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!
Armchair Glacier is one of the many easily identifiable mountain features around Whistler. Along with Wedge Mountain and Black Tusk, Armchair Glacier has a distinct shape that it is named after. Armchair Glacier can be seen from a considerable distance and from many places in Whistler. In the winter it is a solid white ridge with three peaks and in the summer the ridge and peaks are bare rock and the glacier can be seen as a solid, horizontal line below.
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 three-peak mountain ridge above Armchair Glacier is actually called Mount Weart. Despite its distinct armchair appearance and it being known for decades as Armchair Mountain, or simply Armchair, in 1930 the Garibaldi Park Board officially had the name changed to Mount Weart. John Walter Weart(1861-1941) was a lawyer, politician and the chairman of the Garibaldi Park Board at the time of the name change. Though officially called Mount Weart by the Geographical Names Board of Canada, the original name Armchair is still almost universally used. Mount Weart is generally only used to refer to the prominent and highest of the three peaks, the southernmost peak, or the peak on the right if viewed from Whistler. This southern peak of Mount Weart marks it as the second highest mountain in Garibaldi Provincial Park at 2835 metres or 9301 feet. Weart's neighbour, Wedge Mountain is the highest peak in Garibaldi Park at 2895 metres or 9497 feet. The two summits are just 3.7 kilometres apart and joined by the Wedge-Weart Col. The Armchair Traverse is a popular, though very challenging, Class 4 route from Mount Cook to Mount Weart and descending down from the Wedge Weart Col via the Wedgemount Glacier. Highlights of the Armchair Traverse are the incredible views of Wedgemount Lake, the surrounding mountains and the enormous Weart Glacier. Weart Glacier fills the valley to the north of Mount Weart and is fantastically huge. From Mount Weart you can see over Rethel Mountain and down to Whistler Valley. Extraordinary considering how monstrously huge Rethel seems from the shore of Wedgemount Lake.
In the image below Mount Cook is on the left, Armchair Mountain aka: Mt Weart is the three peaks in the middle with the peak on the right being the second highest mountain in Garibaldi Park. The mountain in the foreground to the right is Rethel Mountain. The faint horizontal line below Armchair is Armchair Glacier. Hard to make out in February when the mountains are heavily blanketed in snow.
Mount Weart is probably the most popular of the branching hikes from Wedgemount Lake. This is because of its extraordinarily beautiful views from its summit. It is quite difficult and some tricky route finding is involved as you leave Wedgemount Glacier for the Weart ascent. But you will have trouble finding more beautiful views from another peak in the area. It is a difficult and long scramble from the Wedgemount Lake hut and a considerable elevation gain of 780 metres from the Hut. Give yourself at least four hours roundtrip, hut to hut. From the Wedge hut head down the scree valley trail to the left side of Wedgemount Lake. Continue up Wedgemount Glacier staying to the left edge of the glacier on the talus and scree as comfortably possible until you see the creek that flows from Mount Weart. Continue up the left side of this creek, this is where the scrambling becomes difficult, but only for a short while. The difficult section leads to a basin with a glacier to your right. Stay to the left edge of this glacier and make your way somewhat directly up the scree slopes until you reach the ridge leading to Weart. You will take this ridge to your left until you reach the summit.
Below is the view of Armchair Glacier from the Parkhurst Wye, though zoomed in quite a bit!
Fantastic 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. Geology of British Columbia: A Journey Through Time by Sydney Cannings, JoAnne Nelson and Richard Cannings is a beautiful history of BC's geology and the 200 million year history of creatures living in this extraordinary corner of the world. The authors take us on a journey through time, describing the collisions of island chains called terrains, the sliding of plates, the erupting of volcanoes, and the movement of glaciers that created British Columbia as we know it today. They also describe the rich legacy of fossils left behind as a result of all this geological activity.
Emerald Forest is a cute little forest that is well hidden between Whistler Cay and Alpine. From Whistler Village, if you go down to the end of Lorimer ...
Read more
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 ...
Read more
The Fitzsimmons Range is a subsection of the Garibaldi Ranges that covers the area between the valleys of Cheakamus Lake and Fitzsimmons Creek. Fitzsimmons ...
Read more
Cornice: a wind deposited wave of snow on a ridge, often overhanging a steep slope or cliff. They are the result of snow building up on the crest of a ...
Read more
Inosculation is the technical name for two or more trees that have fused together into a single bizarre looking tree. They are colloquially known as ...
Read more
The Pacific yew or western yew is a coniferous tree that grows in Whistler and along the coast from Alaska to California. The Pacific yew’s unique ...
Read more
Arête: a thin ridge of rock formed by two glaciers parallel to each other. Sometimes formed from two cirques meeting. From the French for edge or ridge. Around ...
Read more
The Cloudraker Skybridge and the Raven’s Eye Cliff Walk are new additions to the summit of Whistler Mountain. The Cloudraker Skybridge stretches 130 ...
Read more
There are plenty of beautiful and free snowshoe trails in Whistler and Garibaldi Provincial Park. From the surreal paintings of Whistler Train Wreck to ...
Read more
February is a great month for snowshoeing in Whistler and Garibaldi Park. The days slowly get longer, but the temperatures stay consistently cold. Expect ...
Read more
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 ...
Read more
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 ...
Read more
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
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 ...
Read more
Brandywine Meadows is a nice, relatively short hike to a massive flower filled valley high up in Callaghan Valley. Located 40 minutes south of Whistler, this tough and sometimes muddy trail gains a huge 550 ...
Read more
Black Tusk is the extraordinarily iconic and appropriately named mountain that can be seen from almost everywhere in Whistler. The massive black spire of crumbling rock juts out of the earth in an incredibly ...
Read more