From the Archives – Whistler Museum and Archives Society

Ski Free by the BookSki Free by the Book

April 30, 2024 Whistler Museum 0 Comments

In a recent look through the Whistler Museum’s reference section, we came across another book aiming to teach skiing through a combination of the written work and photographs. Unlike Toni Sailer’s instructional flip book from 1964, Greg Athan’s Ski Free targets those who already know how to ski and are interested in learning about the sport of freestyle skiing.

Greg Athans was a Canadian freestyle skier in the 1970s and 80s, as well as a 15-time national water skiing champion. Like many freestyle skiers, he had a background in downhill skiing and won a gold medal in 1971 Canada Games for the alpine slalom. In 1973, Athans became the first person to win gold medals in both the winter and summer Canada Games when he came first in water skiing. Among his freestyle skiing titles, Athans was the 1977 Labatt World Trophy Tour Champion, the 1978 World Ballet Champion and World Mogul Champion, and, as mentioned in a recent article about a very busy week on Whistler Mountain in 1980, Athans was crowned World Cup Freestyle Champion alongside Stephanie Sloan for the 1979/80 season.

Greg Athans at the Labatt’s World Cup Freestyle Championship on Whistler Mountain. Whistler Question Collection, 1980.

Competitive freestyle skiing was still a relatively young sport when Ski Free was published in 1978. The first flip on skis was recorded in 1907 and moves found in ski ballet can be traced back to the 1920s. Flips and spins were seen in skiing exhibitions and shows throughout the 1950s and 60s and, according to a brief history of freestyle skiing found in Ski Free, Doug Pfeiffer’s School of Exotic Skiing taught tricks such as the mambo, the Charleston and more from 1956 to 1962.

In the late 1960s, “trick skiing” demonstrations were caught on films such as Ski the Outer Limits and The Moebius Flip but it wasn’t until 1971 that the first professional competition took place in Waterville Valley, New Hampshire. Over the 1970s, competition circuits and freestyle camps became more popular, with freestyle skiing added to the Toni Sailer Summer Ski Camp on Whistler Mountain in 1973. Freestyle skiing was officially recognized by the International Ski Federation (FIS) in 1979, just one year after Ski Free was published.

*Ski Free* by Greg Athans, published in 1978.

According to Ski Free, freestyle skiing “offers the skier the freedom to do whatever he or she chooses and, possibly, to do what has never been done on skis before.” It begins, like Toni Sailer’s book, by instructing the skier on what type of equipment will be needed. Helpful notes and safety tips are also included, such as warning skiers not to have safety straps on their bindings for aerials as “a loose windmilling ski can be dangerous” and suggesting that when learning somersaults and flips a helmet might be a good idea. As helmets were not a standard piece of ski equipment at the time, a “well-fitting hockey helmet” was considered sufficient. Other equipment suggestions also place Ski Free at a certain time, as a “light mini-cassette recorder” and a fanny pack are described as useful for choreographing ballet routines.

Ski Free devotes a chapter to each of the three disciplines of freestyle skiing in 1978: moguls, aerials and ski ballet. With descriptions of techniques, common problem areas and solutions, and of specific tricks accompanied by photographs by Allan de la Plante, it would have been a great guide for those looking to learn more about the sport without today’s easy access to videos and film clips. Without the ease of looking up options on the internet, the book also provided a list of summer ski camps and off-season training programs for those looking for in-person instruction.

How to do an Athans’ Walkover, in five steps.

Freestyle skiing has changed a lot since Ski Free came out in 1978 and not all of the information is still relevant. Some of the tricks described are no longer so common (especially as ski ballet is no longer an official discipline), but for anyone wondering what is involved in a Legsbreaker Pivot, a Shea-guy, a Daiglebanger, or an Athans’ Walkover, the step-by-step instructions may prove very useful.

Mapping the MountainsMapping the Mountains

September 6, 2023 Whistler Museum 0 Comments

On September 9, 1923, Neal Carter and Charles Townsend set out on a two-week journey through Wedge Mountain and Avalanche Pass. During their trip, the two avid mountaineers kept detailed records, took incredible photographs, and identified several features with names we still use today. Come experience the stories behind their adventures!

Mapping the Mountains: The 1923 Carter/Townsend Mountaineering Expedition will run from September 14 through November 14. Join us for an opening reception Thursday, September 14 from 6 – 9 pm.

The Skiers’ ChapelThe Skiers’ Chapel

September 5, 2023 Whistler Museum 0 Comments

The Whistler Mountain Skiers’ Chapel was one of the most iconic buildings from the early development of Whistler as a ski resort. Remembered for its distinctive A-frame design, the building was one of the first skier chapels in Canada, as well as one of the first interdenominational churches in Canada.

The chapel was designed from conception to be integrated into the ski culture blossoming in Whistler. Franz Wilhelmsen, president of Garibaldi Lifts Ltd, set aside a small parcel of land for an alpine skiers’ chapel. Wilhelmsen had fond memories of skiers’ chapels in the alpine villages of Norway, his home country, and envisioned something similar on Whistler Mountain. Likewise, the chapel’s status as an interdenominational chapel was envisioned since its beginning. Marion Sutherland and Joan Maclean, who formed the original board of trustees and established the fundraising committee in 1966, ascribed to different denominations of the Christian faith; Sutherland was a Protestant and Maclean belonged to the Roman-Catholic Church.

A section of the original blueprints by Asbjorn Gathe for the skiers’ chapel.

Fundraising began in 1966 with Sutherland and Maclean seeking support from local faith communities, approaching both the Vancouver Council of Churches and the Kamloops diocese, both of which agreed to support the effort by supplying ministers. Architect Asbjorn Gathe contributed by donating plans for the chapel’s design, a simple A-frame, the layout left intentionally devoid of specific denominational features. A stained glass window designed by Donald Babcock was donated by the Southam family. Support for the chapel’s construction also came from local ski culture. Warren Miller, colloquially referred to as “dean of ski cinematographers,” held a benefit screening of his film Ski on the Wild Side and donated a portion of the proceeds to the construction of the chapel.

Warren Miller’s advertisement for his charity screening, with proceeds going to the Skiers’ Chapel and Ski Patrol, in Ski Trails Volume 1, No. 10, 1966.
The chapel’s iconic stained glass window by artist Donald Babcock. Wallace Collection

The $15,000 needed was swiftly raised, and the chapel’s construction was completed in December, the first service being held on Christmas Eve 1966. The dedication ceremony included representatives from Lutheran, United, Anglican and Jewish faiths. As Whistler expanded over the years, the chapel also grew and changed. It held regular services for many denominations, ranging from Catholic to Seventh Day Adventist. It also became a de-facto community center, as local groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous and community health services utilized the space.

The chapel with skis and a map of Whistler Mountain in the foreground. Whistler Mountain Ski Corporation Collection.
A view of the chapel’s entrance. Wallace Collection

The growth of Whistler and the chapel’s evolving role exposed the physical limitations of the A-frame building, forcing some groups such as the Whistler Community Church to split up services. Additionally, as the Creekside location developed, the chapel was forced to relocate multiple times, and was finally given the option to move to the new Village Centre. However, the projected moving cost of $10,000 and the growing spatial limitations prompted the Skier’s Chapel Society to launch a fundraising campaign for a new building in 1989.

The Skiers’ Chapel being moved to a new location adjacent to the Whistler Mountain Ski Club Cabin in 1979. Whistler Question Collection.

The vision for what the new chapel would be had changed by 1991, becoming more ambitious with the hope of constructing a building that could fulfill the needs of both secular and faith communities in Whistler. The committee also exchanged their plot of land in Village Centre for one in Village North in 1996. Both the Catholic Church and the Whistler Community Church, two of the chapel’s larger congregations, decided to pursue their own buildings, but the Whistler Skiers’ Chapel Society continued to fundraise for a new interfaith building in the Village, spearheaded by members of the Jewish faith and United Church, as well as community members with no particular religious affiliations.

By 1999, the majority of the funds for a new building in Village North had been raised through donations from organizations including the Chan foundation, the RMOW, and the Whistler Blackcomb Foundation, as well as more personal donations. $2 million was donated by the Young and Barker families in honour of William Maurice Young, who had been the president of the Whistler Mountain Ski Corporation. When the new interfaith building opened, it was named Maurice Young Millennium Place (the building is now known as the Maury Young Arts Centre). The last service held in the original skier’s chapel was for Easter of 2000.

A proposed add-on to the Skiers’ chapel. Skiers’ Chapel Collection.

Over the Top: The Story of the First Spearhead Traverse, Part Two:Over the Top: The Story of the First Spearhead Traverse, Part Two:

August 8, 2023 Whistler Museum 0 Comments

The Spearhead traverse, a popular ski-touring route, was first undertaken by four members of the University of British Columbia’s Varsity Outdoor Club, Alistair MacDonald, Karl Ricker, Bert Port and Chris Gardner, in 1964. The four were approaching the head of the Spearhead Range by the fifth morning, breezing across both the Ripsaw and Naden Glaciers and arriving at Couloir Ridge where their easy progress was halted by difficult terrain. At this point, the group had reached Mt. Macbeth and Naden Pass, considered to be the limit between the Spearhead and Fitzsimmons Ranges. Falling back to their original position, the party utilized their crampons to descend onto Iago Glacier and get around the head of the valley.

A panorama taken at the groups’ camp on “platform” glacier from the Varsity Outdoor Club Journal. Karl Ricker Collection

Despite their extensive preparations, the group’s map of the region from 1928 falsely rendered the south side of Mt. Iago as too steep to traverse up, when in reality the slope had not only one, but two, skiable slopes. This cartography error led the party astray and forced them around the Mt. Diavolo icefall, before ascending and setting up camp on the newly christened “detour ridge.” In retrospect, the group proposed that for future expeditions, a couple of days could be shaved off by following a different route along Nanden and Macbeth Glaciers.

The next day, the group descended onto Diavolo Glacier, before proceeding to the col between Mt Benvolio and Mt Fitzsimmons and adopting their strategy of splitting the party to bag both peaks before reconvening at the top of Fitzsimmons Glacier. From there a slow ascent up the slopes of Mt. Overlord and onto Overlord Glacier ended with the group settling down at Panorama Camp.

Due to heavy clouds, the group set off at noon the next day, splitting up for the third time and bagging both Whirlwind and Fissile Peaks before meeting up again at the col. The weather began to worsen and the party quickly skied down to Russet Lake. In later years, the BCMC would build one of the first gothic arch huts in the region, the Himmelsbach Hut, which was completed near the shores of Russet Lake in 1968 and was just recently relocated and replaced by the Kees and Claire Memorial Hut in 2019. At this point, the group had gotten below the clouds, allowing them to continue beyond the Singing Pass onto the flanks of Mt. Whistler.

Despite being so close to their goal, the weather conditions worsened and halted any progress for a day and a half. The party finally managed to set off at noon the next day, making their way up onto Whistler Mountain and bagging the peak, before hastily skiing down in heavy snow in order to barely catch the train departing Rainbow Station to Squamish. The first Spearhead Traverse expedition was able to complete the trek in nine days, and concluded that the route would serve future backcountry skiing well from years to come. The Spearhead has remained a popular route, and can now be routinely completed in a day, with most parties opting to complete the route between two to three days. In 2013, speedsters Erick Carter and Nick Elson completed the traverse in a blistering three hours and ten minutes.

Category: From the Archives

Ski Free by the BookSki Free by the Book

Mapping the MountainsMapping the Mountains

The Skiers’ ChapelThe Skiers’ Chapel

Over the Top: The Story of the First Spearhead Traverse, Part Two:Over the Top: The Story of the First Spearhead Traverse, Part Two: