While the Alta Lake Sports Club (ALSC) was founded in 1975 to “organize and encourage participation in outdoor sports at all levels of ability in the Whistler area and beyond,” in the winter months the ALSC was all about cross country skiing. Members organized events in Whistler and competed in races with other clubs around the province, although they got off to a rocky start in the winter of 1976/77 when a particularly mild winter forced one event after another to be cancelled or moved to Manning Park. By 1980, however, the ALSC was consistently hosting multiple races each season and the first few months of the year were busy ones for the members.

In January 1980, members of the ALSC travelled to 100 Mile House to take part in the Cariboo Marathon, a 50km race with 1,500 competitors that took place in “extremely cold” and “frigid” temperatures according to the report in the Whistler Question. The ALSC was well represented in the women’s division of the Marathon, with members Joan McGrath, Loreen Barnett and Betty Ann Hopner taking first, second and fourth places. Catherine Gaarder and Jenny Busdon, both ALSC members, provided a picture-perfect finish after meeting at the 15km mark and cross the finish line with their hands together after 5 hours and 10 minutes.

ALSC members did not far so well in the men’s division, where the Finlandia Club from Vancouver swept the first five spots. Some members were out with injuries or working out of the country while others ran into difficulties during the race. Al Fisher, the ALSC coach, ended up in the trees around the 20km mark, was knocked unconscious, broke his nose, recovered, and made it to the finish line in 13th place. Both he and Nello Busdon ended up at the hospital with frostbite.

On February 10, the ALSC and Labatt’s hosted their annual meet on the trails around Lost Lake with a 25km course for racers and a 12km course for tourers and “youngsters.” The ALSC was well represented in both divisions this time, with McGrath again coming first in her category and Dan McDonald placing third in his, behind two members of the Finlandia Club.

Later that month, ALSC members competed at the BC Championship Cross-Country Ski Meet held in Manning Park, where they came second in the 3x5km relay (coming in just behind the Finlandia Club team).

The last big race that year for the ALSC was the 4th Annual Fischer Cup, again held around Lost Lake. The rain and warm weather before the race had some members wondering if the race would go ahead, but according to Jenny Busdon, “We are an optimistic bunch and one thing our Club never does is give up!” The race director Jim Bishop took three days off from his work in the city and spent two days shovelling with other members to build a new course that eliminated previous problem areas that caused “scenes of absolute bedlam” whenever one skier went down. In the end, the 15km course was in “fantastic” condition for the race.

At this last race of the season, McDonald took first, finally coming ahead of the “seemingly unbeatable Finns.” The event also included an elementary age race where new ALSC skiers, some of whom had only tried the sport a few times before, got a taste of competition over 5km.

The Fischer Cup was followed by a medals ceremony, prizes from Fischer, Labatt’s, Andres Wine, the Highland Lodge, and Molson, and a dance at the school, where the social aspects of belonging to a club took precedence over the competition.

Through the 1980s, the ALSC hosted fewer skiing events as the newly formed Whistler Nordic Ski Club grew. Last night (Monday, February 5) we had a great time learning about Nordic skiing and the Whistler Nordic Ski Club from Tom Barratt, Keith Bennett and Stephanie Sloan and heard some amazing stories. Thank you to everyone who came out to our first Speaker Series of 2024 and we hope to see you at our next events!