Behind the scenes at Skyhigh: A Dinner With Altitude

Skyhigh—A Dinner with Altitude: a Peak 2 Peak gondola at Whister Blackcomb carries diners to their next course

The day of the event, Whistler Blackcomb staff installed chandeliers in each gondola and removed the benches to make room for a table and chairs

A gondola was parked outside the Bearfoot Bistro so staff could practise in advance

Dave Brownlie, president and CEO of Whistler Blackcomb, checks in with his wife, Liz

Guides carrying numbered signs keep groups together and make sure they board the right gondola

Group 17 poses with RCMP officers before boarding the chairlift up Blackcomb

Heading up Blackcomb Mountain

The party began with a cocktail reception at Christine’s in the Rendezvous Lodge at the top of Blackcomb Mountain

Kate Hartman, brand ambassador for event sponsor Ketel One vodka, with Bearfoot Bistro founder André Saint-Jacques, preparing to sabre a bottle of champagne

The 48 staff who served at the event were divided between the Whistler and Blackcomb gondola terminals

In the Blackcomb cold kitchen, chefs plate the first course: lightly cured hamachi, fresh nectarine, serrano chili, shiso, yuzu foam and radish

Mark Pennington of Cacao Barry, which provided chocolate for the desserts, watches chefs in the cold kitchen on Blackcomb

Bearfoot Bistro’s executive chef Melissa Craig and food expediter David Rochette eye the setup of the hot kitchen on Whistler

At the top of Whistler Mountain, chefs prepare the second course: smoked black cod, sweet corn ricotta ravioli, littleneck clam wild ramp vinaigrette and bacon

Between the third and fourth courses, guests were served a palate cleanser in the Roundhouse on Whistler Mountain: Saint-Germain liquor, melon and cucumber “truffles”

Special diets were colour-coded and tracked on a chart with guests given a coloured card to put by their plate to make sure they received the correct dish

Bearfoot Bistro service manager Nadja Mathys carries a clipboard listing which special meals go into each gondola

Gondolas were numbered to correspond with the number assigned to each group of diners

Servers cleared each table and served the next course in the 80 seconds the gondola doors were open