Hiking in Canada

To winter sports enthusiasts, Whistler means one thing: skiing, and lots of it. But what is less well known is that the resort, in the mountains of British Columbia, is even more spectacular in the summer, says Edward Marriott in the Sunday Telegraph. For while the Alps, in overpopulated Europe, can feel like a "high-altitude suburb of Marseilles" in August, with traffic jams of hikers on even the most out-of-the-way trails, these mountains are gloriously unpopulated, "their forests pristine", and teeming with wildlife.

Whistler is just 75 miles from Vancouver, yet tourists only began arriving here in the early 20th century, to fish on Lake Alta. The area remained a summer destination until the 1960s, when a couple of entrepreneurs began to exploit its appeal to skiers. But it seems that even now, those who come for the snow find it hard to tear themselves away in spring, and, as one local puts it, "before they know it they're 35 and wondering why they never went to college".

The result is that Whistler is every bit as busy in the summer, with golf courses, superb mountain bike trails (200km of them) as well as rock-climbing, white-water rafting and even zip-lining – whizzing across ravines in a harness suspended from wires. But even with all this going on, you only have to hire a bike and ride a few miles out of town to find yourself in a "wilderness that is home to bears, marmots, eagles, cougars and wolves".

In the nearby Garibaldi Provincial Park, you can hike through "deep, untouched forest" and around a lake of "astonishing turquoise water, surrounded by glaciated mountain peaks", before emerging into "heavily scented meadows bright with blue lupine, red heather, Indian paintbrush and yellow cinquefoil".

Listen carefully, and you'll hear the whistling marmot calls that gave the area its name. Canadian Affair (020 7616 9184) flies to Vancouver from £359 return. ·