Tag: Alta Lake

Transition PointTransition Point

June 27, 2023 Whistler MuseumWhistler Museum 0 Comments

Before lifts were built and the area became known for its snow and skiing, tourism in the valley focused on the lakes and the summer months. Though various cabins from the 1920s to the 1950s can still be seen amidst much more modern homes on the shores of Alta Lake, many of the buildings from this period are gone today due to various fires and redevelopment. Some buildings, however, managed to make the transition to year-round use and can still be found today.

Dick Fairhurst began operating Cypress Lodge on Cypress Point in 1954. It started with a few cabins built by Dick and three pre-exisiting cabins and a tearoom from Harrop’s Point. Dick, his mother Elizabeth, and later his wife Kelly continued to add to and renovate the property into the 1960s. Construction began on the main lodge building in February 1963 and was completed for the 1965 May long weekend. Though Cypress Lodge had been built with summers in mind, the Fairhursts were quickly able to expand their business to include winter ski seasons. Often the cabins on the property were rented out year-round to people working in the valley. The lodge building was filled with work crews for BC Highways in summer and with skiers in winter.

Cypress Lodge while it was operated by the Faihursts. Fairhurst Collection.

In 1972, the Fairhursts sold Cypress Lodge to the Canadian Youth Hostel Association (now known as Hostelling International (HI) – Canada) for $140,000. The sale included all nine buildings on the site, including the main lodge, the cabins, and the Fairhurst’s family home on the upper portion of the property.

The property was officially reopened as a hostel in July 1973. It aimed to provide affordable accommodation to individuals and groups of travelers throughout the year. In 1973 it could accommodate 21 guests and cost only $3/person, including breakfast. Over time the hostel increased its capacity and provided housing for its staff and long term tenants. At a museum event in the 1990s, Alex Kleinman remembered his days managing the hostel in the early 1970s. Because the hostel had hot running water, he would often trade showers and a warm place to hang out in exchange for chopping firewood and making small repairs to the property from some of the people squatting nearby. When three people living in a geometric dome by the side of Scotia Creek appeared at 3 am one morning because a bear had walked through the tarp walls of their home, he provided them with a place to stay.

A group of skiers play cards in the Youth Hostel. Whistler Mountain Ski Corporation Collection.

Around 11:30 pm on December 26, 1994, one of the small two-bedroom cabins near the lodge caught fire, according to reports in the Whistler Question and Pique Newsmagazine. Luckily, there was no one in the cabin at the time as it was quickly engulfed by flames. The hostel staff evacuated the guests from the lodge and guests and staff began shoveling snow against the lodge and wetting it with a garden hose to prevent the fire from spreading. Despite their efforts, when the Whistler Fire Department arrived the fire had spread to the lodge roof. The firefighters were able to extinguish the fire but not before it had traveled through the attic bedrooms and down some of the rafters. The lodge escaped with only some charring and water damage while the small cabin was destroyed.

Alternative accommodations had to be found for the hostel guests during one of the resort’s busiest weeks of the year. The Delta Whistler Resort provided five free rooms and other hostel guests were put up by neighbours and Greg Warham, the manager of the hostel. One local resident even offered up a five-bedroom house for the guests scheduled to arrive the following week.

The Whistler Youth Hostel (and a little bit of Meadow Park) in 1989. Whistler Cable Collection.

The hostel continued to operate out of the Cypress Lodge property until July 1, 2010. Before it closed the hostel had a capacity of 28 and eight staff members. That same month, HI-Canada opened its current location in Cheakamus Crossing with a capacity of 188 and a staff of twenty. The property on Alta Lake was purchased by the Resort Municipality of Whistler and continues to be used today by the Point Artist-Run Centre and the Whistler Sailing Association.

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Creating Whistler’s Parks: Rainbow Park, appropriate to expropriateCreating Whistler’s Parks: Rainbow Park, appropriate to expropriate

May 23, 2023 Whistler MuseumWhistler Museum 0 Comments

The Whistler Question wrote in 1980, “The Municipality has reviewed the opportunities in the Alta Lake area and without expropriation or purchase of private land property, the recreational opportunity in the Alta Lake area for swimming, especially a beach area for young children, is extremely limited.”

It was clear all along that more public access was required for Alta Lake and the Resort Municipality of Whistler (RMOW) had been looking into buying lots on the foreshore of the lake to turn into parks. When Drew Meredith became Mayor in 1986 the council started to think bigger than buying single-family lots, and Rainbow Lodge caught their attention.

Rainbow Lodge, where Rainbow Park is now located, had a long history of tourism. Myrtle and Alex Philip opened the popular vacation destination for summer visitors in 1914. Then in 1948, they sold Rainbow Lodge to the Greenwood family where it continued as a summer resort. In its heyday Rainbow Lodge contained over 40 buildings, including a main lodge, post office, stables and many cabins.

Rainbow Lodge and surrounding facilities, ca 1930. Philip Collection.

Rainbow Lodge was sold to Joan Saxton, a speculator from Vancouver, in 1970. Resort operations ceased in the early 1970s, however, people could still rent rooms and cabins on a more long-term basis. Disaster struck in 1977 when the main lodge burnt down during renovations, and by 1986 many of the remaining buildings had fallen into disrepair.

Whilst Whistler had gone through a period of booming development throughout the 1970s and 1980s, Rainbow Lodge remained rather unchanged. Joan Saxton said during the expropriation in 1986, “Pat Carleton said he wanted to get the town centre going, and then after that it would be my turn. They’ve down zoned me and put me off the sewer system.” In Saxton’s eyes this unfairly reduced the value of the land, and the RMOW and Saxton could not come to an agreement on purchase price.

The RMOW had the land appraised twice, and then went to the Provincial Government where they received permission to expropriate the land for public interest. In 1987, the 43.2 hectare (108 acre) parcel of land on Alta Lake was expropriated for $367,000.

The lakeside cabins at Rainbow Lodge. Philip Collection.

If the owners had been living on the property the expropriation process may have been more difficult, but the Saxtons lived in the city and rented out some of the remaining cabins. Many of these buildings were in rough shape and had to be demolished when the area became a park. Three of the cabins were preserved for historical value, however, and you can still see these in Rainbow Park today.

Three remaining guest cabins at Rainbow Park. Photo courtesy of Jeff Slack.

The park was quickly developed, opening for public use during the summer of 1987. Early improvements to the property included creating a pedestrian crossing over the railway, building up the marshy pathway which was often flooded, and clearing vegetation from the sandy beach. Open wells that had been used for the lodge were filled in, the parking was cleared, and picnic tables added. The beachfront and facilities continued to expand and the park quickly reached the goal of becoming the top beach park in Whistler.

While the council at the time believed the deal was signed and done, the story of Rainbow Park does not end there. In what would become one of the longest lawsuits the RMOW has faced to-date, the Saxton family continued to fight for further compensation. They argued that the land appraisals were not taking into account the size and development potential of the property.

In 2012, the decades-old dispute was finally settled with the judge ordering the RMOW to pay an additional $2.4 million to the Saxton family, valuing the land at $12,000 an acre, comparable to the value of the Nicholas North lands in the early 1990s. With hindsight, the land was revaluated to $1.3 million dollars, and the RMOW was required to pay the difference, plus an additional $1.5 million for unpaid interest.

While Drew Meredith disagreed with judgement, he said Rainbow Park was worth it even at $2.4 million. With the number of people enjoying the sunshine recently, I tend to agree.

Rainbow Park in September 1990. Griffith Collection.
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Creating Whistler’s Parks: Lakeside Park, slowly but surelyCreating Whistler’s Parks: Lakeside Park, slowly but surely

May 16, 2023 Whistler MuseumWhistler Museum 0 Comments

Following Wayside Park, the second public access point to Alta Lake was at the end of Lakeside Road in Alta Vista, now known as Lakeside Park. Public access to Lakeside Park was first created in 1980, although there were few facilities. When writing about the park in 1980 the Whistler Question specified that, “This area is unknown to many Whistler visitors and residents.”

The relative anonymity of the park went further than the general Whistler population. While Lost Lake Park and Alpha Lake Park featured regularly in the news at the time, there was little information on Lakeside Park. In the one photo of Lakeside Park when it opened, the corresponding article was not even about the park, instead it was about councillor Garry Watson’s proposal to create public access to Alta Lake in the area that is known as Blueberry Park today.

Lakeside Park in 1980. Whistler Question Collection.

In 1982, the Parks and Recreation Commission flagged increasing the size of Lakeside Park through private land acquisition as the highest priority for Whistler. It was at the height of windsurfing when Alta Lake could be seen covered in brightly coloured windsurfers during the summer, and Lakeside was seen as ideal for windsurfer access. Additionally it had road access and parking, and was situated along the main trail corridor.

When the Whistler Rotary Club received its charter in 1976, one of their first projects was to build three floating docks for public use on Alta Lake. One of these floats was brought to Lakeside Park where it allowed visitors to get into the water past the horsetails. Part of the proposal was to further clear the horsetails near the dock, add gravel and sand to improve the beach and put picnic tables and garbage cans in the park. The bathrooms were pump-out septic systems on the shore of the lake and the road was gravel.

The Whistler Question wrote in 1980, “The Municipality has reviewed the opportunities in the Alta Lake area and without expropriation or purchase of private land property, the recreational opportunity in the Alta Lake area for swimming, especially a beach area for young children, is extremely limited.” A benefit of Lakeside was the room for expansion which could be possible through the purchase of private land on either side of the park.

Lakeside Park in 1984. Whistler Question Collection.

However, Whistler became more popular and the land more expensive, and out of reach for municipal coffers. It was very clear that more park space was needed on Alta Lake and in 1984 the idea of a referendum was posed. The proposed referendum would have a long-term policy question on how to reconcile the needs of residents in Alta Vista, with the needs of tourists flocking to the beach.

This was a particularly important question when a rezoning application was submitted to council to change one of the waterfront properties from residential to commercial. Not only would a busy restaurant mean more traffic in the area, it could set a precedent for rezoning approval, increasing the lot value of the area making the plan to buy waterfront land for parks economically unfeasible. Mayor Mark Angus said to the Whistler Question at the time, “How do we ensure that we don’t buy a 60 ft. lot for $600,000? We want the waterfront for the use of the public.” (If only 60 ft. of waterfront was only $600,000 today!)

Go past Lakeside Park on a warm, sunny summers day and you will quickly see it is no longer Whistler’s forgotten park. Bodies are regularly packed into every inch of the grass and docks with people arriving early to claim their space.

The expansions proposed to triple the waterfront area of Lakeside Park were never fully realised. Instead the municipality acquired the land for Rainbow Park on Alta Lake in 1987, and that is a story in itself.

Windsurfing was an incredibly popular pastime on Alta Lake. Benjamin Collection.

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Peak Bros: A Whistler Comic Strip 1979 – 1992Peak Bros: A Whistler Comic Strip 1979 – 1992

February 21, 2023 Whistler MuseumWhistler Museum 3 Comments

The Peak Bros. comics captured the hearts and minds of Whistler when they were published between 1979 and 1992 in The Whistler Answer and The Whistler Review. The comics were based on the real-life adventures of Gord ‘Rox’ Harder and his friends, who became known as the Peak Bros. after their love of skiing Whistler Peak.

Gord ‘Rox’ Harder in the maintenance building on Whistler Mountain, where he worked as a journeyman carpenter. Harder Collection.

First created on the back of a Garibaldi Lifts Ltd. logbook, the Peak Bros. comics paid homage to the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers. Gordy was an avid reader and admirer of the Freak Brothers, created by Gilbert Shelton and first published in Austin, Texas in 1968. The Freak Brothers followed the antics of a trio of cop-dodging cannabis-loving outlaw hippies. The Peak Bros. were the Whistler-ised version, where their outlaw skiing lifestyle gets the Peak Bros. into trouble. The ski police start to chase them, and the trouble begins! Celebrating 80s ski culture and the tongue-in-cheek humour of Gord Harder, Peak Bros: A Whistler Comic Strip, opens at the Whistler Museum on February 22nd 2023.

From left to right – ‘SO’, ‘Rox’ and ‘Crazy Harry’ all featured in the Peak Bros comics. Harder Collection.

With local people from the Whistler community featured in the comics, it could be a thrill to identify who characters were based on when each new Peak Bros. comic was released. Many of the true stories from the real Peak Bros. are as unbelievable as fiction. Building an illegal cabin below the Roundhouse, riding down the mountain on a windsurfer, and catching a helicopter up to the peak to join the Whistler Mountain staff party.

Rob ‘Bino’ Denham, one of the Peak Bros. windsurfing down Whistler Bowl. Photo courtesy of Dave and Laura Kinney.

Shawn Hughes, better known as SO, remembered one of their many adventures up Whistler Peak. “We would camp on the peak every full moon. That was the Peak Bros. tradition. Then we woke up one morning as a bomb went over. That’s when that tradition ended.” Until the close call brought around an abrupt end of the camping tradition, SO had not missed one winter camp in over 6 years.

Gord Harder, and the other real Peak Bros. were excellent skiers and could be found on the mountain every day. Janet Love Morrison recalled watching Gordy ski down the peak during a Whistler Mountain staff party. “There was no Peak Chair. Gordy and his friend, they had hiked up to the peak and they skied Don’t Miss, which is all [permanently] closed now. I didn’t know Gordy was the calibre of skier that he was when I met him, and I remember everybody started hooting and hollering and whistling and Gordy had jumped into Don’t Miss. Just like over the rocks and the whole face under the Peak Chair, he’s just bouncing like it’s effortless…” With everyone on the mountain watching they got a rock star cheer.

Tracks down Don’t Miss left from Gord ‘Rox’ Harder and Shawn ‘SO’ Hughes. Photo courtesy of Dave Steers.

In the late 1970s and early 1980s there was a massive crackdown on fast skiing on Whistler Mountain following a slew of visitor complaints. Whistler Mountain Ski Patrol were encouraged to catch speeders in the slow zones, and the patroller who issued the most warnings or confiscated the most passes received a dinner voucher for L’Après. With the Peak Bros. priority on skiing, and skiing fast, they were regularly the ire of ski patrol who would ticket them if they could ever catch them. Patrol even delivered warnings to Peak Manor, the clubhouse the Peak Bros. built in the trees below the Roundhouse. The comics mimicked real life with ski patrol forever chasing and regularly outmanoeuvred by the devious and athletic Peak Bros.

The ‘ski police’ were always after the Peak Bros. The chase became more and more elaborate throughout the comics. Harder Collection.

Come to the Whistler Museum to celebrate Gord ‘Rox’ Harder and the Peak Bros. The opening of Peak Bros: A Whistler Comic Strip 1979 – 1992 is on Wednesday the 22nd of February, beginning at 6:30 pm. The exhibition will be open until April 23rd 2023.

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