Tag: Al Raine

When Wylie Came to WhistlerWhen Wylie Came to Whistler

May 13, 2025 Whistler MuseumWhistler Museum 0 Comments

When Doug Wylie first came to the Whistler area in April 1971, it was for just a short visit. He and his wife stayed at Doug McDonald’s Alpine Lodge in Garibaldi and enjoyed four days of skiing on Whistler Mountain before Doug reported to his new engineering job on Vancouver Island, which he remembers starting with an “absolutely sunburned face.”

Doug had grown up skiing in Ontario but after skiing at Sunshine in Alberta knew that he wanted to move west for the big mountains. After he finished grad school he took a job in Victoria (which he hadn’t fully realised was on an island) and soon after bought a lot at Forbidden Plateau where they built an A-frame and their daughters learned to ski.

Most winters, Doug would come over to ski on Whistler two or three times with the Victoria branch of the Alpine Club of Canada. The group would pile into a van and arrive on Friday night, hiking up to the club cabin from the parking lot. They would ski for the weekend and then return to the Island.

The Whistler Question’s official portrait of the newest RMOW employee. Whistler Question Collection, 1981

The Club Cabin area was located just next to Whistler Mountain in what is now Nordic Estates. When lifts were first planned for Whistler in 1964, planners for the area and the Garibaldi Olympic Development Association (GODA) also planned to create a specific area where outdoor clubs could build cabins for their members to use. This would help ensure that the lift company had customers. By the time the provincial government officially granted permission for this use and sent out surveyors in late summer 1965, the first club cabin in that area, that of UBC’s Varsity Outdoor Club, was already under construction on a lot that they had surveyed themselves.

With no road access, Club Cabin users walked in with all of their things, just as UBC VOC members carried in their building supplies. Karl Ricker Collection

Other clubs (including SFU, BC Hydro and the Alpine Club) also began building cabins, though they were not accessible by road and shared a parking area next to the highway, near the current pedestrian bridge. The area was redeveloped beginning in 1982 and, in the mid 1980s, the area was renamed Nordic Estates.

Doug returned to Whistler in time to witness this redevelopment. After Vancouver Island, the Wylie family moved to Prince George for two years where Doug worked as a municipal engineer. As Doug recalls, he attended a staff meeting one day and somebody left an ad on the table for a municipal engineer in Whistler. When everybody left, the ad was still on the table and so Doug put it in his pocket and applied for the position.

Doug was interviewed for the job by Al Raine, then an alderman on the Whistler council. They walked along the railway tracks and Al pointed out the sewers and described municipal projects, and then Doug was invited to a party that Al and Nancy were throwing that evening. Doug had previously met Nancy at his university’s sports banquet when he was a member of the ski racing team and, when reminded of her attendance, Nancy was able to pull out the gift she had been given as guest of honour: a “sterling silver engraved box for putting cigarettes or cigars in.” After the party, Doug managed to lock the keys for his rental car inside the car and had to get Al to come help him get into the car at 2 o’clock in the morning. He was still offered the job.

Doug Wylie takes part in the Great Snow Earth Water Race (he did the water part). Photo courtesy of Doug Wylie

Doug started working for the Resort Municipality of Whistler in May 1981, just a few weeks before Muni Hall was moved to Function Junction and the Keg building was moved from Alta Lake. The RMOW had a very small staff and so over the next few years the engineering department was responsible for the sewage treatment plant, water systems, park construction and the early stages of the Valley Trail.

During his time with the RMOW, Doug was also part of founding the Blackcomb Ski Club, worked on the fire department, and became a Weasel Worker, even serving as “Chief of Transportation” for the 1984 World Cup Downhill. Though he left the RMOW in the late 1980s to work for West Vancouver, he continued to spend his weekends in the mountains and moved back full-time after retiring.

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Whistler Museum celebrates busiest year ever (again!)Whistler Museum celebrates busiest year ever (again!)

January 14, 2025 Whistler MuseumWhistler Museum 0 Comments

Continuing with the trend started in 2022, the Whistler Museum celebrated its busiest year ever in 2024. Exhibit visits increased by an impressive 20 per cent, reaching a total of 19,735 visitors, while an additional 9,713 participants attended our events and external programs. Altogether, the museum recorded an incredible 29,448 interactions this year. We’re thrilled to see so many people engaging with our exhibits and programs!

Our 2024 Speaker Series began in February and explored the History of Nordic Skiing with Tom Barratt, Keith Bennett, and Stephanie Sloan. This sold-out event at the Lost Lake PassivHaus delved into the development of early nordic trails, the role of the Resort Municipality of Whistler in their creation, and the formation of the Whistler Nordic Ski Club. In April, historian and ski enthusiast Alex Douglas, better known as Uncle Al, took us on a journey through the connections between Mount Seymour and Whistler Mountain in the 1960s. Then, in June, at the Whistler Public Library, we hosted a discussion on the origins of Tourism Whistler’s origins as the Whistler Resort Association (WRA) with Al Raine and Drew Meredith, moderated by Barrett Fisher. Their detailed recounting of the 1980s – a formative era in Whistler’s history – highlighted the creation of the WRA, its legislation, and the marketing of Whistler as a ski destination.

Drew and Al speak at the Whistler Public Library in June 2024.

Thanks to generous funding from the Whistler Blackcomb Foundation in 2021 and 2024, the museum expanded its digitization capabilities with the acquisition of 16mm film digitization equipment and a new slide scanner. The 16mm film equipment allowed us to digitize our George Benjamin and Jim McConkey film collections in stunning 4K resolution. We hosted two film screenings to showcase these archives. In March, we presented a vignette of George Benjamin’s footage, offering a glimpse into Whistler’s 1970s ski patrol, avalanche safety measures, and the counterculture of the era, including iconic locations like Tokem Corners and Toad Hall. In June, at the Maury Young Arts Centre, we screened highlights from the Jim McConkey collection, including films such as The Snows of Garibaldi (1974). This special event featured a Q&A session with 98-year-old Jim McConkey himself, alongside freeskiing legend and filmmaker Mike Douglas. McConkey shared captivating stories of his time in Whistler, including heliskiing adventures and film projects over the years.

Jim speaks with Mike Douglas and the audience in June 2024.

The museum also continued its beloved summer programs in 2024. The Valley of Dreams Historical Walking Tour, now in its 27th year, and the Discover Nature program at Lost Lake Park, now in its ninth year, remained highlights of our outreach efforts. These outdoor programs allow us to connect with audiences beyond the walls of the museum.

In 2024, the museum unveiled two temporary exhibits. Off the Lip: The Rise of Snowboarding in Whistler opened in January, showcasing the emergence of snowboarding in Whistler during the late ’80s and ’90s. The exhibit highlighted the shops, camps, athletes, coaches, terrain, photographers, and filmmakers that established Whistler as a key destination in the global snowboarding movement. Special thanks to Jeff Patterson and Graham Turner for their invaluable contributions to the development of this exhibit. Then, in June, we launched Pedal to the Medal: The History of Mountain Bike Events in Whistler. This exhibit delved into the early mountain biking events that shaped Whistler’s vibrant mountain biking culture, from the first race in 1982 to the creation of the Crankworx festival, which continues to this day.

Whistler has hosted numerous mountain biking events over the decades, many of which were included in Pedal to the Medal over the summer. Blackcomb Mountain Collection

Throughout 2024, the Whistler Museum staff and board of trustees have been hard at work refining plans for a new facility. In 2025, we’ll be seeking public feedback on its design and the exhibits and subjects the Whistler community would like to see. Stay tuned for more information, including the launch of a formal capital campaign this spring. To stay updated, sign up for our newsletter here.

We would like to express our gratitude to the individuals and organizations that make documenting and preserving Whistler’s history possible. This includes the Resort Municipality of Whistler, the Province of British Columbia, the Government of Canada, the Aqueduct Foundation, the Whistler Blackcomb Foundation, BlueShore Financial, the Whistler Community Foundation, and The Whistler Grocery Store. To everyone who reads our column, attends our events, and visits our exhibits – thank you for your ongoing support. We can’t wait to welcome you back in 2025.

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Looking Ahead to 2025Looking Ahead to 2025

January 7, 2025 Whistler MuseumWhistler Museum 0 Comments

As we start 2025, the Whistler Museum is looking ahead at some fairly significant anniversaries for the Whistler area. The 2025/26 winter season is the 60th season of lift operations on Whistler Mountain and the 45th season for Blackcomb Mountain. This February will mark fifteen years since Whistler and Vancouver hosted the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games in 2010. Off the mountains, the Resort Municipality of Whistler turns 50 in September, marking five decades of what some have called the “Whistler experiment.”

Though merged into one company these days, opening day for Blackcomb Mountain took place fifteen years after the opening day for Whistler Mountain. Greg Griffith Collection, 1980

The RMOW, Canada’s first resort municipality, was created through the Resort Municipality of Whistler Act, a piece of provincial legislation separate from the British Columbia Municipal Act and one that (with some changes) still governs Whistler today. Previously, the Whistler area had been governed as part of the Squamish-Lillooet Regional District and local interests were supported and championed by organizations such as the Whistler Mountain District Chamber of Commerce (formed in 1966, today the Whistler Chamber of Commerce) and the Alta Lake District Ratepayers Association (ALDRA).

Late in the summer of 1975, property owners and residents of the Whistler area (there were about 500 residents of all ages at the time) had a chance to elect their first municipal council and on September 6, 1975, five representatives were sworn into office at the gondola base of Whistler Mountain: Pat Carleton, Bob Bishop, John Hetherington, Garry Watson, and Al Raine.

Whistler’s first municipal council: Bob Bishop, Al Raine, Geoff Pearce (administrator), Mayor Pat Carleton, John Hetherington, and Garry Watson. Watson Collection.

Pat Carleton, Whistler’s first mayor, came to Alta Lake in 1956 for the fishing and retired to his home on Alpha Lake in 1971. Bob Bishop and his family moved to the Whistler area from Squamish in 1968. Bob, along with his partner Bernie Brown, developed the Whistler Cay neighbourhood, as well as the beginnings of the Whistler Golf Course. John “Bushrat” Hetherington, like many over the years, came to Whistler Mountain to ski and worked for the pro ski patrol while living in the original Toad Hall and later Tokum Corners. Garry Watson was first introduced to the area through the Garibaldi Olympic Development Association and the idea of hosting the Olympic Winter Games here.

Al Raine at work. Whistler Question Collection, 1982

Unlike the other members of the Whistler council, Al Raine was not elected to his position in 1975 but was appointed by the provincial government. A ski coach and consultant who advised on ski area development projects, Al worked for the BC Ministry of Lands as the provincial ski area coordinator where he was responsible for creating and implementing ski area policies and overseeing the development of ski areas. Through this position, he worked with the Ministry of Municipal Affairs to make Whistler a resort municipality and, for his efforts, was appointed to council from 1975 to 1982 (after Al stepped down to focus on his role as executive director of the Whistler Resort Association, his seat on council became an elected position).

Described by Garry Watson as “the energy” and “the innovator,” Al was deeply involved in the creation of the Whistler Village, the development of a ski area on Blackcomb Mountain, and much more. After leaving Whistler, he and his wife Nancy Greene continued to advocate for the importance of skiing, ski area development, and tourism in BC. Al served as Mayor of Sun Peaks from 2010 (when it became a municipality) to 2024, stepping down just before he sadly passed away last month.

Over the next year, we’re sure to hear and share many stories from the early days of the RMOW and we look forward to learning more about the people, organizations, and events that have shaped Whistler over the past five decades.

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Opening Up in 1985Opening Up in 1985

November 5, 2024 Whistler MuseumWhistler Museum 0 Comments

The early years of the 1980s saw the Whistler Village begin to come together, with the first buildings completed and businesses starting to open. This growth, however, soon slowed dramatically as a major recession hit North America and Whistler’s future became very uncertain.

In 1982, Al Raine stepped down as the executive director of the Whistler Resort Association (WRA; today known as Tourism Whistler) after working pretty much non-stop on the “Whistler project” since 1975. He and Nancy decided to move to Switzerland with their sons and according to Nancy, the headlines described their move as “Rats deserting the sinking ship.” By the time they returned in 1984, the economy was beginning to turn around, though Whistler was still struggling. The Whistler Village was a mix of completed buildings next to sites of concrete and rebar, one of which the Raines decided to buy and build a hotel on.

The Raine family as they embarked on their European adventure. Whistler Question Collection, 1982

Whistler’s prospects were looking up by the end of 1985 when Nancy Greene’s Olympic Lodge was completed, with the WRA reporting in November that hotel bookings for the winter were already up 57% over 1984/85. This boded well for the many businesses that were getting ready to open in the Village.

As well as being a 90-room hotel, Nancy Greene’s Olympic Lodge also contained retail locations and the opening of the hotel also saw the opening of new businesses. The only restaurant, Isabelle’s, was named after the daughter of proprietors Curt and Monica Czerveniak and served breakfast, lunch and dinner daily. Bullwinkle’s featured stained glass, Tiffany lamps and pottery while The Country Store (which also had a location in Squamish) offered various souvenirs including hand-made candles and soaps. Whistler Gifts II was also a second location, as owners Toshi and Setsuko Hamazaki also owned Whistler Gifts in the Crystal Lodge.

Can-Ski’s first Whistler location offered ski equipment and gear and the Kettle Creek Canvas Company, Sports Style (a third store for the owners of Village Sportstop and Whistler Village Sports), and More Tops (a companion to Jan Holmberg and Ted Nebbeling’s Whistler Tops) all sold various types of clothing, with More Tops even offering on-site embroidery and monogramming. Nancy T, another clothing store that catered specifically to children, was opened by Nancy Treiber.

The Brandywine Building and business signs. Blackcomb Mountain Collection, David Stoecklein, 1989/90

The final business to open in Nancy Greene’s Olympic Lodge was One-Hour Photo, owned by Rick Clare and Terry Heenan. The store offered camera rentals, equipment sales, and film processing, with a special 24-hour rate for locals. For the first two full months of operations, One-Hour Photo also contributed 50 cents from every roll of film processed to the Dandelion Daycare Society, which briefly had to delay opening its first daycare facility in November as they did not have enough money to finish the interior of the new building.

Further along the Village Stroll, another building of businesses opened the same month: the Brandywine Building. Though the Brandywine did offer fewer retail spaces, the building did fit in Whistler’s first 24-hour convenience store, run by Mark and June Bombay, another location of Jim McConkey’s Sports Store, and Susie Holland’s Blackcomb Therapy Centre, which sold “just about everything to soothe and rejuvenate weary skiers,” as well a few new eatery options. At Lu Gardens, Shirley Jane and her staff offered eat-in and take-out Chinese cuisine. Next door, the Original Ristorante was spread over two floors, while on Lu Garden’s other side Mikito “Miki” Homma and two friends opened up Sushi Village, Whistler’s first Japanese restaurant.

Some familiar faces at Sushi Village. Blackcomb Mountain Collection, Unknown Photographer

Many of these businesses that opened at the end of 1985 have gone or evolved significantly and the buildings that house them have changed over the past 39 years (the Brandywine is now the Sundial Hotel and Nancy Greene’s Olympic Lodge first lost the word Olympic and then became part of the Crystal Lodge). A few, however, continue on in different locations while a couple are still operating out of the same locations. Near the base of Whistler Mountain, the Original Ristorante changed its name in 1995, taking after its owner Lawrence Black and rebranding as Black’s Pub while Sushi Village continues to operate just two doors down.

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