Saudan Couloir Extreme was an infamous ski race that was held on Blackcomb Mountain starting in the spring of [1987]. With the race dropping 2500 vertical feet from the top of Saudan Couloir, down to the bottom of Jersey Cream Chair, it went on to gain an international reputation as a classic extreme race.
Radical Super-G course indeed.
After the development of 7th Heaven, which opened up a vast area of mostly alpine and glacier skiing, Blackcomb Ski Resort began to develop an event that would profile its unique terrain. The Saudan Couloir run was chosen, as it was the only black diamond run in the area at the time.
Andrea Marchland. Fastest woman at the Saudan Couloir Race in 1992
The first 2 years the event was held, major snowstorms covered the run days before the race, and because grooming equipment couldn’t get down the 42 degree slope of the couloir there were major ruts on the course.
Chris Kent, a former member of the Canadian Alpine Ski Team, became the inaugural champion of the event, and held the title until Graham Swann ended his four year reign as king of the Saudan Couloir in 1991.
One of the amazing Saudan Couloir Ski Race Extreme posters designed by Brent Lynch. These retro classics can be found in hardcore homes throughout the valley
The Saudan Couloir became such a popular event during this period that TSN (The Sports Network), a popular Canadian sports channel, began filming the event to be broadcast as a 30-minute special.
Blackcomb Ski Resort produced TV Spots and highlight reels to help promote the event. The video below contains footage from the Saudan Couloir Ski Race Extreme held in 1988. With Mono Skis, on the fly tune ups, full spandex onesies, and a few yard sales, this was a race event that was not to be missed.
Stickers have become widely used in today’s world, from brand stickers on the Chiquita banana you ate for breakfast, to the “At Least its Paid For!” bumper sticker on that rusted 1990 VW Golf you saw on the way to work. Stickers are here, and are a prevalent part of our cultural landscape.
People often find value in stickers. This can be documented in all the well-placed stickers adorning bikes, skis, and boards (many people’s most prized possessions) found throughout the village. Many companies and organizations have used stickers as very effective marketing tools to promote their products or events.
Some examples of classic Whister Stickers we have in our collection.The Museum has a small collection of vintage Whistler stickers in our collection ranging from stickers promoting Whistler’s bid for the 1976 winter Olympics, to heartwarming advertising campaigns such as “Whistler Mountain the Big Old softie” of years gone by.
Vintage screen-printed Garibaldi lifts sticker.
One of the more interesting artifacts in the Museum exhibit is a fridge donated by Gord Harder. Covered in stickers from Whistler’s early days in the 1960s until 1998, it stands as a tribute to the spirit of the early ski bum, a chronological monument documenting whistler life from the beginnings of our ski town to the famous destination resort it is today.
Come check out Gord Harder’s Fridge at the Whistler Museum.
We received a great response for our recent post about Whistler-Blackcomb ski run names, so we figured we would post a few more. Last time we were pretty Blackcomb-heavy, so this week we’ll weight things more towards Whistler.
Whistler
Franz’s Run – Franz Wilhelmsen, from Norway, was one of the founders of Garbaldi Lifts Ltd and remained the president of the company for 20 years.
Bagel Bowl – Preferred piste of former Whistler Mountain President, Lorne Borgal, affectionately known as the ‘Lone Bagel’.
Franz Wilhelmsen and Lorne Borgal (the Lone Bagel!) at the Franz’s Run dedication ceremony in 1983.
Chunky’s Choice – Named after Chunky Woodward, he was another one of the founding directors of Garibaldi Lifts Ltd. It was his favourite run.
Jolly Green Giant – Named after Vancouver and Whistler resident Casey Niewerth. He was over six feet tall and dressed all in green so he was easily recognized on the hill as “the Jolly Green Giant” named after the canned vegetables brand.
Jam Tart – Named after cat driver John Cleland who was tragically killed in Whistler Bowl while recovering avalanche duds – Jam Tart was Cleland’s nickname.
Pony Trail – At one point during the construction of lifts on Whistler Mountain, fire hazard forced workers to use packhorses to transport supplies up the mountain. The road they used became a ski run, so it kept the name.
Tokum – Named after Tokum Corners – a ‘skibum’ house lived in by John Hetherington, George Benjamin and others. Tokum was the run they took home at the end of the day. We’ll let you figure out how Tokum Corners got its name.
George “Benji” Benjamin outside Tokum Corners, 1970s.
Cockalorum – Named for mechanic Jack Goodale, who died in an accident in 1981. Cockalorum means a small person with a large presence.
Boomer Bowl – Apparently, windows in Alpine Meadows rattle when this bowl gets bombed for avalanche control.
Burnt Stew Trail – In the summer of 1958 Florence Peterson, Kelly Fairhurst and Don Gow were on a back-packing trip around Whistler Mountain. After setting up camp one evening they started cooking dinner in an old billy can over a fire, built into the rocks of a dry creek bed. Nobody remembered to stir the pot, resulting in the smell after which the area (Burnt Stew Basin), and ski run are named after.
Kelly Fairhurst and Florence Petersen during their 1958 Burnt Stew hike.
Blackcomb
Arthur’s Choice – Named for Mountain Planning and Environmental Resource Manager Arthur DeJong in 1994. Designed to bring a new dimension to glade skiing.
Xhiggy’s Meadow – Named after Peter Xhignesse, an original ski patroller on Blackcomb Mountain who died of cancer at 32.
There are literally hundreds of more run names, both on and off the trail map, so if you are curious about any specific names leave a comment or e-mail us your questions!
A Whistler Mountain trail map from the simpler days
It is with some trepidation that I write this post, as place names are notorious for having multiple people claiming that they named them. Speaking to the archivist at the BC Geographic Names Index she tells me with a laugh how she’s lost count of the number of times that people have claimed that their ancestor named this or that mountain, only to discover that the mountain was named before their ancestor was born!
I’m sure Whistler Blackcomb’s ski runs will be no exception to this rule, so if you disagree to any of the descriptions to follow, feel free to correct us by commenting below – we are always looking for new information at the Whistler Museum.
So here goes, I roll up my sleeves and give you a brief guide to Whistler Blackcomb’s ski run names. Of course, there are many, many more runs than I can include in one blog post, but here are a selection that caught my attention:
Whistler
Jimmy’s Joker
Not named after Jim McConkey, as I had assumed. Apparently one of the surveyors, named Jimmy, got lost in the fog and marked out a trail that turned out to be very different than he had expected.
McConkey’s
Is named after Jim McConkey! ‘Diamond Jim’ took over management of Whistler Mountain Ski School in 1968.
Pig Alley
A short cut from Whiskey Jack to Ego Bowl. Named after ski patrol’s first skidoo, -a pig of a machine that always got stuck. The patrol had the trail cut because it was easier to cross over to Ego Bowl and climb that with the skidoo than to climb Whiskey Jack.
‘Diamond’ Jim McConkey, the eponymous hero of McConkey’s but NOT Jimmy’s Joker
Blackcomb
Once slated for logging, many Blackcomb runs have logging themes to them:
Jersey Cream: Extra good timber; cream of the crop
Stoker: A person employed to fuel the steam engines used to pull the logs.
Hooker: A foreman of a logging “side”. The yarding crew had 8-10 men. (So, in answer to the title question, ‘Hooker’ is in fact a logging term, not a ‘lady of the night’.)
Cruiser: A logger who surveys standing timber for volume.
Catskinner: A tractor driver.
The Bite: an area in the curve or slack of a cable. When the cable pulls a log, the slack snaps out causing this area to be very dangerous.
Couger Milk: A term referring to the grease used on logging equipment.
Crosscut: Means to cut across like “crosscut saw”.
Skid Row: A rod on which logs were dragged by bulls. Later horses, then logging skidders.
Springboard: A board that a hand fallers stood on above the broad base when falling a large tree.
Choker: A short length of wire rope used to wrap around the log to be yarded to the landing.
Gearjammer: A nickname given to a heavy equipment operator.
7th Heaven
Blackcomb president Hugh Smythe named the area after he figured out that the lift servicing it was Blackcomb’s 7th lift.
Ladies First
I got this little gem from the Guide to Whistler Blackcomb. Ladies First on Blackcomb Glacier was named after Whistler Patroller Cathy Jewett who was first to (sort of) ski the line in 1984. Jewett dropped in and instantly set off an avalanche that she rode down the slope until she managed to self-arrest. So, although she was theoretically “first”, she didn’t really ski it that day!
Bushrat
A technical chute off of Chainsaw Ridge, Bushrat was named after Museum President John Hetherington who was working on Ski patrol at the time. Ken Newington, Blackcomb’s first Ski Patrol director named this run after John soon after the area opened.
That’s all for now, but if you liked this post, let us know and we’ll do some more!
