Ziplining Whistler BC

So, we stopped along our traverse of British Columbia in a small mountain town called Revelstoke, but decided to continue on eager to get to Whistler for the legendary mountain biking. I had called a couple of days earlier to book a rain forest zip line tour for Monday. This was something that my Uncle Richard & Aunt Bridget had done on their trip to Whistler and it sounded awesome. We booked the extreme tour which lasted over three hours.

We arrived at the Whistler adventure center early to fill out a waiver. We then met our guide. He was originally from Germany and working in Canada on a visa. We walked a short distance to the area where you hop into your harness. Here, we met our other guide who was originally from New Zealand. The helped us into our harnesses and then we all loaded into a van which took us up to the top of the mountain. We got a safety talk along the way and learned about the coastal temperate rain forest which we would be flying through shortly.

The first line looked sick! One of the guides went first to the end of the line and prepared the breaking ropes for us. We all climbed on to a platform that had a small gate with a stair case below it. The stairs were about 6 steps long and then beyond the 6th stair there was a 50 or so foot drop through the trees to the ground. So, one by one we strapped our zip devices onto the line, the guide checks to make sure you are secure before you launch. When it was my turn, I was most concerned about how fast I would end up going. Andy filmed my first launch. I had my camera strapped on and had planned to take photos while zipping. I carefully walked down about 3 steps and could not reach the 4th before I knew it I was going...and picking up speed, I spun around and was then zipping backwards, probably going around 35 or 40 miles per hour. I got it together and was able to take some one handed photos before I reached the next tree top platform.

The breaking motion was unexpected and sort of gave me a jolt, I slowed down and arrived softly at the next platform. The breaking guide unhooked me and I climbed over the platform to get a couple good shots of Andy as he zipped into the landing. We agreed that this was better than we had both expected. As we zipped along the tree tops, the guides explained about the rainforest and how it is different from the rainforest in the amazon. They educated us on conservation of the land, and pointed out the different types of trees around us. The told us about the lichen that grows on the tree branches.

The second and third lines we dropped were over a roaring river. The fifth line was the big 2,000 vertical foot drop. We hit speeds of over 50 miles per hour on this line. It was the longest, longer than all of the others combined. The last line we walked down the stairs backward, and then did a head first back dive off the step. At first I didn't want to, and I was the Na person to go this time. I got it together and jumped head first and started to zip upside down feet in the air head down. I eventually went upright and enjoyed the view of the last zip line.

The cost was over $100 per person, but I think it was well worth it. I highly recommend this activity to anyone who visits the area.

Tomorrow morning we leave for the coast. We plan to drive onto a ferry that will take us from Vancouver out to Vancouver Island. From there we will drive north west to a small surfing & beach community called Tofino. We will be camping for two nights in long beach in the Pacific Rim National Park. We will post after this leg of the trip!