We purchased our gondola access tickets directly from our hotel (the Hilton), who allowed us to charge the ticket cost to our room. We could not pay for the tickets outright, however. (This bookkeeping tactic discourages day-trippers from skipping the ticket lines at the gondola and instead purchasing from a local hotel.) Guests can also purchase and pre-pay for their tickets on-line using the Whistler website. When we visited, a promotion was available where if you purchased your tickets at least five days in advance of your visit, you received a bonus second day of gondola use for free. That is a good deal! (Unfortunately, we were not aware of the discount prior to our arrival.)
Peak2Peak features fully enclosed cabins that hold 28 passengers (22 seated and 6 standing) as they travel along the longest unsupported span in the world. The gondola travels 13 miles in 10+ minutes. A Swiss company built the gondola between 2007 and 2008, and the gondola gave its first ride in December of 2008. The Peak2Peak is an engineering marvel – it holds the record for the world’s largest free span between towers (at 1.88 miles), as well as the highest point above ground (at 1,430 feet). If you want more information on how the gondola was constructed, a small viewing area in the Roundhouse Lodge (on Blackcomb) shows a continuously looping film.
Peak2Peak has 28 total gondolas. Two special “silver” gondolas have a glass bottom for additional viewing, but the wait for those special cabins is much longer than the wait for one of the 26 normal “red” gondolas. Note that guests cannot stand directly on the glass bottom of the gondola; the glass is surrounded by a railing to allow everyone an equal opportunity for sightseeing.
Before guests board the P2P from the Whistler Roundhouse Lodge area anyway, a photographer takes a few photographs as you change your expression for different pretend scenarios. For example, for one of the photos, the photographer asks you to pretend to be scared / surprised. Later, in the Rendezvous Lodge on Blackcomb, your photo is super-imposed on a variety of backgrounds (in front of snow-capped mountains, in front of the gondola, in front of a bear, and so on). Photos from Coast Mountain Photography cost about $25 CAD for two printed 5 x 7 inch selections. You can choose to purchase digital copies for an additional fee. Normally, we do not buy souvenir photos, but these pictures were good, and so we purchased two of them.
Note that you cannot board the P2P gondola from the base of either Whistler Mountain or Blackcomb Mountain. You must first take a smaller gondola or chairlift up to either the Roundhouse Lodge (on Whistler) or to the Rendezvous Lodge (on Blackcomb). To reach the Roundhouse, take the Village Gondola from the end of the Village Stroll near the Hilton, Westin, and Sundial hotels. To reach the Rendezvous Lodge from Blackcomb Village, first take the Solar / Sun Coaster Express, then the Wizard Express (both of which are open quad chairlifts) to the top to board the P2P.
We loved the day that we spent on Whistler and Blackcomb Mountains: our time on the various chairlifts and gondolas (especially the world-famous Peak2Peak), the time that we spent hiking around the mountaintops, and our lunch at Christine’s. It was a spectacular day on the mountain, and we wish that we had more time to spend in Whistler!
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