Tag: Blackcomb Mountain

Whistler’s Corporate CupWhistler’s Corporate Cup

January 2, 2024 Whistler MuseumWhistler Museum 0 Comments

Whistler has hosted many Cup competitions, from World Cup races for various sports (such as the Eberspächer Luge World Cup races held at the Whistler Sliding Centre this past month) to the Whistler Cup that celebrated its 30th edition in 2023. Most of the participants in these events are professional athletes or, like in the Whistler Cup, younger competitive athletes. In 1983, however, the first Sun Life Whistler Corporate Cup pitted teams of corporate employees against each other in hopes of winning prizes and bragging rights.

Over one weekend in January 1983, twenty-five teams competed for the overall Corporate Cup title. Teams came from companies, firms, union locals or professional groups and had to be made up of ten full-time employees. Each team also had to have a minimum of three men and three women. In its first year, participants included teams from the Vancouver City Police Department, BC Hydro, and Canada Safeway.

Sue Worden of Body Works puts a group of Corporate Cup die-hards through the paces in Village Square. Whistler Question Collection, 1983

These teams went head to head in six different events. The first was golf on the Whistler Golf Course, with holes ranging in length from 50m to 90m and made more difficult by the presence of snow. There was also a 5km cross-country ski race on the Lost Lake trails, a downhill race adjacent to the 1982 World Cup downhill run (the only World Cup race to have finished just above the Whistler Village), a snowshoe obstacle course, an inner tube pull named “Sliding Inflation,” and a snow sculpture competition called “Frozen Assets.”

Corporate Cup teams ran, hopped, slid and jumped through an obstacle course wearing snowshoes at Myrtle Philip School. Whistler Question Collection

At the end of the weekend, an awards ceremony recognized the team and individuals who had performed the best. Prizes included skis, boots, stays at Delta hotels and more, as well as prizes from the event sponsors Sun Life and Molson’s. The team from Envirocon came out ahead, due in part to their “dramatic” sculpture of a BC salmon, which put them ahead of the Vancouver Police who had created a representation of a reclining pig. According to event organizer Laurie Vance, “We had 250 people who had a positive experience at Whistler,” and the first meeting for the next Corporate Cup was already planned. Vance also thanked the sponsors and the more than 100 volunteers who helped make the event a success.

The 1984 Corporate Cup was very similar to the first event. The makeup of teams and form of most of the events stayed the same, though the winning team was from Touche Ross, an accounting and consulting firm. The biggest change was probably the subject matter of Frozen Assets, which saw entries such as “1984 George Orwell” (a likeness of the author by BC Hydro), a mermaid, a giant telephone, and two different BC Places (BC Place was completed in 1983).

Touche Ross successfully defended their title against nineteen other teams in 1985. The Beauvallon Club, the only team to enter that was from Whistler, came second while the team from ICBC finished third. Though the downhill race had been replaced with a dual slalom race, most of the competition remained similar to the one held in 1983. The standout sculpture of 1985, according to the Whistler Question photographers, seems to have been “Reclining Nude in a Bathtub” by Pacific Press.

Ah, for the delectable treat of glaced salmon, especially when it’s been served up through two hours of hard work by the Envirocon team. This jaunty fellow was the first-place finisher out of 27 entries in the ice sculpture contest. Whistler Question Collection

By 1986, the organization of the Corporate Cup had been taken over by June Paley. That year, the competition was held earlier (“too early” according to Paley), and had only ten teams. Nevertheless, the teams that competed enjoyed themselves and the title again went to Touche Ross. There is not record of a Corporate Cup in 1987; instead, different events took its place in January, such as other races and the Finlandia Ice Festival, which featured ice carving rather than snow sculpture. 1986 appears to have been the last Corporate Cup held in Whistler, leaving Touche Ross the undefeated winner.

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Replacing Horses with BikesReplacing Horses with Bikes

July 25, 2023 Whistler MuseumWhistler Museum 0 Comments

There are many competitions and races that take place during Crankworx, which is back in Whistler for the end of July, however one bike-related event that you’re unlikely to come across is mountain bike polo. While bike polo is not overwhelmingly popular in the area today, in 1989 there were mountain bike polo championships held in Whistler.

Bike polo is similar to the traditional sport of polo, although the horses are replaced by bikes, in which the aim is to drive a ball through the goal of the opposing team using mallets. Traditionally, bike polo is played on grass courts, but over time hardcourt bike polo has become more popular. Though the rules vary depending on where the game is played, it appears to be consistent that players must hold the mallet in their right hand and their handlebar in the left and have no parts of their body touching the ground in order to touch the ball or attack an opponent.

Eric Crowe (left) and Jim Warren fight for control of the ball during a mountain bike polo game at Myrtle Philip School. Despite its apparent popularity, we could find very few images of mountain bike polo being played in Whistler. Whistler Question Collection, Mike Youds, 1988

The Whistler Question provided two different accounts of how the sport began: in the June 16, 1988 edition it claimed that the sport was invented in 1987 at a mountain bike competition in Colorado; in the August 3, 1989 edition they reported that a group of windsurfers from Quebec created the sport when there was no wind and they came across some friends playing croquet. The more widely accepted history of bike or cycle polo is that it was adapted by a retired cyclist named Richard J. Mecredy in Ireland in 1891. It was a demonstration sport at the 1908 Olympics in London and saw a resurgence in popularity in the 1980s.

Mountain bike polo came to Whistler in the summer of 1988. Games were played on Sunday evenings at Myrtle Philip School (then still located in the Whistler Village) and there were plans to form a local league. That first summer must have gone well because they were still playing in 1989 and even had plans to host a championship tournament.

The “World Mountain Bike Polo Championships” came to Whistler from August 17 to 20, 1989, coinciding with Labatt’s Can-Am Challenge held on Blackcomb Mountain. There was some controversy between the organizers from Quebec, who wanted to hold the matches on a gravel field at the bottom of the Wizard Chair, and the local players, who preferred the grass at Myrtle Philip School where they had been playing each Sunday. The local players won out and eight teams competed for the top spot on the school field. Though most of the teams came from Canada and the US, there was reportedly one team from Australia, kind of – it was made up of Australians who were living in Whistler.

While you won’t find mountain bike polo in this year’s Crankworx line up, other types of events that were included during Labatt’s Can Am Challenge weekend are still included, such as the dual slalom race. Blackcomb Mountain Collection, Unknown Photographer, 1989

In the end, Whistler’s Mountain Mutants placed first, winning various prizes including a mountain bike, a pair of television sets, answering machines, and, of course, Polo-Ralph Lauren gift certificates. According to Neil Collins of the Mountain Mutants, “Everyone had fun, but it was pretty competitive; we trashed a fair number of wheels, bikes and bodies.”

Bike polo is still played in cities around the world today, though its popularity waned again after its 1980s surge. There are currently (as far as we are aware) no mountain bike polo teams in Whistler and it seems unlikely that it will be featured in Crankworx anytime soon.

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Creating Whistler’s Parks: Emerald Forest, the three-wayCreating Whistler’s Parks: Emerald Forest, the three-way

May 30, 2023 Whistler MuseumWhistler Museum 0 Comments

Nancy Wilhelm-Morden made many important decisions for the Whistler community during her time as councillor and mayor. However, the accomplishment she is most proud of from this time is the protection of the Emerald Forest.

Emerald Forest is the 56.3 hectare (139 acre) protected area between Whistler Cay and Alpine. It is a significant habitat corridor for many of Whistler’s furry and feathered friends and is enjoyed by hikers and bikers.

Before 1972 when the BC Highways Department extended Alta Lake Road connecting Rainbow Lodge (now Rainbow Park) to Alpine, there was limited access to the area now known as the Emerald Forest. The extension of Alta Lake Road, along with the construction of the first section of the Valley Trail between Whistler Cay and Alpine, meant that the Emerald Forest Lands became more readily accessible to recreationists.

When mountain biking took off in the 1980s the local trail builders started what are today Whistler’s world-renowned mountain bike trails. Many of the earliest trails were built through the Emerald Forest despite it being privately owned land.

Dan Swanstrom scanning one of his trails in 1994. Dan was responsible for building many of the popular trails through the Emerald Forest. Whistler Question Collection.

The lot had been bought by Decigon Corporation in the late 1970s. As the area became more popular with mountain bikes, ‘no trespassing’ signs started to appear. There were additional challenges as well when a mountain biker broke their back in the early 1990s and brought a lawsuit against the landowners.

Decigon made multiple unsuccessful attempts at getting the land rezoned throughout the late 1980s and early 1990s. Then in 1996, the municipality increased the minimum parcel size of land with the Rural Resource 1 Zoning (RR1) from 20 acres to 100 acres. This meant that parcels zoned RR1 could be subdivided into 100 acres at minimum. Trying to maximise their return on investment, Decigon came forward with proposals to develop the land before this change came into effect.

Their preferred plan was for high-density development on a small section of the land. Forty single-family lots with a total of 240 bed units were proposed for 20 acres. Under this plan, the remaining undeveloped land would be protected as parkland, therefore retaining many of the bike trails. This would require rezoning of the land and the municipality was reluctant to approve the proposal because the number of bed units exceeded the development cap.

WORCA president Al Grey appeared in the Whistler Question in 1995, discussing etiquette and maintaining trail quality as more and more riders were getting into mountain biking. Whistler Question Collection.

Decigon’s alternative proposal involved subdividing the entire lot into 20 acre parcels for six single-family homes with 36 bed units. This fit within the RR1 zoning restrictions, however, would be a huge loss of established biking trails. Local community groups Association of Whistler Area Residents for the Environment (AWARE) and Whistler Off Road Cycling Association (WORCA) were also very active in campaigning for the protection of the forest for the environment and recreation.

Between 1996 and 1999, Decigon, led by the Houghton brothers, was constantly in the media trying to garner support from the Whistler community and council. However, they could not come to an acceptable agreement with the council and Decigon became more and more outraged as the years passed. Most meetings were held in-camera – closed to the public – and rumours were swirling about an impending lawsuit against the municipality.

Then, in August 1999 it was finally announced that a deal had been made for the Emerald Forest lands. Unbeknownst to the community, Intrawest had been brought in as a third party to finally make the deal happen. In the three-way deal, Intrawest purchased the Emerald Forest lands from Decigon for an undisclosed sum. The municipality then paid Intrawest $1 million and gave them approval for an additional 476 bed units so they could develop two further hotels in the Benchlands, in exchange for the Emerald Forest.

There was some disappointment toward this agreement because it meant that Whistler would far exceed the development cap outlined in the Official Community Plan. However, the unique agreement succeeded in ensuring the Emerald Forest was protected in perpetuity.

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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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