Tag: Alta Lake Sailing Club

Lake Fun in WhistlerLake Fun in Whistler

July 2, 2024 Whistler MuseumWhistler Museum 0 Comments

Whistler’s lakes offer a variety of water-based activities and are a great place to cool off during the summer heat. From sailing regattas and floating art galleries to swim races and a quadrathlon, Whistler’s lakes have seen it all!

The Alta Lake Sailing Club’s annual season end “Regretta” included sailing races as well as land-bound activities for participants of all ages. The first ever “Regretta” was hosted in the summer of 1965 and was named after the regret the community feels as the summer comes to an end. Today, the Whistler Sailing Association offers sailing programs, rentals, and races throughout the summer. Alta Lake and Green Lake permit motorized boats; however, on Alta Lake they must be kept under 10 horsepower. Non-motorized boats such as pedal boats, kayaks, canoes, and standup paddle-boards are welcome on all of Whistler’s lakes.

Participants in the Great Snow Earth Water Race rush out of the water. Whistler Question Collection, 1980

On Victoria Day, 1975, the Great Snow Earth Water Race first started. The first leg of Whistler’s version of the relay race included skiing from the top of Whistler Mountain, then running the remaining distance to today’s Creekside where the first baton pass-off took place. The next leg was a bike ride around Alta Lake where the baton was passed to the group’s canoe team. The canoeists then paddled through the River of Golden Dreams to the first weir and passed the baton to a runner who completed the race by running all the way back to Creekside. The 2014 revision of the race included an extra three components: ski or snowboard touring, downhill mountain biking, and cross-country biking. Unfortunately, the last Great Snow Earth Water Race took place during the 1990s.

Windsurfers on Alta Lake in August 1981. George Benjamin Collection

Through the 1970s and early 1980s, windsurfing at Alta Lake became very popular. Whistler was home to multiple windsurfing regattas as well as a weekly race night. Participation eventually declined due to lack of availability of the equipment and legal issues. Windsurfers on Alta Lake were a concern for those participating in the Fun Fitness Swim Race in the 1980s. After a swimmer and windsurfer collided (both were ok!) the swim race was moved to Lost Lake. The Fun Fitness Swim Race was roughly a mile and a half long and was offered as a community fitness event rather than a competitive race. The swim race took place from 1979 until the early 1990s.

Today’s water-bound activities include paddling across Alta Lake and through the River of Golden Dreams. This route takes visitors past old growth trees, through lush scenery, and offers breathtaking mountain views. A round trip takes roughly 3 hours and can be completed in a kayak, canoe, or on a paddle-board. Tours can be booked or self-guided depending on skill and comfort level. Alta Lake is also home to Art on the Lake, which includes local artists, live music, and a floating art gallery. One of Arts Whistler’s more recent annual undertakings, the first Art on the Lake event was organized four years ago as a way to host an arts event during the pandemic. This event takes place in August and is accessible by boat, kayak, canoe or paddle-board.

A group (who appears to have forgotten their lifejackets!) paddle down the River of Golden Dreams. Whistler Resort Association Collection

Keep an eye out more more information on local lake activities to participate in this summer. Remember your sunscreen and towel for every lake day adventure!

Ella Healey is the Summer Program Coordinator at the Whistler Museum through the Young Canada Works Program.

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The annual Alta Lake ‘Regretta’The annual Alta Lake ‘Regretta’

September 6, 2022 Whistler MuseumWhistler Museum 0 Comments

For many people, the Labour Day long weekend marks the end of the summer; school holidays are over and the days are getting noticeably colder and shorter. Knowing the warm days are coming to an end may bring a sense of sadness to some. This feeling was even more palpable in the community of Alta Lake, where the population increased in the summer months and life revolved around the lake – fishing, swimming and sailing. The biggest community celebration ran over the September long weekend and was named the ‘Regretta’ because the community regretted that summer was coming to an end.

The Alta Lake Sailing Club ran out of Cypress Lodge and regattas were held each long weekend throughout the summer. Opening the sailing season was the Jelly Fish Race held on the May long weekend, then the Dominion Day Derby was held on July 1, and the biggest event of them all was the annual Regretta held on Labour Day weekend starting in 1965.

Many different sailing craft participated in the annual Alta Lake Regretta. Petersen Collection.

The Regretta was a day-long celebration that incorporated sailing races, as well as fun contests and activities for children and adults alike. Alta Lake became a colourful display of sailing craft with Sabots, Davidson D12s, Flying Juniors, Enterprises, Hobie Cats and Catamarans all popular. Sabots were the first boat of choice as the 8 foot sailing dinghies were light enough to carry up the bank for storage at the end of the summer.

Along with the regular regatta races, fun races and obstacle courses kept both participants and spectators entertained. ‘Repel all boarders’ was an obstacle race with up to five people on board vying to get through the course the fastest without any ‘pirates’ boarding the boats or losing any crew members. There were also ‘free-for-all races’ that allowed splashing and tipping – any tactics to delay the other racers were encouraged.

There were many amusing activities for the “landlubbers” too, often organised by Florence Petersen. In a recent oral history with Carol Fairhurst, whose parents owned Cypress Lodge, she remembered fondly, “We would have the three legged race where two people tie their inside leg together and you have to run. The sack race where you’d get in a potato sack and you had to hop. Then there would be egg-throwing contests, pie-eating contests, tug-of-wars where they had two wharves and two teams and the losing team got pulled into the water. The pie eating contest was always huckleberry pies so it was hilarious because people would end up with blue faces. It was a good time. The sail boat races were a big deal.”

A pie-eating contest in front of Cypress Lodge, an important part of the summer regattas. Fairhurst Collection.

Another activity from the Regretta that should definitely be brought back in the interests of entertainment is the Alta Lake pole vaulting contest. The aim of this competition was to launch yourself high into the air over the lake and land in an inner tube.

Prizes and trophies were presented for both the serious and not so serious competitions. Renate Bareham, née Ples, grew up in Alta Lake and remembers winning a hand mirror in the log rolling competition.

Karen Gow (left) and Renate Ples (right) during the log rolling competition in 1967. Bareham Collection.

This celebration of summer brought as many as 100 residents and weekenders together for a day in the sun, which was quite the turnout for a small community. Throughout the ten or so years that the Regretta ran it certainly left an impression on all those lucky enough to take part.

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Dick Fairhurst of Cypress Lodge: Part TwoDick Fairhurst of Cypress Lodge: Part Two

May 5, 2020 Whistler MuseumWhistler Museum 0 Comments

This week we’re continuing the story of Dick Fairhurst, who first came to Alta Lake in 1943. (You can read part one here) By 1955, he owned three adjoining lots on Alta Lake, including the property today known as The Point, and was operating a collection of cabins and a tearoom under the name Cypress Lodge.

At Cypress Lodge, guests could participate in many activities, including fishing, hiking, berry picking, and picnics, as well as community events in the summer such as movies and dances.  Luckily, Dick did not have to run the entire business by himself while continuing to work on his traplines and in forestry.

Cypress Lodge, September 1962. Fairhurst Collection.

In the summer of 1955, his mother Elizabeth Alice Fairhurst came up from Vancouver to run the tearoom for him.  She also looked after the cabins, did the laundry, and cooked for guests, running what others would describe as “a tight ship.”  Though she originally came for just one season, she stayed for fifteen years.  Dick added a bedroom to his house on the property and enlarged the kitchen, ensuring his mother would be comfortable at Alta Lake.

Dick also had some new neighbours move in that summer when a group of teachers from the Lower Mainland bought the Masson house.  June Tidball, Florence Strachan, Eunice “Kelly” Forster, Jacquie Pope, and Betty Gray became regular Alta Lake visitors and rechristened their cabin “Witsend.”  According to June, Dick brought them hot water on their first evening at the cabin to welcome them to Alta Lake and became a trusted friend of the group.

Three of the original Witsend owners! (Left to right) Jacquie Pope, Kelly Fairhurst and Florence Petersen.  Whistler Question Collection.

Dick and Kelly Forster (the same Kelly who once sewed her friends’ pyjamas shut) married in 1958 and Kelly moved to Alta Lake full-time, becoming involved in the running of Cypress Lodge.  The pair made a plan to replace the old cabins on the waterfront and build a new lodge building.  They began by clearing the point constructing new cabins, completing four by 1962.  These cabins had the distinction of housing the first coloured plumbing at Alta Lake, though sadly we do not know what colour their plumbing was.

Cypress Lodge as seen from the lake. Fairhurst Collection.

In February 1963, apparently not an incredibly snowy winter, the Fairhursts laid the forms for the foundations of their new lodge.  Fully booked for the 1965 Victoria Day long weekend, Cypress Lodge was finished just in time, with the furniture arriving on the Saturday and assembled by friends, neighbours, and even guests.

Along with the lodge, the Fairhurst family had grown during these years.  Dick and Kelly had two children, David and Carol, who grew up at Alta Lake, attending the Alta Lake School.

Cypress Lodge became a gathering place for the small Alta Lake community through the 1950s, 60s and 70s.  The wharf was the base for the Alta Lake Sailing Club’s Dominion Day Derby on July 1 and the annual Regretta (named for the regret at the season ending) on Labour Day, where events such as pie eating contests and a fish fry took place alongside boat races.  In the winter Dick and Kelly would also open the lodge for New Year’s Eve parties.

Dick Fairhurst, the owner of Cypress Lodge, was a ski-doo enthusiast, pictured with his children David and Carol. Fairhurst Collection.

The Fairhursts continued to operate Cypress Lodge, renting cabins out to Whistler Mountain employees and highway crews, until 1972 when they sold the property to the Canadian Youth Hostels Association.  In 1973 they moved into their new home built by Andy Petersen on Drifter Way, where they stayed until both David and Carol had graduated from high school in Pemberton.  In 1980 Dick and Kelly moved into a house Dick had built for them in Parksville, where Dick took up golfing, salt-water fishing, and gardening.  Sadly, Dick died in October 1983.

Dick Fairhurst is remembered for many things in Whistler in addition to Cypress Lodge.  He also helped found the Black Tusk Snowmobile Club, maintained the dump site with the Valleau logging family, served as the Fire Chief for the volunteer force, put the barrel out on the lake for the Alta Lake Community Club’s Ice Derby, and was named Citizen of the Year in 1972.

Dick Fairhurst, Stefan Ples and Doug Mansell rafting the Alta Lake fire shelter and its contents across the lake to Alta Vista, 1967. Petersen Collection
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Alta Lake LiveAlta Lake Live

April 7, 2018 Whistler MuseumWhistler Museum 5 Comments

We love to share the photos we have in our collections, but did you know that we also have a huge collection of video footage?  Not all of it has been digitized, and even less is currently available online, but we hope to remedy this in the future.

Today we’re sharing four films of Alta Lake from the Petersen Collection that show the lake in different years and seasons.

Up first is a film from around 1960 showing skaters on the frozen lake.  With a game of hockey going on, it looks a lot like winters on Alta Lake today.

While we have many photos of sail boats on Alta Lake most of them are black and white.  This film captures the sails in all their colourful glory.  Taken during a regatta, this footage may just be of the Alta Lake Sailing Club’s first “Regretta”.

Another film of boating, this time from 1970, gives a closer view of some of the cabins and other means of transportation along the shore.  As a bonus, the film also includes footage of the PGE moving a building from the side of the railroad tracks.

Last, but certainly not least, we have footage from the 1974 Regatta hosted by the Alta Lake Sailing Club.  Based out of Dick Fairhurst’s Cypress Lodge, the location may seem familiar to those who sail on Alta Lake today.  The full day event included a tug-o-war, pie eating contest, sailing (of course) and more.

Other films available online can be viewed here.  We hope to add more soon!

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