Most people don't expect to come across a huge ski-gondola cabin in the heart of Kitsilano's shopping district. So on November 1, the sight of one of these hulking metal vehicles in the parking lot next to the Showcase store on West 4th Avenue caused some passersby to stop, gawk, and ask questions of the people sitting inside.

Michelle Leroux is quite used to fielding inquiries about the vehicle, which can hold 28 skiers. On this day, she and three other Whistler Blackcomb employees—Dave Muller, Catherine McKay, and a man who calls himself Toaster (Mark Torlay)—had just completed a cross-country tour, towing the gondola cabin from Quebec to Vancouver. They did this to raise awareness about a new tourist attraction known as the Peak 2 Peak Gondola.

When it opens on December 12, the new gondola will whisk skiers over a 4.4-kilometre span between Whistler and Blackcomb mountains. Costing $52 million, according to Leroux, it has 28 cars, which will allow 4,100 people per hour to make the journey.

"It has been difficult to promote something that doesn't exist yet, and something that's so radically different from what people are used to on a ski mountain," Leroux told the Georgia Straight in an interview inside the spacious vehicle. "For people who aren't familiar with Whistler Blackcomb, they don't immediately see what it means to be able to access both mountains."

She noted that the Peak 2 Peak Gondola will be the only lift in North America that transports people between two world-class ski hills. It will be the world's longest continuous lift system, have the world's highest midpoint span at more than 400 metres above the valley floor, and travel faster than any other lift at the resort: 7.5 metres per second. But for Leroux, the real benefit will be the choices it offers skiers, who in the past wouldn't have dreamed of making use of Whistler and Blackcomb mountains on a single day.

"This gives you total freedom," she said. "You get to use all the terrain. You get to follow the sun or follow the snow. Or if you just want to ski glades all day, you can use the glades on either mountain. Or if you want to ski bowls all day, you can ski the bowls on either mountain. It gives you this endless choice and infinite possibilities of what you're going to ride that day."

The tour left Toronto on October 20 with the gondola cabin, which had been on display at a ski show in Toronto. The four employees first travelled to Ottawa, then to Montreal. For Leroux, one of the highlights was an appearance on the CTV show Canada AM, where anchor Jeff Hutcheson did a couple of weather segments inside the cabin. "Every single stop, whether it was a small town or a huge city, people would say, ”˜Oh, my God, that's the gondola cabin I saw on Canada AM,' " Leroux recalled.

The cabin is much wider than a normal vehicle, which meant they required permits for each road they travelled on across the country. Leroux described Muller, a groomer at Whistler Blackcomb, as an outstanding driver who was able to park the gondola in some "insane" locations along the way. Part of McKay's job was to blog about the tour, whereas Toaster was the animator and podcast host. Leroux said that there will be a big celebration on the gondola's opening day. Whistler Blackcomb will also hold a ceremony to recognize some of the "legends" of the community. Don't be surprised if gold medal-winning skier Nancy Greene Raine and her husband, Al Raine, return to the resort to join the party.