A Decadent Weekend In Whistler
 Big Air - I'm about to launch myself off the side of a costal mountain when Nicole, my Ziptrek Ecotour guide, comes up with a cool idea. "How about going backwards?" she asks as she check my full body harness and buckles my pulley to the steel cable that stretches across the valley between Whistler and Blackcomb mountains. This is my third of five crossing on the ziplines and I'm feeling the adrenaline rush, big time. "What the hell," I say.
Ziptreking is the brainchild of Charles Steele and David Udow, entrepreneurs who wanted to introduce visitors to the magnificence of Whistler's ancient coastal rainforest. "We felt people should learn about this incredible area," says Steele, "but we knew no one was going to sign up for a 2 1/2 hour enviromental education lesson." Ah, but they will sign up, in the thousands, for a chance to zoom across steel cables stretching from 30 to 335 metres between cedar platforms, suspended 30 plus metres in the ari, at speeds of up to 70 kilometres per hour.
Between flights, guides talk about Whistler's ecology and the importance of living lightly on the earth. "I didn't expect the enviromental education," admits Derek, manager of a hardwood flooring company and one of 10 zip-ers on my tour. "I found it actually quite inspirational."
Others find the whole experience quite terrifying. "Yes, every so often we must talk someone across or walk them out," says Nicole when I ask if anyone ever freezes. For folks who fear flying, there's now a 90-minute Treetrek tour that takes them into the forest's canopy via a network of suspension bridges, boardwalk and trails -- a still-thrilling experiene in itself. 
The Vancouver Sun, January 18 2005
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