Tag: Bruce Watt

Dogs on the HillDogs on the Hill

December 5, 2023 Whistler MuseumWhistler Museum 0 Comments

The opening of the Peak Chair on Whistler Mountain in 1986 opened up more than just lift-accessed alpine terrain; the increase in patrolled terrain also contributed to the opening up of positions on Whistler Mountain’s ski patrol, a team that usually had low turnover and therefore didn’t hired new patrollers very often. After hearing about these new positions from a friend on patrol, Yvonne Thornton drove her Volkswagen van to Whistler and was hired by Brian Leighton.

Even though she had never skied Whistler Mountain before, Thornton had been a patroller at Panorama and Big White, as well as volunteering on the patrol at Red Mountain. She’d spend the previous summer working for the forest services and so had rope skills. In an oral history interview in January 2023, she recalled that Leighton liked this as the terrain opened by the Peak Chair would need more “rope people.” Thornton began her first season with “a lot of figuring out the terrain,” getting to know the mountain, and avalanche control. Over the following years, she took on other positions as well, including Volunteer Ski Patrol Coordinator and dog handler.

CARDA avalanche dogs train on Whistler Mountain. Whistler Question Collection, 1991.

By the time Thornton arrived in 1986, Whistler Mountain already had an avalanche rescue dog patroller established by Bruce Watt and his dog Radar. In 1985, another patroller, Anton Horvath, also became an avalanche rescue dog handler (Horvath is currently a Canadian Avalanche Rescue Dog Association (CARDA) instructor). During her second season, Thornton decided that she wanted to become one as well and got approval from Horvath to start the process. Like Watt before her, Thornton recalled that she didn’t know anything about picking a dog. She ended up getting a border collie from the Fraser Valley and the two began working their way through the required courses.

CARDA’s program and courses at the time were closely aligned with the Bergwacht, a part of the German Red Cross that focuses on mountain rescue. As part of their training, Thornton and her dog went to Germany. She flew into Munich and then had to take multiple trains, beginning with fast trains and big stations that got slower and smaller as she got further from the city, all while keeping track of multiple bags, boots, skis, and, of course, her dog. On the journey back to Munich, she accidentally got on the wrong train and, when the conductor noticed, the train was stopped. Thornton had to get off and get on another train that was passing back the other way to go back to the station and try again.

As far as Thornton is aware, she was the first woman to take one of the Bergwacht courses. Thornton remembered that “it was really fun” and she “cruised around, did some search training, ate a lot of meat and cheese and bread,” but, looking back, she also isn’t entirely sure how she did it.

Whistler Search and Rescue brought in tracking dogs to help in a search for a missing hiker. Whistler Question Collection, 1994.

The mountain, ski patrol and the avalanche rescue dog program have changed a lot since 1986. Interested patrollers now have to have been patrolling for at least five years and she described the current interview process as “intense.” CARDA has also introduced more requirements over the years and handlers now must have their level one instructing certification and be part of a Search and Rescue group that is involved in mountain rescue or a ski hill has avalanche control and mountain rescue. (Thornton is currently involved in both Whistler SAR and ski patrol.) As the organization and specific programs have gotten more established, she has also seen more mentorship and education when it comes to picking dogs to train as avalanche rescue dogs. Since her first border collie, Thornton has worked with two Malinois, a shepherd, and her current dog, a lab named Dyna, with whom she has also trained for wilderness searches and tracking.

According to Thornton, the avalanche rescue dogs on Whistler are an accepted operational part of the team and, when seeing the dogs on the mountain, it is important to remember that they are working, not part of a “petting zoo or bring your pet to work day.” Thornton did admit though that it is pretty fun to be able to work with her dog. It also seems to be pretty fund for the dogs, as she recalled, “All of my dogs have just loved going up there, like it’s always ‘Best day ever.'”

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Mountain RadarMountain Radar

November 28, 2023 Whistler MuseumWhistler Museum 0 Comments

While on the mountain this season, you might come across a dog or two out with ski patrol, possibly even riding a chair in front of you. These dogs are not, as some might think, part of a “bring your pet to work day,’ but are avalanche rescue dogs who are at work themselves.

Such dogs have been working on Whistler Mountain for over forty years. After being buried in an avalanche in March 1978, patroller Bruce Watt began looking into avalanche rescue dogs, encouraged by Chris Stethem, who was then Whistler Mountain’s Safety Supervisor. (You can hear more about the avalanche and the rescue from Bruce and fellow patroller John Hetherington here and here.) Bruce wrote a report, took it to Franz Wilhelmsen, and received permission and support from the lift company to go ahead with finding a dog and training.

Bruce Watt and his dog Radar at the top of Whistler Mountain. Whistler Question Collection, March 1980.

Bruce wanted to get a black lab, but, having limited experience with working dogs, he listened to the advice of the RCMP, who suggested that he get a German shepherd. He found a black German shepherd at a kennel in Surrey and according to Bruce, “he was a good looking dog, so I chose him.” He named the dog Radar and the two started training together. At the time, Bruce received generous support from the lift company. In an interview in 2022, he remembered that he was paid over the summer for training and food, vet bills, and pretty much anything needed for Radar could be expensed.

At the time, there was no civilian training for avalanche rescue dogs and so a lot of the training and all of the validation was done through the RCMP. Bruce was not the only patroller from a ski area training a dog. Rod Pendelbury, a patrolled in Fernie, had also begun training with a dog and the two communicated about the challenges they encountered and found others who were also interested in patrollers having avalanche dogs.

Bruce Watt and Radar ride the Red Chair. Greg Griffith Collection.

According to Bruce, training with Radar included training with helicopters, snowmobiles, snowcats, and toboggans, as well as a lot of obedience training and rescue training. While Radar was one of the first “civilian dogs” to be validated as an avalanche rescue dog in Canada, the process was complicated and Bruce and Rod were encouraged to spearhead a separate organization to train avalanche rescue dogs outside of the RCMP. This eventually led to the formation of the Canadian Avalanche Rescue Dog Association (CARDA) in 1982.

Prior to Radar, dogs were not a common sight on Whistler Mountain, though there had been a couple who had been associated with the ski hill in the 1960s and earlier in the 1970s. Bruce remembered that the reaction from a lot of people was, “Hey, what are you doing with your dog up here? How come I can’t bring my dog up here?” He also suspected that, even though the RCMP had told him that he shouldn’t let people pet or play with his dog, other patrollers may have been petting Radar behind his back.

Years later, after leaving full-time patrolling and going into real estate, Bruce began working on the Blackcomb Mountain volunteer patrol where he got to be “the dog guy” with his dog Max. By that time, Whistler Mountain had an established avalanche rescue dog program while Blackcomb Mountain was just starting theirs. Although Radar had retired, his legacy as the first avalanche rescue dog in the area is well remembered – there is even a picture book about him, Radar the Rescue Dog, written by Janet Love Morrison that can be found at the Whistler Museum, Armchair Books, and the Audain Art Museum.

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Having a BlastHaving a Blast

November 1, 2022 Whistler MuseumWhistler Museum 0 Comments

When talking to people from Alta Lake and Whistler there are many stories that are almost universal- people come to Whistler for a visit and stay for life, and along that journey most people have experienced housing woes. One experience that I did not expect to be shared among so many locals was the stories of working in drilling and blasting. While the rocky, mountainous landscape draws people to Whistler from around the world, it also creates additional engineering challenges. Lots of rock needed to be moved for the rapid growth of Whistler, and blasting was a relatively well paying summer job.

The Pacific Great Eastern Railway (PGE), also known as the ‘Province’s Great Expense’ arrived in Alta Lake in 1914, bringing tourism as well as an increase in mining and forestry. The earliest known commercial mining in the area was on Whistler Mountain around 1910, with Green Lake Mining and Milling Company running ten small claims between 1000 and 1300 metres elevation.

Some of the first blasting in the valley was for mining. Here a horse is laden with dynamite bound for Jimmy Fitzsimmons’ copper mine on the north flank of Whistler Mountain, circa 1919. Rainbow Lodge can be seen in the background. Philip Collection.

Many other small operations opened and closed over the years but none struck it rich. As a word of caution, after finding an abandoned mine shaft in the mountains, some early mountaineers were pushing rocks down the shaft and set off unexploded dynamite. Nobody was hurt, but it is worth giving abandoned mines a wide berth for the many hazards they pose.

It was a logging company that gave Andy Petersen dynamite in the 1960s to help put a water line to Alta Lake Road for running water. Andy and Dick Fairhurst, owner of Cypress Lodge, had never used dynamite before. “We drilled about 27 holes and put three sticks of dynamite in each hole. Well, this thing went off. Three of them went off and boulders came up over our heads and hit the power lines. We thought we were going to take the power down. That was our experience with dynamite, but we learned.”

There were more hazards than just flying rock. During blasting and clearing of a trail along Nita Lake in 1985, Jack Demidoff and his 25-tonne hoe fell off the trail and through the ice into the lake. Whistler Question Collection.

When skiing arrived Whistler became a tourist destination in the winter but remained very quiet in summer. Many locals who worked on the mountain would have summer jobs in construction and blasting, including Murray Coates who was in ski patrol and had a blasting company. Fellow patrollers, Brian Leighton and Bruce Watt also worked some summers blasting. “There were no safety precautions”, Bruce recalled on his podcast ‘Whistler Stories that Need to be Told’, “It was just get out there and don’t be a wimp”.

Brian Leighton had a similar experience. “I was way over my head in what I was doing. But no one died, no one was hurt.” One memorable moment occurred after loading some explosives into the drill holes while creating Whistler’s sewage system. “I said to Murray, ‘I think the trucks parked a little close here.’ He said, ‘No, no, no, it’s fine.’ So we get underneath the truck and he hits the blasting machine. Sure enough, a rock the size of a soccer ball goes through the rear window of the truck. I mean we were safe, but the truck not so much”.

An dog finds refuge from the rain beneath a Wedgemont Blasting truck parked in village, not unlike Murray Coates and Brian Leighton hiding from the falling rocks. Whistler Question Collection.

Before she became a lawyer and later the Mayor of Whistler, Nancy Wilhelm-Morden also worked as a driller and blaster for the Department of Highways. She wasn’t so worried about rocks landing on her, but as her boss watched closely to make sure she was setting the dynamite correctly, “I was always worried that he was going to spit this horrible chewing tobacco on the back of my head.”

The Whistler Museum has more stories about drilling and blasting than will fit in one article, but nowadays we are much more familiar with the sound of avalanche bombs. Hopefully they are ringing throughout the valley again soon!

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Whistler at 22% Interest – Part 2Whistler at 22% Interest – Part 2

July 5, 2022 Whistler MuseumWhistler Museum 0 Comments

Find Part 1 here.

When the financial crisis of the 1980s hit Whistler even the prime real estate at the base of both mountains did not make it through unscathed. Dick Gibbons and Jack Cram were partners in Fitzsimmons Condominiums and Stoney’s Restaurant, where La Bocca is today. With a completed Whistler development under their belts, they were approached by Whistler Village Land Company (WVLC) about potentially purchasing the unfinished project where the Carleton Lodge now stands.

The base of Whistler Mountain in 1981 showing the Carleton Lodge under construction. The Pan Pacific Whistler Mountainside Hotel can be seen on the right. The base of the mountain looks a bit different today! Arv Pellegrin Collection.

At the time the foundation was partially complete and it was anticipated that this building would be a day lodge and gateway for both Whistler and Blackcomb Mountains, however WVLC’s finances were dire and there was not enough money to finish the project. Dick recalls a conversation with Neil Griggs, President of the WVLC “I don’t want to exaggerate this, he literally begged us to finish the Carleton Lodge. I seem to recall he had tears in his eyes.”

Together with additional partners, they negotiated a deal wherein they agreed to finish the project on the condition that if they were unable to sell the 32 condominium units for a certain price the development permit charges would be refunded. Throughout the build the architect, building contractor, and many partners felt the financial strain. By the end of the project, Dick Gibbons and Ken Mahon were the only two left to finance and run the show.

Dick Gibbons and Gilbert Konqui in 1981. It was all hands on deck to get the Carleton Lodge and The Longhorn completed. Whistler Question Collection.

When the Carleton Lodge was finally completed in November 1982, few residential units sold and Dick Gibbons ended up running The Longhorn because nobody else would buy it. The unsold residential units were transferred to the people involved in the development according to their investments, and development permit charges were refunded as initially agreed after the court got involved.

When Dick Gibbons was asked how he was able to balance his finances while many in Whistler could not, he said, “Being a little more risk adverse than some others might be was good for me at times and bad for me at other times because you miss opportunities. I sold quite a bit of real estate when the market had its peak in Vancouver because I thought it pretty much couldn’t go any higher.” Obviously real estate in Vancouver did eventually increase, but selling these real estate investments left Dick in a more comfortable position when interest rates skyrocketed, although it was still a difficult period.

Signs for The Longhorn and Nasty Jack’s can be seen while the Carleton Lodge is still under construction in 1982. Arv Pellegrin Collection.

Interest rates had an impact throughout all of the Whistler community. Bruce Watt, who had been a patroller since 1974, decided his family needed better financial security which led to him getting into real estate, a career he has loved and where you will still find him today. On the other hand, the ugly unfinished Village led realtor Drew Meredith to make “the mistake of running for Mayor in 1986” (his words, not mine) where he served for two terms.

While similar circumstances led to very different decisions, a consistent sentiment when talking to long-time locals about this time is that they would not want to do it again. The Village was started just in time, a year later and it may never have happened.

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