Toads of the Short Forest

Spending Friday to Sunday in Whistler was like being on the receiving end of a series of sweet little presents.

The terrain itself was the first. The mountains of Whistler and Blackcombe, with the coastal range surrounding them, are truly stunning. The ski trails stood out as if a lawnmower had driven its way up and down the mountains, marking out long lanes of green amongst the darker green treed areas. I want to ski on them. For a month. At least. I think I'll return in March (after the Olympics) to do just that. One of the locals told me that if you stay for a longer period and are lugging your own accommodations with you, many landowners will allow you to park your RV on their land. Perfect!

One day we went up the mountain on the gondola for a mere 44 dollar scenic tour, and while I'd like to say the view from the top of the mountain was worth every cent, in actual fact I think the view should be free because its just so spectacularly natural that nobody should have to pay to see it. But it was worth not having to trek up the mountain ourselves in order to view it. Plus, we took the newly built, highly impressive Peak 2 Peak gondola from Whistler to Blackcombe mountains. Some of the gondolas had glass bottoms to view the valley way way way down below. Its the longest and highest in the world, so Whistler claims, and I wouldn't want to be on there if I were afraid of heights. Luckily for me, I'm not, so I thoroughly enjoyed the ride and the views: two more little presents.

The day that I happened to go up the mountain was the one Saturday featuring an event called “Chill on the Hill”, which included snowboarders and skiers on fake snow showing their stunts. Over 30c on the top of the hill, an absolute escape from the nearly 40c in the valley below, the snow was kind of bizarre under my sandaled foot. Two beers into the afternoon, though, it somehow took on a sense of normality when looking out at icy glaciers covering nearby mountaintops. When seasons meet like that, how can it not be a gift?

For my 44 dollars I also got to see a free concert from a band that I quite like at the moment, The Stills out of Montreal. They were playing at the top of the hill, and that's where Tara and I met up with Carolynn again, also in Whistler for the weekend with some of her Vancouver friends. The concert, Tara's always fun company, and a few extra days with Carolynn were presents number five, six and seven.

Of course, no summer trip to Whistler would be complete without mountain biking. I have my beautiful road bike, the recently christened “Betty”, in the van, but she could only take me on Whistler's paved paths and town roads. So Tara and I rented mountain bikes for an afternoon and tooted around on the trails around Whistler. We avoided the advanced ones, but easily traversed around on the “green” runs, and had so much fun on the single track trails like my favourite (though not Tara's) the “Toads off the Short Forest”. “Gee, I forgot my pants!” was also a mildly challenging trail, to say nothing of the brilliance behind the trails' names.

I had forgotten how different mountain biking is from road biking. And how fun! Bumpy, jerky, on gravelly or dirt paths, dodging or bumping over rocks and tree roots, manoevering slowly along and up and down and around paths in the forest without trying to slam into the trees, pulling up with your arms, standing up to gain balance, gripping the breaks while bouncing downhill, sticking out a foot here and there to avoid tipping over.

The afternoon of mountain biking made me realise that I probably need to add a new addition to the contents of my van while making my way around North America: a (cheap, Canadian tire – style will do) mountain bike. Present number eight.