Category: Ski-Town Stories

From Whistler to Blackcomb to Whistler Blackcomb.

From Alta Lake to WhistlerFrom Alta Lake to Whistler

February 11, 2025 Whistler MuseumWhistler Museum 0 Comments

When Glen Creelman arrived in the Whistler area in 1960, it wasn’t for the skiing or for the fishing. Glen moved to Alta Lake (as it was known at the time) to work for the Pacific Great Eastern Railway (PGE) as a communications lineman, maintaining the telephone line and new microwave station.

Glen had recently graduated from technical college and his arrival at Alta Lake in April was newsworthy enough to be remarked on in the “Alta Lake Echo,” the newsletter of the Alta Lake Community Club, which stated “Our new telephone lineman is young, handsome, single Glen Creelman.” Over the following months, as he became part of the small Alta Lake community, his comings and goings and activities were also reported on in the “Echo,” including which his family came to visit, when he bought a canoe, and when he started organizing softball teams for Alta Lake residents and the nearby logging operations. As a resident of Alta Lake, Glen was a founding member of the Alta Lake Volunteer Fire Department, along with Dick Fairhurst, Doug Mansell and Stefan Ples (Glen served as Assistant Chief), and a founding member of the Alta Lake Sailing Club.

Members of the Alta Lake Volunteer Fire Department raft their fire shelter and its contents across the lake to Alta Vista, 1967. Petersen Collection.

As the communications lineman, Glen was responsible for looking after the microwave station on Whistler Mountain. The road up to the station (now known as Gondola Way) could be driven up in his vehicle for much of the year, but in the winter Glen was given a Tucker snowcat to make the journey. In an interview in 2023, Glen described this snowcat as “hopeless” and recalled that he would often park it, put on snowshoes, and then walk most of the way up to the station. He was later given a better machine, which he called “Little Tucker,” that could make it all the way up to the station. As one of the few people in the area with a snowcat, Glen had the experience of driving Franz Wilhelmsen and other members of the Garibaldi Olympic Development Association up Whistler Mountain in the early 1960s when they began planning for lifts and ski runs. Glen was also there when they began constructing these lifts in 1965 and helped pull the cable for the Red Chair when it was installed.

Another part of his job was to maintain the telephone line that ran along the railway which was also made more difficult by snow. According to Glen, winters could be pretty snowy and wet and it was not uncommon for the snowplow that cleared the tracks to throw wet snow onto the telephone line and break it. Glen would have to go out, go up the telephone pole, tie a rubber-covered cable to one end of the break, and then go along the tracks to find the other end and reattach the wire, climbing and working alone as the only lineman for the section.

Bob Williamson, one of Glen’s predecessors, at work on the lines. Smith Collection.

After Whistler Mountain opened for skiing in 1966, Glen started teaching skiing on the weekends, first for Roy Ferris and Alan White and then for Jim McConkey after he took over the ski school. It was through skiing that he met his wife Trish, who first visited Whistler Mountain in February 1971. She was promptly offered a job at the Mount Whistler Lodge and moved up for the rest of the winter. According to Trish, the first time Glen saw her she was climbing on the bus at the bottom of the dump run after a long day of skiing. Like Glen, Trish taught skiing for Jim McConkey, as well as working at the Mount Whistler Lodge and then Rudi’s Steakhouse.

Apart from one year when he went traveling, Glen continued to work as the PGE (and later BC Rail) lineman for the area until 1973, when he and Trish left to get married in Ireland and then settle in the Kootenays, where Glen grew up. By the time they left, Glen had seen the small Alta Lake community he arrived in transform into a growing ski area.

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A Family BusinessA Family Business

February 4, 2025 Whistler MuseumWhistler Museum 0 Comments

Not all summer residents of Alta Lake came to the area for the fishing or a mountain holiday. When Everett Valleau moved his company, Valleau Logging Ltd., to the area in 1955, he came to log timber around Alta and Green Lakes.

Valleau Logging was a family business and over the years each of Everett’s sons (Bob, Eugene, Gerald, Howard, Laurence, Lindsay, and Ron), at least ten of his grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren all worked for the company in different capacities. The Valleaus operated from Parkhurst on Green Lake and later moved their logging camp to Mons. As skiing opened up in the area and development increased, the Valleaus formed a subsidiary company, Alta Lake Contractors Ltd., to provide excavation work, road building, and more. In 1965, they were hired by Garibaldi Lifts Ltd. to build the road from the valley to the midstation of Whistler Mountain while the logging side of the company removed the usable timber from some of the runs that were cut. The Valleaus and their crews also built roads and parking lots for the Cheakamus Inn (now Whistler Vale), the Highland Lodge, and the Alpine Villas development.

Long before the road was paved or the name of the building changed, the Valleau’s built the road up to the Cheakamus Inn. Whistler Question Collection, 1979

In 2023, the museum spoke with Karyn Smith, one of Everett’s granddaughters, who remembered coming to the area with her family each summer, though they lived on Vancouver Island throughout the rest of the year. She remembered Parkhurst as “a fun place to be” and also a busy place in the summer as it was a working camp with the mill, bunkhouses, and a dining hall, though each of Everett’s sons had their own cabin with their family. With so much family around, Karyn spent a lot of time with her cousins. The kids would often go swimming, though Karyn recalled that her grandfather was “the only adult I ever knew who would swim in Green Lake,” having grown up washing in the cold waters of Galway Bay in Ireland. They would also go on Sunday outings where they would walk down the railway tracks to go horseback riding at Buckhorn Ranch or to visit the Tapleys. Mr. Tapley (Myrtle Philip’s brother Phil) would collect their mail for them and they would have a ball game and eat the meal provided by Mrs. Tapley (Phil’s wife Doreen).

By the time they moved the logging camp to Mons, Karyn was old enough to start working as a “flunky” in the kitchen, peeling potatoes and other vegetables, fetching the meat from the walk-in freezer, doing the dishes, and keeping the coffee going. As Whistler Mountain developed more, Karyn got other jobs working at the Christiana Inn and the Highland Lodge.

Community members began Ice Stock Sliding on Alta Lake and moved to blacktop after the ice melted. Philip Collection

Throughout the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s, it was not uncommon for the Valleau name to pop up whenever there was a community project that needed support and an unexpected job that needed doing. In 1956, when a train crash led to three boxcars loaded with lumber jammed in place and blocking the line, the railway’s equipment couldn’t move the cars. The Valleaus used their logging machinery to pry out the cars and then drag them up the track and into the forest, where they are now a popular destination.

The Valleaus also offered office space in their administration building at Mons to serve as a post office after it moved out of Rainbow Lodge in 1966 and made their kitchen at Mons available to the Alta Lake Community Club to prepare fundraising dinners. When some residents of Whistler started up an Ice Stock Sliding Club during a cold but snowless winter, the Valleaus set aside an area of blacktop for them to continue playing throughout the year. In the early 1960s, when the Alta Lake District Ratepayers Association applied to lease acreage for a dump the Valleaus donated equipment and labour to excavate ditches and fill them in once full. They also provided equipment to help the Alta Lake Sports Club build a bridge over Fitzsimmons Creek when they were building Nordic ski trails around Lost Lake. Laurence Valleau was named Whistler’s Citizen of the Year in 1974.

Miss Valleau Logging Kristi King rides atop the Valleau float in the Pemberton parade. Whistler Question Collection, 1980

As Whistler became larger and more emphasis was placed on the resort development of the area, Laurence and his sons Rick and Dave moved Valleau Logging to Pemberton.

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Whistler’s First Ski LiftWhistler’s First Ski Lift

January 21, 2025 Whistler MuseumWhistler Museum 0 Comments

It’s likely that the groomed runs of Whistler or Blackcomb Mountains are some of the first images that come to mind when thinking about lift-accessed terrain in the Whistler area these days. For those who skied here in the early 1960s, however, lift-accessed terrain looked very different.

The first motorized ski lift in the Whistler area was not a gondola, a chairlift, or even a T-bar, though all three were installed on Whistler Mountain during the summer of 1965. Rather, the first ski lift was an 850-foot rope tow installed under the power lines on the west side of Alta Lake Road by Dick Fairhurst and George Krieg a few years before Garibaldi Lifts Ltd. began construction.

Interest in downhill skiing in the Whistler area gained popularity in the early 1960s, spurred on by the 1960 Olympic Winter Games held in California and the subsequent formation of the Garibaldi Olympic Development Association (GODA). GODA planned to host the Olympics in Garibaldi Provincial Park, settling on London (now Whistler) Mountain. Throughout the winters of 1960/61 and 1961/62, GODA and other interested parties made trips to Alta Lake to explore the proposed site, monitor snow conditions, and test out the skiing. The “Alta Lake Echo,” the newsletter of the Alta Lake Community Club (ALCC), faithfully reported on the comings and goings of these groups alongside those of full and part-time residents of Alta Lake.

Skiers out underneath the powerlines – the rope tow can be seen on the right. Fairhurst Collection

In November 1960, GODA members and journalists visited Alta Lake to do a story on Whistler Mountain as a possible Olympic site to be published in a special “Winter in Canada” issue of Maclean’s. That December, 56 skiers from Vancouver traveled to Alta Lake “with skis and enthusiasm” led by Fred Taylor. Though the conditions were described as “ten inches of old crusty snow,” the group did some skiing on the hills behind Jordan’s Lodge, had dinner, and watched some films on the Olympics at the community hall before returning to the city on the train. With the growing number of these trips, it’s no surprise that Alta Lake residents decided to get in on the fun and set up some skiing for themselves.

Dick Fairhurst, whose family owned and operated Cypress Lodge (now the Point Artist-Run Centre), teamed up with George Krieg to install the valley’s first ski lift on the hill behind Cypress Lodge. They used a 1948 Ford V-8 motor to pull the rope through four pulleys that they mounted on four towers they built. The tow was 850-feet long and could pull three or maybe four people at a time, depending on their size. While it was not the most advanced lift, Dick later described it as “a start and lots of fun.”

Skiers take a break off to the side of the cleared “run.” Gow Collection

We are fortunate to have not only a few photos of this rope tow in the archives but also a film in the Petersen Collection that shows the lift in one of its first years of operation. The film shows rocky terrain, patchy snow, and a slow-moving lift. It also shows Alta Lake residents and guests walking up the road to the lift carrying skis, poles, and children while at least one dog runs around the skiers. Most of the skiers shown are smiling and appear to be enjoying themselves.

Unfortunately for the lift, a fire at Cypress Lodge in 1962 destroyed the storage shed where the tow-rope was kept alongside furniture built by Bert Harrop (the first also destroyed one of the cabins, a car, and a jeep). Florence Petersen used the readership of the “Alta Lake Echo” to fundraise for a new rope and, thanks to the generosity of Alta Lake residents, was able to present a new rope at a Presentation Party at the Krieg’s house that fall. The rope tow ran for only a few winters before Alta Lake residents and visitors had other options for skiing.

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The Great 2×4 Race: Part IIIThe Great 2×4 Race: Part III

December 31, 2024 Whistler MuseumWhistler Museum 0 Comments

Whistler Mountain has seen quite a few races over the past six decades, but only one (as far as we’re aware) involved pitting a Crazy Canuck on 2×4 planks against a novice skier who had first skied around a gate just the month before. On Monday, April 22, 1985, however, crowds gathered to watch Dave Murray and Doug Sack go head to head, or, at least ski to plank. (Find Part I and Part II of this story)

After issuing the challenge in December, Sack used his column in the Whistler Question to build up interest in the race and keep the readers updated on his progress as he learned to ski. Various rumours were in circulation by the day of the race, including one that Murray could complete the race course on the 2x4s in only thirty seconds, and as the fateful date approached Sack was head to say “As far as I’m concerned, there are presently seven wonders in the world. If I beat Murray Monday, you can make that eight.”

Doug Sack’s approach to training, as reported in the Whistler Question on April 18, 1985. Whistler Question, 1985

The day of the race, Sack headed up Whistler Mountain at opening, describing the journey as “the longest, loneliest ride of [his] brief skiing career.” After a couple of runs down to the Orange Chair to calm his nerves, Sack ran into Murray on his way up and the two decided to take a run together. Murray hadn’t skied much on his “Crazy Canuck Demos” but the run proved that a Crazy Canuck on 2x4s was equal to a rookie racer, promising an interesting race. According to Sack, “We knew the race was a toss up and we also knew that we were doing something totally hilarious because everyone was laughing when we got back up the Orange to the race start.”

Dave Murray’s “Crazy Canuck Demos” made their debut at Whistler Mountain’s Media Appreciation Day at the end of the 1984 ski season but did not become a regularly used piece of equipment. Whistler Question 1984, photo courtesy of Rob McQuade

The race consisted of three runs. As the pair waited at the starting gates, Sack heard Murray say, “Have a goof run, Doug,” just before the countdown and then they were off. In his recounting of the race, Sack wrote “It doesn’t matter what level skier you are, when you go for it, you go for it. So I went for it… and fell down trying to make the third gate.” Not disqualified, Sack got back up and managed to catch up with Murray, who tried to gain speed ahead of the flats and wiped out. The first run went to Sack.

Riding up the chair together before the second run, Murray and Sack discussed the pressures of the second run and what it felt like on an international stage with much higher stakes. Feeling more confident having completed a run, Sack made an aggressive start to the second run, made it through the first two gates, and lost a ski in the third, somersaulted, and passed the fourth gate on his back. The second run went to Murray.

Tied heading into the third run, Murray and Sack spent their ride up discussing their ambivalence about winning and their determination to have a clean run where both made it to the finish line. Following Cate Webster’s advice not to worry about speed until after the third gate, Sack was in front as the skiers approached the first waterfall. Assured by the crowd that Murray was right behind him, Sack managed to maintain the lead. He was officially proclaimed the winner of The Great 2×4 Race and was presented with a pair of national ski team racing gloves and a gold ski pin from Murray, though Sack still have Murray a gold nugget because “there were no losers in the race.”

Doug Sack and Dave Murray shake hands following the race. Whistler Question, 1985

While reporting on the dedication of Dave Murray Downhill in April 1991, Sack looked back on the race and credited Murray with the development of his alpine race reporting. Following the race, Sack spent a couple of years covering local and Nor-Am races with the support of Murray and then in 1987 Murray set Sack up with national team coach Glenn Wurtele who arranged for him to go to Europe and cover the World Cup circuit. According to Sack, the 2×4 race remained “the funniest thing I’ve seen on skis” and a feat that only Dave Murray would have attempted.

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