Tag: Alta Lake Community Club

Join the ClubJoin the Club

September 23, 2025 Whistler MuseumWhistler Museum 0 Comments

In May 1976, the Alta Lake Community Club (ALCC) announced its first meeting since March 1972 and began recruiting new members. This was not the first time that the club had experienced a hiatus, only to re-activate.

In 1923, Grace Archibald suggested forming a social club. She, Lizzie Neiland, Flo Williams and a few other Alta Lake residents and regular summer visitors met at Rainbow Lodge to plan a picnic; from the resulting picnic, the ALCC was created. The ALCC started holding meetings in 1926 but it wasn’t long before the club took a break. In 1933, after almost seven years of inactivity, the ALCC started up again in order to raise money for a community hall, which they accomplished through weekly dances. Over the next few decades, the ALCC hosted dances, picnics, meetings, concerts, pot lucks, film nights, children’s parties and more.

Community Club Christmas Carol singers. From left to right: Andrew Roberts, Melanie Busdon, Clare Jennings, Rachel Roberts, Jessica Wilson, Sara Jennings, Roger Systad, Christopher Systad, Bishop children, Duncan Maxwell. Whistler Question Collection

The ALCC became inactive over the summer of 1972 and did not have another meeting until 1976 when a group of Whistler residents decided that, with Myrtle Philip School and its community space scheduled to open soon, it was time to revive the community club. They placed a notice in the recently founded Whistler Question to recruit members stating, “This is not a political or ladies only club. It is for single people and family groups interested in community recreational activities.”

About 35 people attended the ALCC’s first meeting of 1976 at the Mount Whistler Lodge. They elected a new executive and, with Frans Carpay as president, Ruth Howells as vice-president, BJ Godson as secretary, and Pat Beauregard as treasurer, the club was ready to plan new activities and events. Thanks to its previous activity, the ALCC already had $7,700 in the bank (just over $40,000 today when adjusted for inflation) and they decided to start by sending out a questionnaire to find out what kind of things people wanted to see from the club.

Dressed up at the Alta Lake Community Club Roaring Twenties Pot Luck Dinner, left to right: Max Maxwell, Kelly Maxwell, Diane Smith and Ken Domries. Whistler Question Collection

The ALCC hosted a “Soccer Ball” dance fundraiser that August to raise money for soccer balls and uniforms for the Whistler team, followed by an “old fashioned family fun and sports day.” In its first year back, the club hosted Halloween and Christmas parties (including a visit from Santa), supported the local Brownies and Cubs, held an Easter egg hunt, cooked pancakes for Mother’s Day, and even formed a drama club. They had used some of their funds to establish an annual scholarship for a graduating student from the Whistler or Garibaldi area and purchased sound equipment and tables that could be used by other groups. The ALCC had also started sponsoring events such as the annual ski swap and dance workshops because the club had the necessary liability insurance and were trusted renters of the school community space.

Margate Kogler ‘hams it up’ with a submarine sandwich in the kitchen at the Community Club Fall Fair. Whistler Question Collection

According to Ruth Howells, some of the most successful adult events hosted by the club were their suppers. These were so popular that they had to limit them to members and guests only and even then often ended up with a waiting list. Ruth summed up the success by saying, “Good food, good company and good music make for very enjoyable evenings.”

The ALCC continued to bring people together through events and fundraisers such as their annual Fall Fair into the 1980s. In 1981, they began hosting a “Welcome to Whistler” tea and in 1984 donated money to the RMOW for benches along the Valley Trail. As Whistler continued to grow, other clubs formed for different activities and interests and over time the ALCC wound down.

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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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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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Fall FestivitiesFall Festivities

October 8, 2024 Whistler MuseumWhistler Museum 0 Comments

While many locals escape Whistler for the fall months, the town can have much to offer in terms of fall festivities. Whistler has been hosting fabulous events from hot air balloon rides and firework displays to mouthwatering food and drink festivals for decades.

The first Fall Fair was organized in 1977 by the Alta Lake Community Club (ALCC) and took place in November at the Myrtle Philip School. The ALCC worked with the Whistler Mountain Ski Club’s Ski Swap to create a late autumn fundraising event where participants could buy crafts and baked goods, view ski demonstrations, and purchase raffle tickets. Over time, the Fall Fair became one of the ALCC’s most successful fundraisers, with 1980 being its most successful year.

A study in concentration – Trev Roote carves out house number signs at the Fall Fair. Whistler Question Collection

In 1981, the Fall Festival was organized by the Whistler Resort Association (WRA; better known today as Tourism Whistler). A more expansive version of the previous Fall Fair, the festival featured arts, crafts, performers, and plenty of athletic endeavours to participate in or watch such as tennis, volleyball, and softball. In addition to the land-bound activities, there were also opportunities to see the valley from above. Blackcomb Mountain offered free chairlift rides during the festival and Chuck Bump’s hot air balloon, labelled as the “World’s Largest Hot Air Balloon,” was also available for aerial sightseeing. As the first half of the Whistler Village was still under construction in 1981, the inaugural festival included a Paint a Snowflake contest that left some of the fences surrounding construction sites covered in snowflakes. The Fall Festival was also the first big event attended by Willie Whistler, the mascot of WRA, who was joined in Village Square by Bo Bo the Clown.

Willie Whistler takes a ride with Bo Bo the Clown during the Fall Festival in Village Square. Whistler Mountain Ski Corporation Collection.

This exciting version of the Fall Festival continued for the next four years. Although this festival no longer takes place, Whistler is home to a wide variety of events every fall. These days we can look forward to the Whistler Village Beer Festival, the Whistler Blackcomb Turkey Sale, the Writers Festival, and, of course, Cornucopia.

Crowds gather on the field for the Tapley’s Farm Halloween fireworks display. Whistler Question Collection, 1994.

It is impossible to write about fall events without describing Whistler’s long-standing Halloween celebrations! With fewer stairs than most other neighbourhoods in the area, Tapley’s has been the go-to neighbourhood for young trick-or-treaters for many years. Over time, extra precautions have been put in place to protect and entertain the little ghosts and goblins in the area, including closing the road to cars and holding neighbourhood competitions for the best decorated house. Last year was Tapley’s 40th annual Halloween celebration. Complete with free hot cocoa and fireworks, the neighbourhood not only did a fantastic job maintaining the Halloween spirit but also helped raise 400 kg in donations for the Whistler Food Bank as part of the WE Scare Hunger campaign. However you enjoy the season, stay warm this fall and treat yourself to whatever pumpkin or cinnamon flavoured treat your heart desires!

Ella Healey was the Summer Program Coordinator at the Whistler Museum through the Young Canada Works Program. She has now returned to her studies at the University of Victoria.

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