Whistler Museum and Archives Society

Boarder Bob: Whistler-based 1990’s Comic StripBoarder Bob: Whistler-based 1990’s Comic Strip

February 24, 2026 Whistler Museum 0 Comments

Featured image: Boarder Bob comic illustrated by Olivier Roy, published in Snowboard Canada Magazine (starting somewhere in the mid-nineties!)

Olivier (Oli) Roy is “an artist snowboarder” who first came to Whistler “right after high school in 1990” to attend a Craig Kelly Camp. He moved here, three years later, after art college.

Now, with a career of more than thirty years of ongoing coaching and creating under his belt, he holds a Lifetime Whistler Blackcomb Pass in one hand, a paintbrush in the other and continues to ride the endless canvas offered up by the mountain: artistically and athletically.

The early/mid-nineties has been referred to as the ‘golden age of snowboarding.’ It was fresh, edgy and still relegated to counter-culture status. In Whistler, it was synonymous with a lifestyle and a community.

During this era, the Ontario-based Snowboard Canada Magazine was born. Broadening their output, they enlisted Roy, as he describes, a “cool artist.”

Thus, Boarder Bob – the character and comic strip – were born. Border Bob “moves to Whistler to pursue [his] dream of being a pro snowboarder, but he’s very delusional … he thinks he’s a big shot…” But, he’s not. After a season or two, “he gets a sidekick, Jed Shred.”

Jed is a devoted fan: “he’s all like, ‘Oh, Boarder Bob, you’re so epic’. But, as is proven – through Bob’s trials, tribulations and failed attempts at ease and epicness – he is anything and everything, but.

Roy collaborated with local Glenn Rogers – known for his comic panels in The Whistler Question (a former, local publication started in 1976) – to produce the strip. The two worked together for eight years (“if I remember correctly”, states Roy), producing the 8 panel, 2 row, half-page ‘Boarder Bob’ strip. Published four times a year, “we had a lot of fun” poking fun at the “life of snowboarding in Whistler and on the West Coast.”

The stresses of balancing the desire to shred while staying fed, being able to board while needing to find literal board-ing to trying to be the bawler at the bar were all fodder for the two creative duos: Roy and Rogers, Bob and Jed. Moral quandaries were occasionally tackled through the ink of these stories: “should we risk everything to be in the shot?!” Arguably, Boarder Bob was 90% total fun, 10% tackling that ‘the stakes are real’.

Boarder Bob Comic. Illustrated by Olivier Roy, written by Glenn Rogers: featured in Snowboard Canada Magazine. The comic strip ran between 1995-2002 approximately.

The comic ran from about 1995 to 2002, or thereabouts. The pinpointing of specifics is about as precise as Bob’s technique, working more with the “ish” verb. However, when it comes to the technical hows of developing the strip, the collaborative process between Roy and Rogers was fine tuned.

Rogers would usually come up with the story. Admittedly, Roy states “I was never good at writing the stories, I was more the artist and inker.” He would receive the script and then sketch it, all by hand, on an 11 x 17 piece of cardboard:

“I would pencil it and then use China ink [for] the black and white and use markers, like alcohol markers and a bit of watercolor.” It was all hand-lettered. “And then I would send it by FedEx back to Snowboard Canada magazine. And I, I remember a few times where the FedEx guy would ring the bell and I would still be finishing … after an all nighter.” Each strip took between 10-20 hours. “It was a labour of love,” Roy reminisces. “I loved it.”

Boarder Bob eventually got abducted by aliens (I mean, why not?) – or this is insinuated, but never confirmed for the reader. “There’s a UFO and he disappears.”

Boarder Bob carved out a seminal space in the culture and history of snowboarding art, taking its place in the local legacy of slope-inspired comic strips. The Peak Bros ran from 1979-2002 (in The Whistler Answer and Whistler Review), poking fun at 80s ski culture, whereas Boarder Bob tackled the snowboarding shenanigans of the nineties.

Roy continued, and continues, to flourish on and off the slopes: the line between his art and sport overlapping.

He has illustrated for Snowboarder Magazine (the prominent US publication), been Whistler Blackcomb’s online illustrator, designed top sheets for such companies as Prior, Luxury and Option Snowboards; been sent to Ottawa as a Whistler Art Ambassador in 2010 for Canada Day and continues to regularly produce art that showcases the mountains and its vibrant culture.

The born-in-Montréal skateboarding kid who first came out to join Craig Kelly’s summer camps on the glacier, to then gain accolades as a competitive snowboarder in “half pipe contests, some slope styles, some boarder cross” to now working for Whistler Blackcomb’s Alpine Program and holding the title of being Whistler Valley Snowboard Club’s longest-running coach, working with the program since its inception almost 30 years ago – has literally drawn together the lines of on and off-mountain creativity.

Boarder Bob Comic. Illustrated by Olivier Roy, written by Glenn Rogers: featured in Snowboard Canada Magazine. The comic strip highlighted and poked fun at the Whistler snowboarding scene of the nienties.

Outtakes from the ‘Olden’ DaysOuttakes from the ‘Olden’ Days

February 3, 2026 Whistler Museum 0 Comments

Featured Photo: John Millar outside of his cabin 1911. Philip Collection.

The trials of this town’s early trailblazers were not without their moments of hilarity, precarious predicaments and comic quandaries. Here, I highlight four such stories: standouts in the history of how a place comes to be…

John Millar ran a roadhouse at Mile 34 ½ (Function Junction) in the early 1900s. A former cow wrangler, rumour had it he was on the run from the Texas Rangers with a couple ‘notches in his gun.’ He housed and fed weary travellers who were making the arduous journey along the original Pemberton Trail. He was known to serve stewed raccoon, muskrat stew and haunch of bear; recognizable by his broken nose, his buckskin coat, beat-up stetson and neck-wrapped red polka dot handkerchief.

John was a character. He was also a trapper and tended a line up the Cheakamus Lake valley: catching marten, rabbit, mink, muskrat…and wolverine. On one mission, John put the limp body of what he thought was a dead animal – a large, muscular and aggressive member of the weasel family – into his pack and set off… only to have the angry beast ‘come to’ and bite him in the buttocks. The tangle on the trail made it so that John could not sit comfortably for some long time after!

*

The Burnt Stew Hike. *Petersen Collection*

Fast forward to the summer of 1958 and a backpacking trip around London (now, Whistler) Mountain. Local notables Florence Peterson, Kelly Fairhurst and Don Gow were out with overnighting packs and picnic gear and a billy can they rigged over a fire to make dinner. The pot was neglected, as campfire comradery took over, only to be remembered when the pungent smell of scorched food filled the air. The stench permeated the area to such an extent that the basin and the ski run earned its name ‘Burnt Stew’.

*

Back now to butt-bitten John. Periodically he would venture with his packhorses down to Squamish and then take the steamer to Vancouver. One fall, he was returning with his entire winter’s supply of liquor, when one of his horses fell hard into Rubble Creek. Every bottle of John’s seasonal spirits were broken, shattered in the stream. The only glass that didn’t break was a bottle of vinegar. “I was so cussin’ gol’ danged mad that I pulled the cork out of the vinegar and a good swig of it.” Rueing the woes of the rubble, John made his way home with a much lighter, more sobering load.

*

Then there was explosive Charlie Chandler. Charlie came to the valley in the early 1900s. He, too, was a trapper. A floatplane pilot gifted Charlie with a small amount of high-grade aircraft fuel, which he then used to clean his filthy overalls. After laundering the garment in gas, he felt it best to dispose of the dirty fuel down the pit of his outhouse. He didn’t think twice about it. The next time he visited the bivvy, he sat himself down, lit his pipe as was his custom, and survived (albeit, stunned and singed!) to tell the tale of an explosion that was heard from miles around!

Charlie would later leave the world with a bang, again sitting down. In 1946, friends found him dead, in his chair, outside his cabin. He appeared to have had a heart attack. He was also frozen stiff. Charlie was transported – still in his chair – by ‘speeder’ along the rail line to Rainbow Lodge to catch the train south. The train, however, was not to arrive until the next day. Now this is where the story gets a little blurry, but somehow, as local lore would have it, in the meantime, Charlie was offered a final drink – (surely to warm up!) – and hoisted, still seated, bolt upright, into a boxcar for his final, if not somewhat flamboyant, voyage!

Environment & Biodiversity

We almost lost Lost Lake Park!We almost lost Lost Lake Park!

January 27, 2026 Whistler Museum 0 Comments

Photo credit: Don MacLaurin volunteering with the Whistler Rotary Club. 1984. Whistler Question Collection

“If you want to believe that the world is terrible, watch the news. If you want to believe that the world is incredible, spend time in nature.” – Austin Perlmutter

It’s hard to imagine Whistler without Lost Lake Park, our largest and most natural municipal park. However, the creation of the park was not a certainty. In the 1930s, as tourism in Whistler (then Alta Lake) grew, guests at Rainbow Lodge (located at what is now Rainbow Park) were taken on excursions to Lost Lake for swimming, fishing, and picnics. However, in the 1940s the Lost Lake area shifted from recreational to industrial. During the next twenty years most of the surrounding forest was logged, while the Great Northern Mill operated on the north shore of Lost Lake.

In the early 1960s residential development was proposed. The timber licenses straddling Lost Lake were about to expire, and developers started staking out lots and preparing to apply for waterfront property. Keep in mind: this was 15 years before the Resort Municipality of Whistler (RMOW) was created, so it took someone with vision and determination to ensure this beautiful natural playground could be enjoyed by the entire community and visitors.

Don MacLaurin: Bridge builder

Whistler was very fortunate that Don MacLaurin (1929-2014) made Alta Lake his summer home in the 1960s. Don was a forester for the BC Forest Service and later an instructor at BCIT (British Columbia Institute of Technology), teaching courses in forestry and parks management. He was also a tireless volunteer and mentor. Don strongly believed in the value of getting into the mountains, and he championed the summer enjoyment of Whistler’s landscape.

Don was able to navigate the complicated relationship between industry and recreation. “Don was living and teaching sustainability before the term was invented. [He] was the bridge builder, the guy who looked at both the economics and the ecology,” recalled Arthur DeJong in a 2014 Pique article.

Don was the driving force behind preserving the Lost Lake area as a park. With the help of his contacts at BC Parks, he was instrumental in ensuring Lost Lake Park was designated as a park, preventing privatization and preserving the space in perpetuity. Lost Lake Park opened officially in 1982.

It’s no surprise that today, Lost Lake Park is cherished for opportunities to conserve and appreciate nature. Every year I am filled with hope when I see how the community comes together to protect thousands of tiny Western Toads as they migrate from Lost Lake to the forest. The RMOW leads toad stewardship with permanent features such as signage, fencing, underpasses (for the toads!), and staff expertise. The Museum runs the Discover Nature program at Lost Lake Park, and we often hear that learning about and moving toads away from danger is a favourite activity. I know Don would be pleased!

We can thank Don for more than Lost Lake Park

Don worked as an advisor to the RMOW in the 1980s. When the forestry industry planned to clearcut the south side of Whistler Mountain, which is the first thing everyone sees when driving to Whistler from the south, Don and the council of the day fought back and got that logging license moved. Similarly, when the Ancient Cedars (just north of Whistler) were threatened with logging in 1988, that license was also moved due to Don’s persistence, persuasion and advocacy by the Western Canada Wilderness Committee.

Don also worked tirelessly on planning the Whistler Interpretive Forest. He mapped and developed the trails and helped people understand the forest and its importance. The suspension bridge spanning the Cheakamus River is called MacLaurin’s Crossing, a fitting tribute to this influential bridge builder.

The original Black Tusk Snowmobile ClubThe original Black Tusk Snowmobile Club

January 13, 2026 Whistler Museum 0 Comments

Feature Image: Snowmobilers take a break in front of Black Tusk. Judging by the sleds, this is probably from the early 1970s: however, unfortunately we do not have any details about this archival photograph.

This year 60 is a big number.

Whistler Mountain is celebrating its ‘diamond jubilee’.

Another sixtieth anniversary of note is the formation of the first local snowmobile club, on the opposite shores of Alta Lake.

The inaugural meet-up and race of the lower mainland-based BC Snow Vehicle Association was also held on Alta Lake, at the end of January, sixty years ago. 23 people competed in the event and the winner of the 20 gate, large machine slalom course was won by local Dick Fairhurst: completing the run in a whopping 39.9 seconds.

Dick Fairhurst was one of the ‘westside gang’ – a band of early residents – who called themselves the Black Tusk Snowmobile Club. The club (whose numbers are hard to confirm) would venture out and among the surrounding peaks, including Rainbow, Sproatt and up into the Callaghan.

From R-L, Dick Fairhurst, Gray Mitchell, Stephan Ples, and Don Gow take a break on Callaghan Lake, March 1970. The entire upper Callaghan Valley, including Callaghan Lake, is now a non-motorized zone to avoid conflicts with backcountry and nordic skiers.

Dick – a logger and trapper of Cypress Lodge fame (now the site of the Point Artist-Run-Centre) and creator of the valley’s first ski ‘tow rope’ in 1960 – was one of the three founding members of the snowmobile club, along with Don Gow and Glen Creelman. Together, the three became the area’s first distributors of Bombardier Ski-Doos.

Don Gow moved here in 1955. He stayed and was the station agent at Alta Lake for four years, up until the train’s scheduled stop (in operation since 1914) was demoted to simply a ‘flagstop’ in 1959. However, the area’s appeal and pull was strong, and Don returned to Alta Lake in 1965 (along with his wife, who became the postmaster and their two children). They lived here until 1975.

Glen Creelman was a microwave technician. In 1957, BC Telephone Co. installed a double copper line around Alta Lake. Glen was responsible for establishing an open circuit/party line – linking lodges and homes with this new thread of communication. One was able to lift the receiver of the old crank telephones and listen in on your neighbour’s conversations.

And surely, at that time, part of the talk of the town was the growing popularity and access to motorized sleds…

From up the Callaghan Valley. Fairhurst Collection.

Bombardier pioneered the development of the snowmobile. In 1966 – the year the Black Tusk club was formed; the year Dick won the inaugural BC Snow Vehicle Association race; and the year Don, Glen and Dick began selling the machines to the Alta Lake Community – the Canadian company released a line of three machines with “new, super slick styling.” The models included the ‘New Alpine,’ the ‘Olympique’ and the ‘Super Olympique.’ The latter was what Dick won the race on. The 250 lb machine had a roller chain in oil bath drive, the patented Bombardier track and was 2.36 metres in length. It was also bright yellow.

Dick Fairhurst with sled-groms in front of Cypress Lodge (now The Point Artist Run-Centre) — on a neighbour’s sled, Ron Dent’s “Dentmobile” in 1965.
Fairhurst Collection.

Snowmobiling – or sledding, as it is more colloquially referred – remains as popular as ever as a thrill-seeking, backcountry sport. Handling has been honed and the horsepower hiked… but the same spirit seeking freedom, fast movement and further access prevails.

Not all who sled are members of a club, but other regional groups now exist. The Powder Mountain Snowmobile Club has been operating since 1990. The Pemberton Valley Snowmobile Club was officially incorporated in 2000, but sledding stories in the area far precede that date, too.

As for the Black Tusk Snowmobile Club, it ‘still’ exists, however its base now operates out of the Brohm Ridge former ‘Rat-Pack’ chalets. This particular incarnation of the club dates their inception to 1971. Records of how the Alta Lake-based group either entirely dissolved or transitioned to the current location are perhaps best described as being frozen in two-stroke time…