Tag: Great Snow Earth Water Race

Starting Up Whistler’s CourierStarting Up Whistler’s Courier

June 3, 2025 Whistler MuseumWhistler Museum 0 Comments

When Cherie Chaffey took part in the Great Snow Earth Water Race in 1979, she was not expecting it to lead (in a roundabout way) to starting her own business in Whistler.

The Great Snow Earth Water Race was a relay race founded by Bryan Walhovd that included skiing, cycling, canoeing, and running. Cherie was the cyclist for Ken Hunter’s “Nearly Normal Racing Team,” which meant she met the running skier at the bottom of Whistler Mountain and then had to cycle along the highway to the north end of Green Lake, where the baton was handed off. Unfortunately, when Cherie reached Emerald Estates she was hit by a car coming out of the neighbourhood. While she doesn’t remember much about the aftermath of the accident, in a recent interview she recalled waking up to see Chuck Blaylock standing over her and that the driver of the car was an off-duty ambulance driver, which meant that he was able to provide assistance before she was taken to Squamish Hospital. Instead of finishing the race, Cherie returned to Ontario to recuperate.

A cyclist races along the highway while traffic follows behind. According to Cherie, helmets became mandatory in the race the following year. Whistler Question Collection, 1979

Cherie had first moved out from Ontario three years earlier with a friend from school, Cathy Jewett. Despite the slow start to the 1976/77 season that year, the two got jobs with Garibaldi Lifts Ltd. working for Ron Johnson on the lifts. According to Cherie, on her first time up Whistler Mountain, she managed to make it to the top of the Red Chair where she asked the lifites where she could find the T-bars, where she was supposed to be working. They pointed her in the right direction and she asked, “Ok, how do you ski?” She was told, “Go straight until you fall, get up, and do it again.” Although she soon switched to working the gondola, she did get better at skiing with more practice.

Over the next few years, Cherie worked on various lifts and at different jobs for the lift company, though her favourite was that of lift supervisor during the Toni Sailer Summer Ski Camps. She would drive up to Midstation in an “old army truck” to start up the gondola and the Red Chair and was usually done her shift by about 2 o’clock, when it was time for windsurfing on Alta Lake. During the day, she and a small team would do jobs such as painting lifts or removing rocks from runs.

Just before Cherie returned from Ontario in the summer of 1979 following her recuperation, her father gave her money to buy a car as he didn’t want her riding her bike on the highway anymore. She bought a Honda Civic in Vancouver and, after thinking about what she wanted to do upon returning to Whistler, decided that she would start a courier service and Whistler Courier Service was born.

Cherie when she answered the Whistler Question’s Whistler’s Answers Question in 1983. Whistler Question Collection, 1983

On Friday, August 10, Cherie began offering delivery and pickup services in Vancouver, Squamish and Whistler three days a week. She charged customers $15 for a delivery to Vancouver (with an additional $2 for each additional stop) and $7 to Squamish (extra stops were only $1). According to her advertisement in the Whistler Question, there was “No job too big or small” and she offered to drop off bank deposits, mail, tools to be repaired, groceries and more. She even took dogs to the vet in Squamish and remembered all of the dogs being very well behaved in the car.

According to Cherie, as the Whistler Village was developed her jobs became more professional and she had more work delivering documents such as plans and drawings between Whistler and Vancouver. By spring of 1981, she was operating two runs five days a week and even hired another driver, Brian McPherson, and moved from her own landline into an office.

Cherie continued to run Whistler Courier until she was approached by Jeff Wuolle, the owner of Twin Peaks property management company, who offered to buy part of her company in exchange for part of his. After that, Cherie was no longer involved in the operations of the courier service as she began to learn more about property management and later moved away from Whistler.

You can learn more about the Great Snow Earth Water Race, which Cherie took part in, at our temporary exhibit now on display at the Whistler Museum through June 19.

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Whistler’s Most Unpredictable RaceWhistler’s Most Unpredictable Race

June 1, 2021 Whistler MuseumWhistler Museum 0 Comments

The Great Snow Earth Water Race was one of the many events that took place over the Victoria Day long weekend in Whistler during the 1970s and 1980s. The event contributed to the influx of tourists that arrived every May to participate in the festivities. The race was created by Bryan Walhovd in 1975 as a community event aimed at attracting all skill levels.

The event took different shapes depending on the year, and was far from predictable. In some years, the race had a cross country skiing portion that required more team members, and in other years the race switched between Whistler and Blackcomb. The state of the course varied from year to year as well. In his interview with the museum, Bryan said that in the years he or other volunteers were unable to clear out the River of Golden Dreams prior to the race, it was like an obstacle course for the competitors. Similarly, he said that some years competitors complained about the unruly state of the trails for the running segment.

When the first race took place in 1975, there were over twenty teams competing. Every team had to include both men and women. While the race was never known for its regulations, in its first year there were remarkably few. The first year, the only requirement was that competitors reach the bottom of the ski hill with all of their ski equipment, but once the snow ended, how they got down the mountain was entirely up to them. The lack of regulations led to all kinds of opportunistic tactics. A few enterprising teams even used things like trucks and motorbikes to get the skiers to the exchange point. Needless to say, after the first year a rule was added that competitors had to get down the mountain on their own two feet.

Skiing segment of the Great Earth Snow Water Race. Whistler Question Collection, 1978.

In only a few years the number of teams competing had nearly tripled; by 1978 over sixty teams competed in the race (only fifty-eight completed it), and from there the race continued to grow and attract larger and further reaching audiences. The races were full of mishaps and complications. Due to lack of government involvement, navigating traffic during the cycling portion could be quite complicated, and one year the Whistler Question referred to this endeavour as “an interesting experience.”

Competitors in the cycling segment of the Great Snow Earth Water Race. Whistler Question Collection, 1981.

As the race became more notorious, by necessity it also became more organized. By the 1990s, matters of logistics and insurance made the race increasingly difficult to execute, and it came to an end.

The Great Snow Earth Water Race took place at the same time as Mayday Madness, a series of events organized by the Chamber of Commerce for community members and tourists. Local sentiment toward the festivities of the long weekend was similar to what we see today: some looked forward to the fun-filled weekend, while others braced for what they saw as inevitable chaos. The events were geared toward different age groups, and some were more family friendly than others. They included everything from wind-surfing to belly flop contests to mini-marathons and family sports.

Belly flop competition at the Christiana Inn. Whistler Question Collection, 1978.

If you are interested in learning more about the race, the Whistler Museum recently hosted a virtual speaker series with some of the original competitors and organizers, and a recording of the event can be found here.

Keely Collins is one of two summer students working at the Whistler Museum this year through the Young Canada Works Program.  She will be returning to the University of Victoria in the fall.

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Whistler’s Answers: May 27, 1982Whistler’s Answers: May 27, 1982

May 27, 2021 Whistler MuseumWhistler Museum 0 Comments

In the 1980s the Whistler Question began posing a question to three to six people and publishing their responses under “Whistler’s Answers” (not to be confused with the Whistler Answer).  Each week, we’ll be sharing one question and the answers given back in 1982.  Please note, all names/answers/occupations/neighbourhoods represent information given to the Question at the time of publishing and do not necessarily reflect the person today.

Some context for this week’s question: Summers in the early 1980s were not exactly busy – some businesses even closed for the season – though there were some efforts to draw visitors to the area. The Chamber of Commerce began organizing May Day Madness, a series of events over the May long weekend for both visitors and residents. Another event over the weekend was the Great Snow Earth Water Race, which ran for over 15 years.

Question: As all the festivities wind to a halt, what did you think was the highlight of the May Day Madness weekend?

Nigel Woods – Chief Goat – Alpine Meadows

Generally the nice atmosphere that prevailed. There was a real team spirit, both individually and in a group sense. It was a much more mellow weekend than previous years, which I think shows the maturity of the town.

P.J. Paterson – Sales Rep – Alpine Meadows

The dance on Saturday was the best. There was a good band, good dancing and lots of crazy people.

Karen Wylie – Full-time Kid – Alpine Meadows

The Great Snow Earth Water Race was my favourite. It was so exciting – especially the canoeing. They were falling all over the place – falling out of the canoes, falling in the water. One canoe even sank.

Satia – Full-time Pet – Alpine Meadows

All the exotic, uptown dogs that were around for the weekend.

Terry Rodgers – Alderman – White Gold Estates

The turnout.

Dave Sorenson – Unemployed Carpenter – Nesters

The wine, the women and the songs.

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Summer and Races at the Whistler MuseumSummer and Races at the Whistler Museum

May 25, 2021 Whistler MuseumWhistler Museum 0 Comments

For many, the month of May signals either the end of the ski season or the beginning of the summer season in Whistler, or possibly both. In the 1950s and early 1960s, this change of season was marked by the first dance of the season at the Alta Lake Community Hall. As the area began to be known for skiing rather than its summer activities, other kinds of events became more common such as races and competitions.

Canoeists prepare for their part in the exciting ninth annual Great Snow, Earth, Water Race. Although the weather was great Sunday and Monday, Saturday was a damp one and it actually snowed on Tuesday. Whistler Question Collection.

In May of 1975, Bryan Walhovd organized a race that would become a long-running springtime staple in Whistler: the Great Snow Earth Water Race. When it began, the four stages of the relay race were skiing, cycling, canoeing and running. The teams of five were required to have at least one woman on each team. The race started on Whistler Mountain, where skiers raced to the end of the snow and then had to make their way down to the gondola base in today’s Creekside, ensuring that they still had their skis and boots with them. From there, the baton was passed to a cyclist who rode to the first weir on the River of Golden Dreams to pass the baton to the two canoeists. Canoes then travelled across Alta Lake to pass the baton to the team’s runner for the final leg of the race back to the gondola base.

Whenever conversations turn to the Great Snow Earth Water Race, those who have participated invariably describe how much they enjoyed the experience. The first years of the race did not have many rules, leading to inventive ways of getting around the course and memorable stories featuring motorcycles, trucks, and even downloading in the gondola with varying degrees of success. It would appear that the race made a lasting impression on those who attended, whether they were running down Whistler Mountain with ski boots around their neck or watching the chaos of the canoes.

It was no easy task, but for the second year in a row Stoney’s team walked away with first-place honours in the Great Waters Race. (L to R) Dave Murray, Jinny Ladner, Ken Hardy, Lisa Nicholson and Brian Allen. Whistler Question Collection.

To find out more about the race and those who raced in it, the Whistler Museum has added an extra event to our 2021 Virtual Speaker Series this evening (Tuesday, May 25). We’ll be speaking with Bryan Walhovd, Nancy Greene Raine, Trudy Alder, and others to learn more about this race that is remembered so fondly.

While this will be the last event of our 2021 Virtual Speaker Series (we will be hosting April’s postponed event on freestyle skiing at a later yet-to-be-determined date), we are busy at the museum preparing for an exciting summer. Our Valley of Dreams Walking Tour will run daily through July and August, with the same precautions and restrictions that we introduced last year. Crafts in the Park, a partner program with the Whistler Public Library, will also return this summer in a remote format. Thanks to Young Canada Works, we’ll have help with our programs and museum operations in the form of two student employees.

You can find out more about upcoming programs and events and the latest museum updates at whistlermuseum.org.

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