What'll They Think of Next?

   Wacky new adventures are popping up north of the border

ZIP-LINING Botany, speed, and flight all come together in zip-lining -- one of ecotourism's first breakout hits. Guides at Ziptrek Ecotours, in Whistler, BC, discuss the history of an ancient rain forest then prep you to soar 45 mph over it. You ascend platforms up to 15 stories high in giant old-growth trees, lock your harnes onto a wheeled pulley and push off into space, rippking along steel cables up to 200 feet above a glacial river gorge.

Men's Journal, September 2005

 

   

Sean Bickerton, Outdoor Guide

In Whistler there's less social pressure to be at a certain stage in your life and in your job," says Bickerton. "People aren't worried about benchmarks." The 26-year-old Ontrio native may in fact be more goal-oriented than most Whistler locals: In high school he was already taking outdoor education classes. By age 17, after a weeklong visit, he decided he would eventually end up living here. In college he majored in outdoor recreation management; and before he moved to Whistler two years ago, he had lined up a job as a guide with Ziptrek Ecotours - an outfit that sends people flying down 2,000-foot-long, thumb-wide cables through old-growth forest in the Fitzsimmons Creek Valley, smack between Whistler and Blackcomb mountians. "I was aiming to do just what I'm doing, right where I'm doing it," he says. In his free time Bickerton gets on his mountain bike. He rides cross-country trails such as Comfortably Numb, a 15-mile route with 4,000 feet of climbing, and coaches the local high school mountain-biking team. He also participates in the town's weekly Loonie Races -- social rides put on by the Whistler Off-Road cycling Association, to which a tenth of the town belongs. "It's an adult playground," Bickerton explains. "In the spring you can be riding in the valley while people are skiing powder up top. 

You can come, party, and leave. Or stay.

Men's Journal, August 2006