Tag: Cheakamus Inn

The Inn CrowdThe Inn Crowd

April 29, 2025 Whistler MuseumWhistler Museum 2 Comments

It’s not uncommon when looking through newspapers to find letters responding to stories and events in previous issues. It is less common, however, for letters to be given a whole page, be accompanied by multiple photographs, and to be addressed to a building. In the April 16, 1981 edition of the Whistler Question, Jan Systad wrote a letter to the Cheakamus Inn after learning from the April 9 issue that the lodge she had worked at was going to be torn down.

The Cheakamus Inn, rebranded as the Whistler Vale after a change in ownership, though the restaurant retained the Cheakamus name. Whistler Resort Association Collection

The Cheakamus Inn was built for $300,000 in 1965 by Eric Beardmore, one of the founding directors of Garibaldi Lifts Ltd., and his business partner Frank Menendez. It had two dormitories (one for men, one for women) and 22 private rooms and could reportedly sleep up to fifty guests. The Cheakamus also had a dining room and bar. According to Ian Beardmore, the Cheakamus was modelled after the lodges at Alta, Utah, where his parents would often go for a week or two each ski season with the Wilhelmsens and the Woodwards (fellow directors of the Garibaldi Olympic Development Association and Garibaldi Lifts); Frank Menendez even worked at the Rustler Lodge in Alta for over a decade before coming up to Alta Lake.

Through the 1960s and into the 1970s, the Cheakamus served as a gathering place for guests and others around the ski hill. In 1967, Tony and Irene Lyttle held their wedding reception there following a ceremony at the Whistler Skiers’ Chapel and on Sundays the Cheakamus hosted General Information Night, where skiers at Whistler for the week could come see a slide show and ask questions of mountain representatives. Some winters also saw film nights at the lodge courtesy of Pacific Ski Air and the Cheakamus was known for events such as their annual New Year’s Eve masquerade party, which in 1970/71 was given a Disneyland theme.

Ted Pryce-Jones presents opening gifts to John (J.R.) Reynolds and Roland Kentel of Tapley’s Pub. Before opening Tapley’s, John Reynolds came to Whistler to run the bar at the Cheakamus Inn. Whistler Question Collection, 1981

The Cheakamus was also the site of some more unexpected events. In August 1970, according to Garibaldi’s Whistler News, the Cheakamus was the host of the Simon Fraser Solid State Physics School, a two week summer school that gathered scientists from around the world. The lodge was also the site of one of Dag Aabby’s more memorable stunts at Whistler when he jumped off the rood on his skis and landed in the parking lot below.

When looking back at the Cheakamus before its demolition, what Jan Systad remembered most were the people she had met and the friends she had made there, a sentiment reflected in most stories about the Cheakamus Inn. Providing room, board and a ski pass, the Cheakamus employed many long-time Whistler residents during their early years in the valley, including Colin Pitt-Taylor, Roger McCarthy, Bob Daniels, Connie Cathers, Charlie Davies, Roger Systad and more.

In 1965, John Reynolds, also known as J.R., came to the Cheakamus to work as a bartender and assistant manager under Frank Menendez, who filled both the chef and manager roles. According to Jan, under John the bar was “respected and cherished” and “your drink was poured as you came through the door and by the time you reached the bar it was waiting for you.” After leaving the Cheakamus and the Whistler area for a time, John returned to Whistler in the 1976/77 season to run the bar at JB’s and opened Tapley’s Pub in 1981.

The original Cheakamus Inn building was demolished in the summer of 1981 to make way for a larger building. Whistler Question Collection, 1981

The Cheakamus Inn changed hands in 1975 and by 1981 was operating under the name Whistler Vale. It was announced in April 1981 that the Whistler Vale would be torn down and a new, larger hotel would be built on the site, incorporating salvaged lumber and reusing part of the foundation. It was expected that the new hotel would be ready to open by December 1981. Although the building was demolished in June, construction did not got as planned and no hotel had arisen by the end of the year. For those who knew the Cheakamus Inn, however, Jan concluded that “the memories and friendships will never go.”

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Dag Aabye in WhistlerDag Aabye in Whistler

March 8, 2022 Whistler MuseumWhistler Museum 4 Comments

Many of the names of runs on Whistler and Blackcomb Mountains pay homage to skiers and, slightly less often, snowboarders who made a mark on the mountains, whether as an employee, an investor, or an athlete. Some of these names, such as Franz’s Run, McConkey’s, and Arthurs’s Choice are fairly easy to trace back to their source, while others like Bushrat, Jam Tart, and Jolly Green Giant require a bit more knowledge of their namesake. During a 2019 speaker event, however, it was pointed out that there is one skier who, despite making quite an impression during his time in the Whistler valley, has no official namesake on Whistler Mountain: Dag Aabye.

Dag Aabye shows off his skills on Whistler Mountain. Cliff Fenner Collection.

When Roy Ferris and Alan White opened the Garibaldi Ski School in 1966, they asked Ornulf Johnsen from Norway to come manage it. Johnsen persuaded the lift company to bring over fellow Norwegian Dag Aabye to work for him. Aabye had previously been working as a ski instructor in Britain and as a movie stuntman, including working as an extra in the 1965 James Bond film Goldfinger, and he soon arrived to begin instructing on Whistler Mountain.

Dag Aabye runs with his skis as part of the Great Snow Earth Water Race. Whistler Question Collection, 1981.

According to Lynn Mathews, Aabye was “tall, lanky, quiet,” a “really nice guy who would do these most unbelievable things.” Mathews described him as “a cat on skis” and remembered watching him ski down the Red Chair lift line, “touching lightly from side to side as he went down these cliffs.” Jim McConkey, who took over the management of the ski school in 1968, described Aabye as “just a phenomenal skier” and recalled watching him jump off a cornice on the Whistler glacier, land, and ski straight down.

Aabye became known for his first ski descents on Whistler Mountain, including areas of Whistler’s peak that are permanently closed today such as Don’t Miss and the Weekend Chutes, sometimes waiting days for the right conditions before hiking up from the top of the t-bar. In some cases, it would be another twenty to thirty years before the next person made the same descent.

Norwegian hot-shot Dag Aabye jumping off the roof of the Cheakamus Inn, 1967. Walt Preissl, who took the photo, recalls the occasion: “We were in the Cheakamus Inn Hotel at Whistler, sitting in the bar with Marg Egger, when we saw this pile of snow go swiftly by the window, including a body with it , we ran out and it was Dag. Ornulf was taking some pics, he asked him to go back up and do it again so that he could get a better shot. And so he did go back and jump off the roof of the Cheakamus Inn [again]. He was a match for Jim McConkey who used to do things like that.” Photo courtesy of Walt Preissl.

Aabye could be seen skiing in films by Jim Rice, including a short 1968 film featuring Aabye and Cliff Jennings skiing the glaciers around Whistler by helicopter. Off the mountain, he also became known for his willingness to ski off man-made structures, such as the Cheakamus Inn. According to Mathews, this was done mostly “for fun. Cause doesn’t everyone ski off the roof and land 50 feet down?” Aabye also built his own jump for his efforts to land a backflip on 215 cm skis and could often be found walking on his hands with his skis still attached to his feet. In summers, Aabye worked as a coach at the summer ski camps alongside ski celebrities such as Toni Sailer and Nancy Greene.

The staff of the 1969 Summer Ski Camp, including skiing legend, Dag Aabye. Whistler Mountain Ski Corporation Collection.

In his 80s today, Aabye is still known as an athlete, competing annually in ultra marathons prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. Though he long ago left Whistler and ended up outside SilverStar (where the run Aabye Road bears his name), Aabye is still talked about in the valley and on the mountain.

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Highway to (Powder) HeavenHighway to (Powder) Heaven

February 15, 2022 Whistler MuseumWhistler Museum 0 Comments

The towering mountains and lush valleys that inspire people to fall in love with the Sea to Sky also create challenges for access. When Myrtle and Alex Philip arrived at John Millar’s cabin in 1911, they had taken a steamer to Squamish, and then walked the rest of the way to Millar’s cabin at present-day Function Junction. With the introduction of the railway to Alta Lake in 1914, the region was opened to more tourism and industry.

Prior to 1965, the road to Whistler was notoriously unreliable. Regular creek crossings were required and the single lane gravel road suffered extreme washouts, as seen in this photo of Cheakamus Canyon in the 50s. Janet Love Morrison collection.

It was not until 1956, however, that a road connected Vancouver to Squamish, and there was not a reliable road to Whistler until the 1960s. To ensure the highway was completed in time for the opening of the lifts in 1965, rumour has it that the Garibaldi Lifts Company gave a single ski to the then-Minister of Highways Phil Gaglardi. He kept this ski in his office as an incentive to complete the road, and was presented with the matching ski upon the completion of the highway.

Crossing creek on the road to Alta Lake (now known as Whistler), south of Pinecrest. Before the highway, numerous creek crossings meant access via car was not possible at many times during the year. Janet Love Morrison collection.

Even once the highway went in, it was still a hair-raising journey. While driving the Sea to Sky in certain conditions today requires confident and experienced winter drivers, imagine if the roads were only plowed once a week. This is what visitors and residents had to contend with for the inaugural season of Whistler Mountain. Only ski fanatics would brave the journey, and you had to be a special type of enthusiast to make the trip on Friday evening before the roads were plowed on Saturday morning.

When you met another car along the single-lane plowed gravel road, there was no room to pass. Both cars were required to stop and snow was dug out of the snow banks to let the smaller car squeeze by. Revellers would spend Friday night at the Cheakamus Inn, watching to see whose cars had survived the rough trip. As Paul Burrows remembers, “Eventually most people ended up at the Inn because after driving that road you needed a drink.”

Even the good sections of road were rough and hard on vehicles. This photo was taken prior to the highway near Pinecrest. Janet Love Morrison collection.

In 1966, one year after construction, Highway 99 was paved from Squamish to Mons and kept clear of snow as much as possible. As we know, that did not eliminate all transport problems. The Squamish Citizen reported in 1987, “Poor visibility, the near eradication of lines along the edge of the highway and the dinginess of the centre line coupled with the spottiness of the cat’s eyes (road reflectors) in many places makes it almost impossible to distinguish the centre line or edge of the road.” Does that sound familiar? The article goes on to recommend imbedding the cat’s eyes in the centre of the road, and suggesting that someone invent fluorescent paint for the road lines.

These solutions (including the invention of fluorescent paint), along with the widening of the road for the 2010 Olympics, have no doubt helped with access and we have seen incredible growth in visitors and residents alike, resulting in far more people using the Sea to Sky Highway. However, where you have mountainous geography and weather that brings amazing snowfalls, road and access continue to be topics of great debate. At least it does not take five hours to get to Costco every visit, unless you make the mistake of leaving on Sunday afternoon!

Narrow road through Cheakamus Canyon. Janet Love Morrison collection.
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First Trips to WhistlerFirst Trips to Whistler

December 21, 2021 Whistler MuseumWhistler Museum 0 Comments

When Hugh and Hilda McLennan first heard about Whistler Mountain in the early 1960s, they didn’t know exactly where it was or what was planned for the area. This, however, did not stop them from buying shares in Garibaldi Lifts Ltd.

Hugh and Hilda McLennan moved to Vancouver with their two children, Catriona and Neil, in 1957, when Hugh took a position at the University of British Columbia as a professor in the Department of Physiology. The family were already skiers before Whistler Mountain became known to them, often skiing at Mount Baker and even thinking about purchasing property there. Despite buying shares in the company, the McLennans didn’t believe that they would ever ski at Whistler, though they thought that their grandchildren might enjoy it. This didn’t stop them from investing further in the area, however, and when Sandy Martin brought his model of Alpine Village to their living room in 1964, the McLennans agreed to buy one of the units of his proposed development.

While we don’t have any photos of Alpine Village from the 1960s, we do have a photo of Alpine 68, condominiums built just a few years later right by Alpine Village. Whistler Mountain Ski Corporation Collection

In the summer of 1965, the McLennans decided to take their first trip to Whistler. According to Hilda, the highway around Squamish was still new to them and so they missed a turn and ended up driving into Paradise Valley. After a dusty lunch and new directions, they set off again and eventually came upon a sign on the edge fo the road that read “Site of Garibaldi Lifts.” They continued driving and found another sign that read “Site of Alpine Village.” There wasn’t too much to see at either site, but Sandy Martin had told the McLennans that they could be in their Alpine Village unit by Christmas that year.

The McLennans made their next trip to Whistler on December 17, 1965. It was a short but eventful stay. In an oral history interview in 2016, Hilda recalled that when they moved in, many of the units were frozen. As they were built on a rock cliff, much of the plumbing for the units was housed in cedar boxes above the ground. Before going back to Vancouver, the plumber had wrapped electrical cables around the pipes in the boxes to keep them from freezing. Not only did some of the pipes freeze anyway, but a fire started in one of the boxes in the night.

Hilda McLennan, Richard Heine, and Eleanor Bishop at the Whistler Mountain Ski Club Benefit Dinner. Whistler Question Collection, 1978

That evening, just as Hilda had put dinner on the stove, the water to their unit thawed and began coming up under the toilet. She, Catriona, and Neil were trying to mop up and control the water, but didn’t know where to shut it off. At this point, Hugh, who had been visiting the unit of the Alpine Village architect near the top of the hill, returned. He observed that, in comparison to the architect’s unit where “they’ve got a lovely fire going and the table is all set for dinner with candles,” their place was “a mess.” This was not incredibly well received by those dealing with the flood.

According to Hilda, they didn’t notice the fire until they had no electricity in the morning. She got up to make a cup of coffee and discovered that they had no power. She asked a construction worker who was living in the next unit what had happened, and he told her how the people at the Cheakamus Inn across the highway had seen the fire and come over to put it out. As a precaution, they also turned off the power to the other boxes, especially as some had already shown signs of smouldering. Despite their efforts, Hilda and Neil recalled that some of the units in a different section sustained serious damage. Not surprisingly, the McLennans decided not to stay for another night.

Alpine Village units had another major fire in 1985, though it was reportedly different units that were affected. Whistler Question Collection, 1985

This was just the first of many trips the McLennans made to Whistler, and they returned to Alpine Village with friends for New Years. Though they hadn’t ever expected to ski on the mountain they’d never seen, they became founding members of the Whistler Mountain Ski Club, helped run international ski races on the hill, and Hugh even served as president of the Western Division of the Canadian Ski Association in the 1970s.

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