Lots of pictures of snowy mountains: And a long hard climb

May 9, 2016

Being a ski resort town Whistler is of course at altitude, and with the skies having cleared up after the storm it was a bitterly cold night. I slept badly and woke up in the morning frozen. There was a frost on the tent and the ground near it. But I got up and continued to cycle, because I had nothing better to do.

Oh, they've got a sense of humour in the Whistler area haven't they? Except of course, that this isn't a joke!

Within a few minutes I had already reached Green Lake. I remembered that back in 2011 I had posed for a photo by this lake, because it had been incredibly beautiful. Now, however, it was covered by a thick fog and I could barely see the lake, never mind the mountain peaks behind it that made it so attractive. At times I can be a patient fellow, however, and so I took a seat on a bench and waited. Within half an hour or so I was rewarded as the sun appeared and began to gradually burn off the fog, revealing the lake in all its mystical splendour.

I continued my ride, and followed the bicycle path around the edge of the lake. By the time I was on the other side of it the fog had completely cleared, leaving me with even better views of Green Lake, reflecting the mountains behind it like a mirror.

Soon the bicycle path merged into the 99 highway again, though the traffic was now significantly lighter than it had been before Whistler. I followed the highway all the way to Pemberton, stopping only to visit my daily waterfall. Today it was Nairn Falls, which I'm sorry to say was the worst of the lot so far. The best thing about it was the hike that was required to get to it, and the fact that nobody else bothered with it, so I didn't have crowds of tourists around me to share in my disappointment.

At Pemberton I sat by the information centre to use the wifi for a while and to stock up on water. The woman running the joint warned me about the long, steep climb that I had coming up ahead of me. Up until now the highway had been climbing mostly at gradual inclines, gradients that were kind on me after such a long time off the bike. But from the way this lady was speaking, this was going to be something else altogether.

Fifteen kilometres beyond Pemberton the road suddenly swung away from another lake, and I soon realised that the woman was right. Gosh, it was steep. The first three kilometres were unbelievably difficult, a real struggle. I strained at the pedals with all my might, inching my way up and stressing about how far I still had to go - it was a thousand metre gain in altitude to get to the summit. Making matters worse, it was a hot day and there were a dozen little flies buzzing about in front of my face. They stayed with me through the climb, being about as irritating as they could. And there was nothing I could do about them. Knowing this was going to go on for the next three hours tested my sanity.

I tried washing in a creek, soaking my t-shirt and cap in a desperate effort to cool down and put off the flies. Funnily enough no sooner had I done this than the sun disappeared behind a cloud and the weather turned cold and windy. I shivered in my wet clothes, but I didn't mind a bit, because the flies had gone. Then a car coming down the pass stopped next to me. This was no mean feat given the gradient, on which many vehicles were struggling, if the smell of burning brakes that overpowered the scent of the forest was anything to go by. The driver of this car told me to watch out, because there was a bear in the road about 500 metres further on.

I was excited to see the bear, and if anything I went a bit faster for the next 500 metres. But I saw no bear, which was understandable given the speed I was going. The bear probably got bored waiting for me, and loped off back into the woods long before I was anywhere close.

The one thing that kept me going, of course, was the wonderful scenery

This had been a really challenging climb, but I kept at it, as is my way, beginning to see snow at the roadside, and eventually making it to the summit. Just as I came up to the highest point, triumphant and exhausted, it actually began to snow a little bit.

I didn't hang around to enjoy this weather though, and quickly zoomed down the other side back to more pleasant conditions. Being quite tired from my exertions it was a fairly easy decision for me to stop early and make camp when I chanced upon the most perfect place. It was a semi-clearing dotted with green and yellow trees for shelter, and I guessed it might once have actually been a campsite. There were views to snowy peaks on all sides and a fast-running creek at the bottom edge. It was unimaginably picturesque. A perfect place to spend the night. As I went about it, going down to the creek to fetch water to make supper, I reflected on this, but once again I just wasn't satisfied. All I could think of was how much better it would be with Dea by my side.

Today's ride: 76 km (47 miles)
Total: 48,867 km (30,346 miles)

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