Journey Report: Helly Hansen Summit Sleepover
Sunsets, connections, and extreme alpine journey—a night on Whistler Blackcomb
Phrases :: Toes Banks
Whistler BC, a warmth summer season Saturday evening time in mid-August. The Village is vibrating with excited patio-ers, households on post-dinner ice cream missions, and no fewer than six separate stagette occasions of brides-to-be and their closest, squealiest buddies. Gone are the tacky penis-shaped straws/hats/glass/irrespective of widespread at such events throughout the flip of the millennium, modified instead by choreographed dance routines, R-rated group singalongs, silver sequined jackets and/or veils, full merriment, and, certain, plenty of squealing. All people seems to be having a hell of time.
Up on excessive of Whistler Mountain, beneath a smattering of stars and a plump almost-full moon periodically peering by way of rolling clouds, there’s a completely fully completely different sort of pleasurable out there on the second annual Helly Hansen Summit Sleepover. Mainly the right Whistler tenting journey ever, the Summit Sleepover provides ten lucky contest winners and their guests the possibility to do one factor just a few people ever experience—spend a night in a tent on Whistler Mountain inside ski house boundaries.
Add in a mountaintop feast, a keep musical effectivity, sunset s’mores and an thrilling rip up the By the use of Ferrata to Whistler Peak (with charcuterie for après) and the correct garments for irrespective of mother nature has in retailer, and the result is extraordinary.
“I really feel the sleepover is a mix of an excellent religious retreat and the enjoyment of adventuring throughout the mountains,” says Sarah Personne, retail retailer supervisor for every Whistler Helly Hansen retailers. A relatively new resident to metropolis, Personne offers that her first Summit Sleepover delivered in strategies she wasn’t anticipating. “It expanded my experience proper right here—not merely in these mountains, nevertheless with all the neighborhood. It merely showcases plenty of what makes Whistler specific.”
Contest winners principally hailed from spherical British Columbia nevertheless there have been contributors from Spain, UK and the Czech Republic intermixed with various media members, an influencer or two, born-and-raised native photographer Michael Overbeck, and some key Helly Hansen and Whistler Blackcomb staff to ensure all of the items ran simply.
“Respiration life into an event throughout the mountains isn’t almost planning,” explains Sleepover mastermind and Helly Hansen Canada Mannequin & Purchaser Promoting and advertising Supervisor Courtney Tennant. “It’s about making a uncommon experience the place the grandeur of nature meets the thrill of journey. “
And the thrills started early. Sleepover guests gathered Saturday morning at Whistler’s largest Helly Hansen retailer to get outfitted for the journey ahead—primarily a shopping for spree of top-notch gear to protect them from photo voltaic, rain, sleet and all of the items in between.
“It was such a pleasurable vibe meeting the guests,” Personne says. “They arrived and realized we had been gearing them up from head to toe. They’d been exchanging objects and sizes off the rack so all people had the correct match and might be going up the mountain with gear that they had been captivated with, not solely a random seize bag.”
Mountain local weather that day was sunny and delicate so one among many hottest ticket objects was the Males’s Lifa® Energetic Solen Graphic Hoodie, a sweat-wicking, odor-resistant, large lightweight excessive that gives UPF 50 photo voltaic security and one way or the other (magically) isn’t too scorching even with the hood pulled up throughout the blazing photo voltaic over Whistler Peak.
After gearing up, the crew headed up the Blackcomb Gondola then crossed the enduring PEAK2PEAK gondola (world’s longest unsupported span for a carry of this sort, moreover one of the best carry of its sort, and part of the world’s longest regular carry system) sooner than pitching camp in an alpine meadow a short hike from the Whistler Roundhouse. Official introductions had been made whereas shut by hikers and mountain company regarded on with envy—no person is allowed to camp in that spot, ever, till they’re part of the Summit Sleepover. (Plus, we had propane fire pits and benches with faux white fur blankets).
New friendships began to forge after which it was time to get some air beneath our toes and scurry up the sheer cliffs of Whistler Peak on the By the use of Ferrata with guides from the Mountain Experience Academy & Adventures. Italian for “the iron means”, a via ferrata is a system of metallic (rebar) ladder rungs anchored into the rock. Led by a data who can talk to the geology (or biology) of the world as merely because the responsibility ahead, climbers ascended in small teams, clipping their twin tethers into fast sections of regular safety cables alongside the best way by which. Almost immediately the By the use of Ferrata will get you into that dry-mouthed excited feeling of wanting down and seeing an entire lot of air beneath your toes.
“That was means spicier than I keep in mind,” exclaimed photographer Mike Overbeck on the excessive. And it was. With enough stoke to assemble an urge for meals, it was time for après (or a short nap) then onto dinner, a mountain-top feast throughout the Whistler Roundhouse. Current-sliced prime rib (with two types of horseradish) dominated most plates nevertheless the candied salmon kale Caesar salad held its private too. (And various Sleepover guests opted to garnish their meals with a scoop of ultra-creamy mac and cheese from the kid’s buffet for an added culinary journey.)
Put up-dinner conversations centered on adventures earlier, present and future whereas one among many most fascinating sunsets of the summer season (they’re on a regular basis so so much higher up at elevation!) materialized all through the Whistler Valley. Then it was once more to camp for s’mores, refreshments, laughs and a private reside efficiency by Jenna Mae Music.
The autumn of darkness launched cooler temps and additional clouds as a fat orange moon clambered over {the japanese} ridgeline whereas Summit Sleepover guests donned their insulated layers and saved the celebration going. (“The Odin Hooded Insulator is vital,” Personne says. “Wise, delicate, packable and warmth. All people should have a sort of.”)
Nonetheless one issue regarding the mountains: They’re on a regular basis in price. At one stage Whistler Blackcomb Ski Patrol arrived to make clear {{that a}} lightning storm was approaching the world, and if it received right here too shut, we’d have to relocate to a safer home contained within the Roundhouse restaurant. And at 4 am, with rain beginning to smatter down, that’s exactly what occurred. With local weather gadgets recording lightning strikes inside 70 kilometres of the ski resort and rapidly approaching, safety took priority as Whistler Blackcomb staff shuttled our complete crew, with sleeping pads and baggage, to safety.
“Sleeping throughout the Roundhouse!” Overbeck enthused. “Man, this is ready to have been a dream come true for 12-year-old me!” That sense of marvel, of doing one different “first time ever” issue, saved all people’s spirits extreme by way of the relocation and correct into espresso and breakfast the next morning. “Extreme throughout the alpine, every second is elevated,” says Tennant, when requested about her favourite part of this yr’s Summit Sleepover on Whistler Blackcomb. “Every aspect is magnified, and every memory is solid in direction of this breathtaking backdrop of mountains, nevertheless what actually makes it unforgettable are the people. The grins of the guests after they first arrive at camp with full baggage and eager anticipation. The sweat of the Whistler Blackcomb workers as they toil beside us, navigating logistics and backup plans. The assistance and brilliance of our Helly Hansen workers members, each of whom brings boundless vitality and an actual passion to boost each other. THIS is what makes the entire challenges that transpire behind the scenes worth it.”
New to these mountains and coming out of her first-ever Summit Sleepover, Sarah Personne agrees. “For me, the right half had been the model new people I met and the entire conversations I had. Each one felt so specific.” Personne launched her private passion to the weekend inside the kind of an instantaneous, Polaroid-style digital digicam, taking photos of every customer and gifting them to each specific particular person on the end of the journey. “We keep in such a high-speed society,” she says, “and this event is such a novel means for all of us to solely unplug and soak throughout the experience and hook up with ourselves and to nature and to 1 one other. It’s so invaluable to solely decelerate. That is what tenting is all about correct?”
Certain, it is. Notably when it comes with snug gear, vertical journey and a chief rib dinner. Helly Hansen Summit Sleepover is one factor to squeal about.
Be sure to adjust to Helly Hansen on Instagram and stay up for further thrilling events coming your means, along with the threerd annual Summit Sleepover — launching spring 2025!
