves are in stages. The first section drops down into a gully which then reverses the flow out in the opposite direction. This flow seems to involve going under some rocks so floating objects like logs get stuck whirling around on the surface but never getting downstream. You can head down to a lower level to see more of the falls. The rocks down to this level were a bit slippery given how much it was raining but there are some handrails for old geezers like me to stabilize myself with. It was worth the trip. The bottom of the falls had some strong flows crashing down and they really got your attention.

The downside to exploring the falls was that you were out in the open and the heavens really seemed to deliver while we were there. Even with the rain gear on, there was only so long I wanted to be out there getting hammered on. I made the climb back up to the top. The interesting thing was how many people we saw on the trail out and back but how few seemed to explore the falls themselves. Maybe they didn’t want to get too wet in the rain or perhaps they didn’t realize how far down you could get. I’m glad I checked it all out.

Whistler Sliding Centre

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For some strange reason, the first few days we were in Whistler, I didn’t think about some of the locations that should be there for a Winter Olympics. Then I saw a sign for the Sliding Centre and decided to check it out. This was the home of the bobsled, luge and skeleton events. I don’t know what I had been thinking but the place really surprised me. I knew that the course was down a hill and how fast the competitors go but I hadn’t realized just how steep the descent would be. I figured sliding downhill on ice, it wasn’t hard to go really fast.

In fact, the run drops down some incredibly steep slopes. We were walking alongside the track and it was really steep just going up the road. Sadly, photographs never do justice to steep slopes but believe me when I say this place was steep. The idea of coming down it on a sledge seems insane. No wonder the crashes are so spectacular. Not only that but the end of the course always seems to be on the level when you watch it on TV. In fact, it goes back up the hill very steeply. This was also totally unexpected.

We met a bunch of guys that were using knife like tools to shape the ice. Apparently, they had been running that morning and we had missed it. They were due to run the following afternoon but we were leaving before that. It was a shame to miss the action. As they weren’t running, covers were over the entire course to protect it from the weather but you could still peak between the blinds to see the track itself. A very impressive place and I will have to try and get back there at some point to see the competitors in action.