Whistler – High note to half note

High note to half note trail

Length: anywhere from 6 km to 10 km (depending on if you take the peak express and start at the world summit, or start from round house gondola station).

Elevation gain: 300 m to 600 m (again depending on if you start the high note trail from world summit or round house)

Difficulty level: Easy (if you start from world summit), Intermediate (if you start from roundhouse)

This trail is in Whistler, high up on the mountain. You can start this hike either from the round house gondola station, or from the world summit station. Note the length and elevation gain difference above.

If you start from the world summit, the trailhead starts at the end of the sky bridge, which is one way. The first couple of km’s are descending, then change to flat terrain. After a couple more km’s, you will hit high note and half note intersection. You can continue to high note, which takes another 3 hours, or you can switch to half note trail, and takes another one hour to reach round house station. Note that the last 2 km’s of half note, called Pika Traverse, is descending. That’s one reason I recommend you to start from high note then switch to half note. Otherwise if you start from half note, you will do some serious ascending and that may wear you out.

There is no shade along the entire route. Sun protection is a must. There is a small stream just before the intersection of high note and half note, but it may dry out in late summer.

Views along the trail are fabulous on a clear day. You can see some famous landmarks along the trail, like Black Tusk, Green Lake, and Cheakamus Lake.

Usually you should be able to take Whistler Gondola to the round house station, and then take peak express to the world summit. But when I did the trail, the Whistler Gondola only did downloading. I had to take the Blackcomb Gondola up, taking peak 2 peak across from Blackcomb to Whistler round house.