28-07-2013 Sunday - Whistler

Today all 5 of us went to Whistler, we took two cars to ease the squeeze.












 It was a very picturesque drive along the highway.









Our first stop along the way was at the Britannia Mine Museum.

We had arrived just in time for the first railroad tour and the gentleman who was giving the tour had once worked in the mines himself so knew all about it and was very interesting.  We all had on our hard hats and rode into the mountainside where we disembarked inside the mountain and were told about conditions in the mines.  At one point all the lights were off and we could see how dark it was, starting with candles, up to present day LED lanterns in the helmets of the workers.  


The inside of the ore processing plant.








We were then able to go inside the various buildings and learn more about how the copper was processed from the mines and what happened to it.







There was an interesting video showing life as it was when the mine first started and the type of community they lived in with all the things they needed until the highway came through and started disturbing the sense of community forever.  

The mine also had a lot of work to do more recently in terms of the environmental impact that it had had on the river and the need to clear that up, leaching of Copper/minerals out of the mine shafts, which they have now done.

We left here and drove on to just outside Whistler where we stopped at the Whistler Bungee Jump site. Here Lindsay was going to do a bungee jump and was very excited that Steven was joining her.  She had asked him a few days before and without hesitation he said he would do it.  All of the guys at the bungee jump were very excited that Steven was jumping as being a bit more 'weighty' meant he would probably touch the water.  




They had to wait their turn for about one hour and finally it was Steven first then Lindsay.

3, 2...1











Going.










He did hit the water!!!! - you can just see the splashes from his feet. He was as cool as a cucumber throughout.


Luckily the straps are around the waist and not the feet otherwise seeing his head hitting the water might have been a bit more scary.







Waiting for the rescue rope.












Lindsay - "going backwards"...

3, 2 ... 1








Going.

 
Lindsay screamed throughout her jump but enjoyed it nevertheless.




Steven got pictures, a video and a free T-shirt to prove he did it.  Although we did capture it on film and video too.

As we were just driving off from the bungee jump place we had a couple of spots on the windscreen but that was all - our first sighting of precipitation since arriving.

We drove on to Whistler and went to check out about the gondola rides but they had just had a lightening strike so were halting all gondolas for a while.  In the meantime we had a wander through the village and popped into a couple of shops.  After a quick refreshment we went back to check again and they had just opened the gondolas so we left Andrew & Lindsay to relax and wait while we jumped on the gondola that took us up to the very top of the mountain.





We then caught the Peak 2 Peak gondola that went from mountain to mountain.  These gave us spectacular views of Whistler from above and beyond.  The day was again perfect so the view was lovely and clear.
 
 
On the way back down to Whistler we could see a spot up the mountain that may have been where the lightening had struck as the ground looked burnt in a couple of spots and they had sprinklers going over the area.






























Once back down we were almost at the carpark and so contacted Lindsay & Andrew who were ready to move on to.  As we drove out of Whistler it actually started to rain reasonably heavily for a short while but then cleared up again to maintain Vancouver's record of a month with no rain.




Along the way Lindsay pulled into a few of the viewing spots so John could take some photos.  She was very good at giving us information about the scenery we had past both on the way up and back and answering all our questions, particularly about the First Nation people.

















  Once finally back we were all rather tired and had an early night as it was back to work for Andrew & Lindsay and an early morning start for us.