Peak 2 Peak: Whistler Travel Guide (4.8★)

Across the gap

The cabin leaves the station and the ground falls away. Peak 2 Peak runs 4.4 km between Roundhouse Lodge on Whistler Mountain and Rendezvous Lodge on Blackcomb. The middle stretch is a 3.024 km span with no towers at all, which was a world record when the gondola opened in December 2008.

At its highest point you hang roughly 436 m above Fitzsimmons Creek. Below you, coastal rainforest climbs up the valley walls. On clear days you see glaciers on the surrounding Coast Mountains, plus the dark volcanic spike of Black Tusk to the south. Each crossing takes about 11 minutes, and the cabins hold more than 20 people standing or seated.

Reaching the start line

You can’t board from the valley floor. You get up to it first:

• Whistler Village Gondola from Whistler Village up to Roundhouse Lodge, where Peak 2 Peak departs.
• Blackcomb Gondola from the Upper Village, then a connection to Rendezvous Lodge on the Blackcomb side.
• From Vancouver, it’s roughly two hours north on the Sea-to-Sky Highway (Highway 99). Day parking lots sit at the edge of the village.

Count the ride up as part of the trip. The village gondola alone is a long climb. A relaxed loop takes most of a day: up one mountain, across, lunch at a lodge, and down the other.

Glass floors and the wait

A few cabins are silver rather than red, and they have a glass panel set into the floor. They’re spaced out along the cable and have their own boarding line at each station. If you want one, step into that line and let the red cabins go past. The wait is usually a few cabins longer, and the view straight down to the creek makes it worth it.

Here’s how the stations work:

• Tickets: a winter lift ticket or Epic Pass covers it, and in summer you need a sightseeing ticket. Prices are posted on the official Whistler Blackcomb site. Buying ahead online usually works out better than buying at the window.
• Skiers: in winter you carry your skis and boards into the cabin with you, so stand them upright and keep the doorway clear.
• Wind: the line stops in strong wind. Check the resort’s lift status page on the morning you go, not the night before.
• Hours: these change with the season and between the ski and summer sightseeing periods. Confirm on the official site before you head up.

Pairing it with the summits

On the Whistler side, the walk from Roundhouse Lodge leads to the Peak Express chair. In summer, that’s how you reach the Cloudraker Skybridge and the summit viewing platforms. On the Blackcomb side, Rendezvous Lodge has food and a terrace looking back across the gap you just crossed.

Pick a clear day if you can. Cloud often sits right on the ridgelines, and inside it the crossing is mostly white. Mornings tend to come before the afternoon build-up of cloud in changeable weather. Bring a warm layer even in July, because both lodges sit well above the village and it can be noticeably colder up top.