In the 1980s the Whistler Question began posing a question to three to six people and publishing their responses under “Whistler’s Answers” (not to be confused with the Whistler Answer). Each week, we’ll be sharing one question and the answers given back in 1985. Please note, all names/answers/occupations/neighbourhoods represent information given to the Question at the time of publishing and do not necessarily reflect the person today.
Some context for this week’s question: This one seems pretty self explanatory, so we think we’ll leave it there.
Question: What sort of winter do you think we’re going to have?
Rod Mitchell – Psychologist – Dallas, Texas
You’re going to have a helluva lot of snow, and it Dallas we’re going to have nothing. So I’m going to come up here and ski and have a lot of fun.
Heather McGregor – Unemployed – West Vancouver
I think it will be a great winter. Lots of snow. I’m looking for a job. It should be a long, cold winter with lots of skiing. It’s been an extremely hot, dry summer and all the moisture has to come down.
Cameron Lloyd-Jones – Student – North Vancouver
I think it will be very cold and good for skiing. I was here two or three weekends last year and it was excellent. Maybe we’ll get 300 cm this year, I don’t know. Going to stay home if it rains.
We love getting personal curiosity requests, as they give us a chance to dive into the archives to learn and share more. Last week we wrote on the race events Blackcomb Mountain held when they entered the mountain bike scene, including the Can-Am Challenge. Ken Austin, who competed in the race, recently reached out to see if we had photographs and to see if his memory of the event was correct. He gave us quite a story!
Ken Austin competes with a Ridley’s jersey and a few bandages picked up along the way. Blackcomb Mountain Collection, 1989
The second annual Labatt’s Can-Am Challenge in 1989 took place from August 18-20 and saw approximately 350 riders compete for $10,000 in cash and prizes.
Austing rode for Ridley’s Cycle in Calgary and participated in all four races. The cross-country race started off the weekend on the Friday, with dual slalom on the Saturday, and the uphill and descent on the Sunday.
According to Austin, he went “too hard having fun the day before [the cross-country race], then drinking only water, with no fuel mix.” Envy kicked in when he saw that the Ritchey Team had a fuel station for their riders, “as the rest of us were dumb enough to be only on water, no support, no special fuels.”
The next day was not much better with the dual slalom, though Austin’s teammate Pete Lawrence did well.
Austin smashed the uphill climb and finished in 6th place, but “never having climbed that hard for that long, [Austin] spent the entire lunch break a the gondola station trying to not get a massive butt cheek cramp, gently stretching. The glutes were just twitching to lock up.”
So far for the weekend, the weather had been perfect for each race, until the clouds rolled in on Sunday afternoon, just in time for the Kamikaze Descent.
Clouds roll in during the Can-Am Challenge Kamikaze Descent. Blackcomb Mountain Collection, 1989
Austin recalls, “Right away, we were in the clouds, couldn’t see my handlebars for quite a stretch. There were braver fools crying in the ditches with broken collarbones and such. In the dense fog, as I crawled along, Greg Herbold came flying by, as if it was a clear day! He must have pre rode the course quite a bit, days before, to have it memorized.”
Several Whistler riders placed well in the top 3 of many categories. Cindy Devine beat California’s Cindy Whitehead in the Women’s Pro. Whitehead captured the top spot the year prior.
The Can-Am Challenge was another success with strong attendance. Though the first two years did attract many pros, some did not see a point in competing as these races were not sanctioned and did not count towards points for being on a national team. According to the Whistler Question, in 1990 there was a rule change for the world championships, where each country could only have 5 riders, which resulted in fewer American riders participating in the Can-Am challenge than usual.
A year later, the Can-Am Challenge was renamed to the Blackcomb Challenge. It was the fourth and final stop in the Canada Cup Points Series. The Canadian Cycling Association created the series to establish a national ranking system for riders when choosing a national MTB team.
The Blackcomb Challenge occurred again the next year, but in 1993 there was instead the Labatt/BRC Mountain Bike Race weekend, which in previous years was a series that took place over the course of the summer.
We always love hearing more stories. Have one to tell, or have items or photographs that we can preserve in our collections? Email us at archives@whistlermuseum.org.
In the 1980s the Whistler Question began posing a question to three to six people and publishing their responses under “Whistler’s Answers” (not to be confused with the Whistler Answer). Each week, we’ll be sharing one question and the answers given back in 1985. Please note, all names/answers/occupations/neighbourhoods represent information given to the Question at the time of publishing and do not necessarily reflect the person today.
Some context for this week’s question: The Whistler Medical Centre opened in 1982 in a double-wide trailer on Whistler Way. Whistler Emergency Services also operated out of the facility and the trailer could get very busy, especially during the ski season. The Whistler Medical Centre was still located in this temporary facility in 1985, though they did move to a bigger space in the basement of Municipal Hall in 1986. Find more about the Whistler Medical Centre here and here.
Question: What do you think of the medical services in Whistler?
Eric Pehota – Busboy – Whistler
I think they’re pretty good. They could use a more permanent facility. They’re always here to help and they have good staff. I have no quarrels with the staff. In fact, I’m on my way over there right now.
Lois Paterson – Janitor – Whistler
We need more space and X-ray facilities. Otherwise it’s run very well. A permanent facility would be excellent. As it is, it’s better than nothing.
Brenda Rosalowsky – Bartender – Vancouver (formerly Whistler)
I find they’re quite adequate. They do have physiotherapy equipment. With the increase in population they could be expanded. It would be nice to have a permanent facility. I would imagine that as Whistler continues to grow, all the facilities will be up here just as they have them in Squamish.
The Whistler Museum’s latest exhibition – Pedal to the Medal: The History of Mountain Bike Events in Whistler – highlights several races and events that took place in the valley, Blackcomb Mountain, and Whistler Mountain. We have written previously on Whistler’s first off-road race in 1982, as well as Whistler Mountain’s Can-Am Challenge. However, we have so far only referred to Blackcomb Mountain’s involvement in the sport.
In 1988, Blackcomb Mountain expanded its summer offerings with summer glacier skiing, hiking, sightseeing, and mountain biking. The latter was growing rapidly in popularity and Blackcomb took the opportunity to host bike competitions that were the highlight of the summer.
Kicking off the racing season was a series of events presented by Bike Riders Choice, known as the BRC races. The first year held five races in June and July, including cross-country, trials, dual slalom, uphill climb, and descent. Riders who entered the series would see their points in each event contribute to their overall score. Major prizes, such as BRC bikes, Blackcomb ski passes or Keg gift cards, were awarded to winners, with draw prizes available to participants of three or more races.
The majority of participants were from the Sea to Sky area and Vancouver, though this changed as the series grew more popular.
Bill Stiles (left) and Geoff “Lumpy” Leidal (right) leading the pack in a 1992 BRC cross-country race. Whistler Question Collection.
The first season saw plenty of punctures, broken bikes, and DNFs (did not finish), but there was also success for many riders. Despite getting eighth in the Mile High Descent, Eric Crowe’s performance in the other races won him the overall title in the men’s expert class. The tightest competition was between Cindy Devine and Diana Ghikas in the women’s expert class, with the former securing the top spot by only three points.
For many riders, the BRC races prepared them for the Labatt’s Can-Am Challenge on Blackcomb Mountain, which took place over a weekend in August. The Can-Am had a similar format to the BRC races, with five events determining riders’ overall score, but contributed $5,000 in prize money. In was described in the Whistler Question as Whistler’s “first full-blown international bike race.” While the 1986 Can-Am Challenge on Whistler Mountain attracted over 70 competitors from across North America, the inaugural year in 1988 on Blackcomb saw 230 Canadian and American riders.
The Can-Ams were also an important part of the local MTB community, as local companies such as Backroads Whistler and Jim McConkey’s Sport Shop used the weekend to advertise their services to a larger audience.
Athletes from the USA dominated the pro categories, but local racers placed well in their respective categories, including Cindy Devine and Diana Ghikas who placed third and fourth in the Women’s Pro. Many experienced racers commented on some organizational blunders, though overall the event was a success with Blackcomb’s dedicated staff and team of volunteers excitedly planning for the next year.
Vail rider Michael Kloser leading the cross-country criterium. He won the overall title in the 1988 Can-Am Challenge. Whistler Question Collection, 1988.
1989 saw some formatting changes, including dropping the trials event for both the BRC races and the Can-Am Challenge. They also nixed local business participation and focussed only on Blackcomb MTB services, such as their retail, which disappointed some local companies.
As Eric Wight of Backroads told the Whistler Question, “It’s a North American event and we should be using it to show mountain bikers from elsewhere what a strong mountain biking community there is here in Whistler.”
Nevertheless, there continued to be a strong showing of local riders and the event attracted more athletes from around the continent. Keep an eye out next week as we recently had a participant from the 1989 Can-Am Challenge share his recollections of racing in the event.
