Category: Ski-Town Stories

From Whistler to Blackcomb to Whistler Blackcomb.

Off the Lip: The Rise of Snowboarding in WhistlerOff the Lip: The Rise of Snowboarding in Whistler

January 30, 2024 Whistler MuseumWhistler Museum 0 Comments

What’s your favourite mountain, Blackcomb or Whistler? As many know, this has been a hot debate since Blackcomb’s opening in 1980. It amped up even further when snowboarding was welcomed with open arms on Blackcomb Mountain in the winter of 1987/88. Whistler Mountain proceeded with caution before they allowed boarders to shred the slopes a season later.

According to Dave Murray in 1988 interview, “The mountain doesn’t have any problems with snowboards on the mountain in the long term, but in the short term Whistler is very concerned with looking ahead and planning relatively slowly when new innovations come into play.”

Unidentified rider shredding Blackcomb Mountain. Do you know the rider or photographer? Blackcomb Mountain Collection, Unknown Photographer

Whistler Mountain waited to see how the sport did on Blackcomb before snowboarders were invited to Whistler, largely due to the popular perceptions of snowboarders at the time. Snowboarding was already booming in the United States by the time it reached Canada in the early 1980s. The sport attracted a younger crowd and a few black sheep would come off as reckless and rude. Many skiers believed it was dangerous for them to be allowed on the mountain, that it would result in injuries and constant issues. And some skiers didn’t act too kindly toward them, as Ken Achenbach, Dano Pendygrasse and Doug Lundgren recall they were spat on and sworn at, and one skier even threw a shovel at them. There were even fist fights between boarders and skiers in the Blackcomb terrain park, which was run by snowboarders at the time.

But, snowboarding was in its early days – it needed time and space to innovate, integrate, and evolve.

On Blackcomb, Dave Perry, VP of Marketing, recalled that they did extensive research of how it was going in the States before allowing snowboarders on the mountain. Their research showed there was not actually a problem. He said:

We’ve got a considerable number of snowboarders on the mountain, they tend to congregate in certain areas, they’ll find a spot with a tube shape with a big winddrift or something and play there. They don’t mix on the main runs as some people think.

Blackcomb’s support, and later Whistler’s, was crucial to the boom snowboarding had in Canada, with many crediting the resort as the centre of Canadian snowboarding.

A snowboarder cruises across the slushy and chilly water at the 1994 Slush Cup. Whistler Question Collection, Dianne Whelan

For anyone that thought this was a fad, well, they were wrong.

A lot has happened in the last 30+ years, but snowboarding is still a relatively young sport, meaning the museum does not have as much information or as many records of it as we do for sports like skiing. In the last decade, however, the museum has received some great content about snowboarding, along with cool artifacts, and will be using these to recognize the sport and a few of the riders involved.

On January 31 (from 6:30 – 9pm), the Whistler Museum will open our latest exhibit, Off the Lip: The Rise of Snowboarding in Whistler, where we go through the beginnings of snowboarding in Whistler and the impact it has had on the resort and the sport. Off the Lip will be on exhibit until April 30, 2024.

This is also a chance to showcase some of the amazing photographs we have from collections, including Greg Griffith, Blackcomb Mountain, and the Whistler Question. Over the course of the exhibit, we’ll be sharing several images of snowboarders that we were not able to display physically. For many of these photographs, we have little information on the riders and are hoping you might be able to fill in the gaps with names and other details.

Promotional card for Stephanie Sloan’s Women Only Oxygen Snowboard Clinic (1994). Stephanie Sloan Collection

As professional hoarders, we are always looking to expand our knowledge of subjects, so let us know if there is anything you are inspired to share or show us.

We hope to ignite memories through our exhibits. Two subjects around snowboarding that I’m particularly curious about are: did you take a snowboard lesson with world champion freestyle skier Stephanie Sloan? Were you part of the Rad Mad Mom’s Club, a group of women who hit the slops with Whistler Mountain’s first snowboard instructor, Greg Daniells?

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Whistler’s Corporate CupWhistler’s Corporate Cup

January 2, 2024 Whistler MuseumWhistler Museum 0 Comments

Whistler has hosted many Cup competitions, from World Cup races for various sports (such as the Eberspächer Luge World Cup races held at the Whistler Sliding Centre this past month) to the Whistler Cup that celebrated its 30th edition in 2023. Most of the participants in these events are professional athletes or, like in the Whistler Cup, younger competitive athletes. In 1983, however, the first Sun Life Whistler Corporate Cup pitted teams of corporate employees against each other in hopes of winning prizes and bragging rights.

Over one weekend in January 1983, twenty-five teams competed for the overall Corporate Cup title. Teams came from companies, firms, union locals or professional groups and had to be made up of ten full-time employees. Each team also had to have a minimum of three men and three women. In its first year, participants included teams from the Vancouver City Police Department, BC Hydro, and Canada Safeway.

Sue Worden of Body Works puts a group of Corporate Cup die-hards through the paces in Village Square. Whistler Question Collection, 1983

These teams went head to head in six different events. The first was golf on the Whistler Golf Course, with holes ranging in length from 50m to 90m and made more difficult by the presence of snow. There was also a 5km cross-country ski race on the Lost Lake trails, a downhill race adjacent to the 1982 World Cup downhill run (the only World Cup race to have finished just above the Whistler Village), a snowshoe obstacle course, an inner tube pull named “Sliding Inflation,” and a snow sculpture competition called “Frozen Assets.”

Corporate Cup teams ran, hopped, slid and jumped through an obstacle course wearing snowshoes at Myrtle Philip School. Whistler Question Collection

At the end of the weekend, an awards ceremony recognized the team and individuals who had performed the best. Prizes included skis, boots, stays at Delta hotels and more, as well as prizes from the event sponsors Sun Life and Molson’s. The team from Envirocon came out ahead, due in part to their “dramatic” sculpture of a BC salmon, which put them ahead of the Vancouver Police who had created a representation of a reclining pig. According to event organizer Laurie Vance, “We had 250 people who had a positive experience at Whistler,” and the first meeting for the next Corporate Cup was already planned. Vance also thanked the sponsors and the more than 100 volunteers who helped make the event a success.

The 1984 Corporate Cup was very similar to the first event. The makeup of teams and form of most of the events stayed the same, though the winning team was from Touche Ross, an accounting and consulting firm. The biggest change was probably the subject matter of Frozen Assets, which saw entries such as “1984 George Orwell” (a likeness of the author by BC Hydro), a mermaid, a giant telephone, and two different BC Places (BC Place was completed in 1983).

Touche Ross successfully defended their title against nineteen other teams in 1985. The Beauvallon Club, the only team to enter that was from Whistler, came second while the team from ICBC finished third. Though the downhill race had been replaced with a dual slalom race, most of the competition remained similar to the one held in 1983. The standout sculpture of 1985, according to the Whistler Question photographers, seems to have been “Reclining Nude in a Bathtub” by Pacific Press.

Ah, for the delectable treat of glaced salmon, especially when it’s been served up through two hours of hard work by the Envirocon team. This jaunty fellow was the first-place finisher out of 27 entries in the ice sculpture contest. Whistler Question Collection

By 1986, the organization of the Corporate Cup had been taken over by June Paley. That year, the competition was held earlier (“too early” according to Paley), and had only ten teams. Nevertheless, the teams that competed enjoyed themselves and the title again went to Touche Ross. There is not record of a Corporate Cup in 1987; instead, different events took its place in January, such as other races and the Finlandia Ice Festival, which featured ice carving rather than snow sculpture. 1986 appears to have been the last Corporate Cup held in Whistler, leaving Touche Ross the undefeated winner.

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Circles of W’s and a Marmot Named WillieCircles of W’s and a Marmot Named Willie

December 19, 2023 Whistler MuseumWhistler Museum 0 Comments

In the 1980s and 90s, two trademarked symbols of the Whistler Resort Association (WRA, now doing business as Tourism Whistler) could frequently be seen around the town: a circle of W’s and a marmot named Willie Whistler.

The circle of W’s was originally developed for the Whistler Village Land Company (WVLC) in 1978 by Robert McIlhargey (an architectural illustrator) and his colleagues Dave Clifford and Lori Brown. The Whistler Village had not yet been built at the time, but the logo was soon in use around the valley, such as on signs at the Whistler Village site. In 1979, Don Willoughby and Geoff Power of Willpower Enterprises were given permission to produce 1,000 t-shirts using the logo as souvenirs of the World Cup race that didn’t end up going ahead on Whistler Mountain. Similarly, the WRA later allowed full-members, corporate supporters, and members-at-large to use the logo. Though they did charge for commercial use, it cost nothing for members to add the circle of W’s to to their business cards and signs.

Signs put up in the area of the Whistler Village site by the Whistler Village Land Company. Whistler Question Collection

Though the WVLC did not survive the recession of the early 1980s, the logo did and was used widely by the WRA. In the January 3, 1985 issue of the Whistler Question, the circle of W’s was referred to by Stew Muir as “the official Whistler insignia” and it had become so popular that the WRA was beginning to “clamp down” on its unofficial use by other parties.

Looking back on his work in 1985, McIlhargey described the concept behind the logo. The design team reportedly decided to work with a circle because it was “a neat and tidy way of doing a symbol.” According to McIlhargey, the result was ideal for a four season resort because “it could be winter or it could be summer. In one sense it’s a snowflake, and in another you see a sunburst.” For the typeface of any words beneath the W’s, they chose Frankfurter because “it’s friendly, soft and looks a bit like a cornice or snow.”

The W’s and Frankfurter fonts were used on many signs throughout Whistler. Whistler Question Collection

The design guidelines developed with the logo suggested that in the “best circumstances,” the logo would be red with a silver background; however, most people are probably more familiar with it in white against a contrasting background, such as the wood of highway and Village signs.

By 1985, the circle of W’s could be found on signs, turtlenecks, letterheads, and the t-shirt and hat of Willie Whistler. Willie Whistler was developed as the WRA’s mascot in 1981. The marmot was named by eight-year-old Tammi Wick in a naming contest (she won a Blackcomb season pass for her idea) and introduced to the public at the first Fall Festival. From then, Willie Whistler could be found at most events in the resort. The mascot was reportedly trademarked in order to “prevent a doll manufacturer from reproducing mini-Willies without permission.”

When listing ideas for dolls of Willie Whistler, suggestions included “Willie golfing, Willie playing tennis, Willie meeting Barbie,” and more. He did, in fact, do most of these things (or close to them) during his time as Whistler’s mascot. Willie Whistler golfed with Arnold Palmer, competed in ski races, presented awards, and met visiting celebrities and dignitaries, including touring the Village with then-Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau and his son Justin in 1982.

Willie Whistler poses in his WRA logo wear with a ski class on Whistler Mountain. Whistler Mountain Ski Corporation Collection

Both the circle of W’s and Willie Whistler were still in use into the 1990s, though Willie Whistler’s appearances were becoming less frequent. Today, the Willie Whistler costume has been lost to the landfill and both the logo and the name of the WRA have changed. You can still find circles of W’s throughout Whistler, however, whether on a few original signs in the Village (take a look up at the buildings on Skiers Approach), now-vintage clothing, or some bridges on trails throughout the valley. You can find more recent productions of the logo on mugs and shirts available at the Whistle Museum or, this past summer, on hats from the Whistler Golf Club to celebrate their 40th anniversary.

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Dogs on the HillDogs on the Hill

December 5, 2023 Whistler MuseumWhistler Museum 0 Comments

The opening of the Peak Chair on Whistler Mountain in 1986 opened up more than just lift-accessed alpine terrain; the increase in patrolled terrain also contributed to the opening up of positions on Whistler Mountain’s ski patrol, a team that usually had low turnover and therefore didn’t hired new patrollers very often. After hearing about these new positions from a friend on patrol, Yvonne Thornton drove her Volkswagen van to Whistler and was hired by Brian Leighton.

Even though she had never skied Whistler Mountain before, Thornton had been a patroller at Panorama and Big White, as well as volunteering on the patrol at Red Mountain. She’d spend the previous summer working for the forest services and so had rope skills. In an oral history interview in January 2023, she recalled that Leighton liked this as the terrain opened by the Peak Chair would need more “rope people.” Thornton began her first season with “a lot of figuring out the terrain,” getting to know the mountain, and avalanche control. Over the following years, she took on other positions as well, including Volunteer Ski Patrol Coordinator and dog handler.

CARDA avalanche dogs train on Whistler Mountain. Whistler Question Collection, 1991.

By the time Thornton arrived in 1986, Whistler Mountain already had an avalanche rescue dog patroller established by Bruce Watt and his dog Radar. In 1985, another patroller, Anton Horvath, also became an avalanche rescue dog handler (Horvath is currently a Canadian Avalanche Rescue Dog Association (CARDA) instructor). During her second season, Thornton decided that she wanted to become one as well and got approval from Horvath to start the process. Like Watt before her, Thornton recalled that she didn’t know anything about picking a dog. She ended up getting a border collie from the Fraser Valley and the two began working their way through the required courses.

CARDA’s program and courses at the time were closely aligned with the Bergwacht, a part of the German Red Cross that focuses on mountain rescue. As part of their training, Thornton and her dog went to Germany. She flew into Munich and then had to take multiple trains, beginning with fast trains and big stations that got slower and smaller as she got further from the city, all while keeping track of multiple bags, boots, skis, and, of course, her dog. On the journey back to Munich, she accidentally got on the wrong train and, when the conductor noticed, the train was stopped. Thornton had to get off and get on another train that was passing back the other way to go back to the station and try again.

As far as Thornton is aware, she was the first woman to take one of the Bergwacht courses. Thornton remembered that “it was really fun” and she “cruised around, did some search training, ate a lot of meat and cheese and bread,” but, looking back, she also isn’t entirely sure how she did it.

Whistler Search and Rescue brought in tracking dogs to help in a search for a missing hiker. Whistler Question Collection, 1994.

The mountain, ski patrol and the avalanche rescue dog program have changed a lot since 1986. Interested patrollers now have to have been patrolling for at least five years and she described the current interview process as “intense.” CARDA has also introduced more requirements over the years and handlers now must have their level one instructing certification and be part of a Search and Rescue group that is involved in mountain rescue or a ski hill has avalanche control and mountain rescue. (Thornton is currently involved in both Whistler SAR and ski patrol.) As the organization and specific programs have gotten more established, she has also seen more mentorship and education when it comes to picking dogs to train as avalanche rescue dogs. Since her first border collie, Thornton has worked with two Malinois, a shepherd, and her current dog, a lab named Dyna, with whom she has also trained for wilderness searches and tracking.

According to Thornton, the avalanche rescue dogs on Whistler are an accepted operational part of the team and, when seeing the dogs on the mountain, it is important to remember that they are working, not part of a “petting zoo or bring your pet to work day.” Thornton did admit though that it is pretty fun to be able to work with her dog. It also seems to be pretty fund for the dogs, as she recalled, “All of my dogs have just loved going up there, like it’s always ‘Best day ever.'”

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