Winter Hiking and Snowshoeing!
Winter hiking and snowshoeing in Whistler is spectacular! Parkhurst Ghost Town and Whistler Train Wreck are adventures into Whistler's past. Brandywine Falls and Bungee Bridge are amazing!
Russet Lake sits in a wide, glacier carved valley at the base of The Fissile. In the direction opposite The Fissile, up on a plateau less than a kilometre away are two small tarns called Adit Lakes. Adit Lakes sit in a broad, boulder strewn alpine zone with an incredible view of Spearhead Range. Just a few metres from Adit Lakes the plateau drops off quickly into the huge valley that separates the Spearhead Range and Fitzsimmons Range.
Whistler & Garibaldi Hiking
Alexander Falls 
Ancient Cedars 
Black Tusk 
Blackcomb Mountain Brandywine Falls Brandywine Meadows Brew Lake Callaghan Lake Cheakamus Lake 
Cheakamus River 
Cirque Lake Flank Trail Garibaldi Lake Garibaldi Park Helm Creek Jane Lakes Joffre Lakes Keyhole Hot Springs Logger’s Lake Madeley Lake Meager Hot Springs Nairn Falls Newt Lake Panorama Ridge Parkhurst Ghost Town Rainbow Falls Rainbow Lake Ring Lake Russet Lake Sea to Sky Trail Skookumchuck Hot Springs Sloquet Hot Springs 
Sproatt East Sproatt West Taylor Meadows Train Wreck 
Wedgemount Lake Whistler Mountain
January February 
March April May 
June July August 
September October November December
The Spearhead Range is named for its jagged array of spearhead shaped peaks that extend to include Blackcomb Mountain. Adit Lakes sit on a plateau in Fitzsimmons Range. From Adit Lakes you can look across the Musical Bumps all the way to the summit of Whistler Mountain. Musical Bumps is the collective name for the series of broad mountain peaks that have musical names. Viewed from Adit Lakes are Oboe Summit, Flute Summit and Piccolo Summit. The Singing Pass trail connects from the Musical Bumps trail and takes you down the valley between Whistler Mountain and Blackcomb Mountain to Whistler Village. The Singing Pass trail runs parallel to Fitzsimmons Creek which Adit Lakes drain into via Adit Creek. Fitzsimmons Creek is named after Jimmy Fitzsimmons who had a small cabin down in the valley near Fitzsimmons Creek. He was a miner that had a mining claim and hoped to find the other end of the copper vein that the Britannia Mine, opened in 1914, sat on. Adit Lakes are evidently named after the word miners use to describe a horizontal mine used to explore for mineral veins. The word adit comes from the latin aditus, which means entrance. Adits are dug into mountain ridges in the hopes of hitting the mineral vein or lode. Fitzsimmons was cutting adits here in the hopes of finding a vein of copper embedded between layers of rock. There are no visible traces of mining around Adit Lakes, but a few kilometres down the Singing Pass trail you can find remnants of old mine shafts.
Little is known about Jimmy Fitzsimmons other than a picture of him from Myrtle Phillip's collection at the Whistler Museum, thought to have been taken in 1916 outside Rainbow Lodge. On the back of the photo is written, "Around 1916, Bill Holloway prospector, Jimmy Fitzsimmons of Fitzsimmons mine. Bill Bailiff, Bill MacDermott, Alex Philip (senior), Tom Wilson, leaving for prospecting trip to Fitzsimmons Glacier area mine."
The Fissile Near Adit Lakes
Russet Lake is a surreal little paradise that lays at the base of The Fissile, in Garibaldi Provincial Park. The Fissile is the strikingly bronze mountain visible from Whistler Village. From the Village look into the distance at the Peak2Peak Gondola hanging between Whistler Mountain and Blackcomb Mountain and you will see The Fissile. Its pyramid shape in the distance perfectly separates the two mountains.
The Fissile is quite a distinct mountain in Garibaldi Provincial Park because of its vivid red colour and symmetrical arrowhead shape. There is another, even more remarkable feature of The Fissile, its age. The sedimentary rock that would eventually become The Fissile was laid down more than 200 million years ago. The Fissile began its life as sedimentary rock formed in a shallow sea along the coast of North America. As tectonic plates pushed into the North American Plate from the Pacific, the Coast Mountains were formed over millions of years. The Coast Mountains are almost entirely comprised of geologically young mountains comprised of volcanic rock as opposed to The Fissile's ancient, crumbling slate. Black Tusk, for example is strikingly youthful at just over a million years old.
Russet Lake Near Adit Lakes
Though Russet Lake is not terribly impressive in terms of size or colour, the valley around it is remarkably beautiful. The colours change from moment to moment in and extraordinary way. The distinctive colour of The Fissile and the stark grey of the mountains around contrast amazingly with the blue of the lake and green grass in the valley. So many different factors fill the place with colour. There are several ways to get to hike Russet Lake. The Singing Pass trail from the base of Whistler Mountain near the Whistler Gondola. The Musical Bumps trail that begins near the top of the Whistler Gondola. Both routes take you deep into the magnificent Fitzsimmons Range. The Fitzsimmons Range runs east from the summit of Whistler Mountain to Russett Lake. Fitzsimmons Creek cuts between Whistler Mountain and Blackcomb Mountain, parallel to the Singing Pass trail. Where the Fitzsimmons Range ends at Fitzsimmons Creek, the Spearhead Range begins and continues along a set of peaks resembling spearheads to Blackcomb Mountain. These peaks include The Spearhead, Mount Trorey, Tremor, Shatter, Shudder, Quiver, and more.
Books About Geology in BC
Here are two excellent books on the Geology of British Columbia. In Search of Ancient British Columbia by Barbara Huck is one of our favourites. It focuses on southern BC and covers each individual region separately. The Lower Mainland chapter explains the geology, paleontology and archaeology of the region stretching from Vancouver, Sea to Sky, Garibaldi Park and north to Mount Meager and Meager Hot Springs. Quite a lot of the book is devoted to how the last ice age shaped the land and inhabitants of southern BC. The chapters on Vancouver Island are particularly good as the geological history was particularly chaotic and the history of glaciation around present day Victoria is very interesting. Roadside Geology of Southern British Columbia by Bill Mathews and JWH Monger is a wonderful geologic history of BC and covers some great features along the Sea to Sky Highway.
Every unusual phenomenon in the forest seems to have a name, but one natural work of art seems to be without a commonly used name. Big trees with ...
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Bivouac or Bivy: a primitive campsite or simple, flat area where camping is possible. Traditionally used to refer to a very primitive campsite comprised of ...
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Northair Mine is a surreal little world of colourful murals on abandoned cement foundations, surrounded by an astoundingly tranquil little lake in a ...
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Along Whistler’s Valley Trail near Rainbow Park you come across some impressively unusual trees. Unlike most other Whistler trees with straight trunks and ...
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The Garibaldi Volcanic Belt is a line of mostly dormant stratovolcanoes and subglacial volcanoes largely centred around Whistler and extending through much ...
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Western hemlock (tsuga heterophylla) is a large evergreen coniferous tree that is native to the west coast of North America. Unlike many other trees in ...
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Surprisingly often in Whistler's forests you will find a tree growing on an old fallen tree or out of a decaying tree stump. Decaying logs and stumps in ...
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Deadfall means a tangled mass of fallen trees and branches. There are several name variations for fallen trees that are commonly used in Whistler. ...
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There are plenty of beautiful and free snowshoe trails in Whistler and Garibaldi Provincial Park. From the surreal paintings of Whistler Train Wreck to ...
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February is a great month for snowshoeing in Whistler and Garibaldi Park. The days slowly get longer, but the temperatures stay consistently cold. Expect ...
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In the(usually) deep March snow of Whistler you have an amazing array of snowshoeing options. If you have not been to the Whistler Train Wreck, you have ...
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April in Whistler is a wonderful time of year. The winter deep freeze ends and T-shirt weather erupts. The village comes alive with overflowing patios and ...
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Whistler & Garibaldi Hiking
Alexander Falls Ancient Cedars Black Tusk Blackcomb Mountain Brandywine Falls Brandywine Meadows Brew Lake Callaghan Lake Cheakamus Lake Cheakamus River Cirque Lake Flank Trail Garibaldi Lake Garibaldi Park Helm Creek Jane Lakes Joffre Lakes Keyhole Hot Springs Logger’s Lake Madeley Lake Meager Hot Springs Nairn Falls Newt Lake Panorama Ridge Parkhurst Ghost Town Rainbow Falls Rainbow Lake Ring Lake Russet Lake Sea to Sky Trail Skookumchuck Hot Springs Sloquet Hot Springs Sproatt East Sproatt West Taylor Meadows Train Wreck Wedgemount Lake Whistler Mountain
January February March April May June July August September October November December
Newt Lake is beautiful little lake high up on the far side of Cougar Mountain near Ancient Cedars. Its location is a wonderful mix of unexpected characteristics that combine to make it a gorgeous place to ...
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Nairn Falls is a wonderful, crashing and chaotic waterfall that surrounds you from the deluxe viewing platform that allows you to safely watch it from above. The beautiful, green water rushes through the ...
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Garibaldi Lake is the centre and base for much of the hiking in Garibaldi Provincial Park. The Garibaldi Lake campsite is located on the amazing, turquoise shores of this massive and mostly still wild ...
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Sloquet Hot Springs is a wonderfully wild set of shallow, man-made pools fed by a small, all natural, and very hot, waterfall. The pools stretch from the waterfall to the large and crashing Sloquet River. The ...
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