Tag: Grouse Mountain

Losing the UCI MTB Triple CrownLosing the UCI MTB Triple Crown

August 5, 2025 Whistler Museum 0 Comments

Back in 2001, Whistler was slated to host the UCI (Union Cycliste Internationale) MTB World Cup Triple Crown event, but it did not go ahead. According to The Province, the UCI had received 11 bids to host the event from various Whistler groups between 1991 and 1999. Only one was successful.

In 1998, Marika Koenig and Claire Bonin founded TEAM Management, an events and festivals company focused on mountain biking. That same year they executed the inaugural Whistler International Classic, an internationally-sanctioned race where pro riders could build up UCI points. Over the next two years, TEAM added the race to their new event, Summer Session, a multi-day festival that revolved around mountain biking, cycling, skateboarding, and general summer fun. From fun and competitive races to bachelor auctions, the week was jam packed with events. Through this, TEAM showcased Whistler’s capability of hosting a World Cup event.

Mountain biker Dave Wastson competes in the 1999 Summer Session. He later won the 2001 Joyride Bikercross. Bruce Rowles Collection

TEAM invested their time and funds to submit an extensive bid to UCI in September 1999. It was endorsed by Cycling BC, the Canadian Cycling Association (CCA), and W3 – Whistler Blackcomb, Tourism Whistler and the Resort Municipality of Whistler.

Four months later, UCI awarded the bid to Whistler. Unfortunately, the dream of hosting a World Cup in Whistler did not come to fruition, as W3 wanted to take over ownership from TEAM, but did not have the expertise to do so. In December 2000, 7 months out from when the Triple Crown event was supposed to take place, W3 and TEAM withdrew their intention to host the World Cup.

The Whistler community expressed disappointment, outrage, and confusion, writing letters to the local papers in support of TEAM’s role and success with other MTB events. Many questioned the real reason for backing out. The fallout caused TEAM to cancel their events planned for the summer, including the third-annual Summer Session, and end their business.

Promotional video for Summer Session (2000). Koenig Collection

There were also concerns that this fallout would affect Whistler’s bid for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, since UCI President, Hein Verbruggen, sat on the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and was not too pleased with the outcome. The Olympic bid, however, remained unaffected and was awarded to Vancouver and Whistler in 2003.

In the meantime, two other resorts competed to take on this opportunity – Sun Peaks and Grouse Mountain. In March 2000, Grouse Mountain was confirmed to take on the Triple Crown from July 4 – 8, 2001, as well as events in the 2002 and 2003 World Cups. There were concerns initially with lack of on-mountain facilities and accommodations, but the Vancouver mountain assured UCI that the Skyride could transport 1,200 people per hour to make access for athletes and spectators easier. They also brought in Gestev Inc., an experienced organization who did World Cup races at Mont-Ste-Anne (Quebec) and Mazatlan (Mexico). Though the event was successful, mountain biking on Grouse died down after these World Cups, until this year when their new Bike Park opened this summer.

The podium for the cross-country event at the 2002 World Cup on Grouse Mountain. That year the downhill and four-cross events were cancelled. Makarewicz Collection

Back in Whistler, this left a void that needed to be filled by a large summer event. Since the 1980s, mountain biking had become a staple of Whistler summers, with several attempts at hosting annual events, so what was next?

Paddy Kaye and Chris Winter formed Joyride Productions in 1997 with the goal of bringing freeriding MTB events to Whistler. They helped build many of the trails on Whistler Mountain prior to Whistler Blackcomb taking over the park, and assisted with events and trail maintenance during the Summer Session festival. With the lack of major events in the summer of 2001, they brought Joyride Bikercross to the forefront and it was a massive success. The event took place a day prior to Grouse Mountain’s World Cup, a strategic choice on their end since pro riders would be close by to attend both events.

This homegrown event got bigger and better, and the slopestyle competition was introduced in 2003 when Joyride was incorporated in the Whistler Gravity festival. A year later, the festival was rebranded to Crankworx – Whistler’s largest summer festival that now has a multi-stop world tour.

Whistler Mountain’s Early OperationsWhistler Mountain’s Early Operations

November 26, 2019 Whistler Museum 3 Comments

As we approach another opening day for Whistler Blackcomb, we’ve been looking back at the early days of operations on Whistler Mountain. Much of the information we have on these early years comes from oral history interviews, some lift company records, and Garibaldi’s Whistler News (GWN).

Earlier this year, a volunteer for the museum conducted a series of interviews with none other than Lynn Mathews. Lynn was the editor, and so much more, of GWN, and she shared a wealth of knowledge about both the paper and her experiences at Whistler.

The Skiers Chapel was still under construction when the Mathews first came to town. Whistler Mountain Ski Corporation Collection.

Mathews was born on Staten Island, New York. She is a journalist and writer by profession, and before moving to Whistler worked for magazines and at Harshe-Rotman & Druck, one of the leading PR firms in New York City. In the early 1960s, Lynn spent a winter in Quebec, teaching skiing at Gray Rocks Inn. It was there she met Dave Mathews, who was involved in resort business in the area, and the two were married the following year. The couple soon moved west to Vancouver, and Dave planned to leave the ski business to work full-time for an irrigation company where he had previously worked summers. The ski industry, however, would prove hard for the pair to leave behind.

During their first winter in BC, Lynn taught skiing at Grouse Mountain, while also working for various magazines and publications. The irrigation business was slow in the winter, and so for the season of 1966/67, Dave and Lynn planned to spend their weekends teaching at a new ski area north of Vancouver that was just opening for its first season of full-time operation.

Even by 1970, the Creekside area was a little empty. Whistler Mountain Ski Corporation Collection.

Lynn’s first trip to the Whistler Valley in August 1966 didn’t necessarily impress her. As she put it, “There was nothing here. There was the gondola, that was there, the daylodge had been built, there were two A-frames on the hillside,” and not too much else. Due to extensive logging and burning, Lynn said that without snow, the Creekside area “looked like a war zone. It wasn’t a pretty alpine village at all.”

For about $125, Lynn and Dave rented one of the log cabins at Jordan’s Lodge for the season. Lynn chose the cabin “that tilted the least,” and the self-described “city girl” prepared for a winter with no electricity, no plumbing, and a wood cookstove.

In the 1970s, this was more likely to be the scene at Jordan’s Lodge. Benjamin Collection.

Lynn recalled that in December, Franz Wilhelmsen, who was acting as a combination of general manager, CEO, and chairman of the board, got very sick with pneumonia, right when Whistler Mountain was heading into its first full season. Two managers were brought on board, Dave Mathews as operations manager and Jack Bright as mountain manager. According to Lynn, Dave was responsible for “anything that moved,” and Jack was in charge of ticket sales, administration, image, publicity, and much more.

Lynn worked in the mountain’s office as well. Though some ski passes were sold at the Garibaldi Lifts Ltd. offices in Vancouver, others were sold at Whistler Mountain and Lynn was in charge of making those passes. Without any computer systems, she used a polaroid camera and a hand-cranked laminating machine. Each person got two photos, one for their pass and one for the files, and a lift ticket to go skiing. At the end of the day they could pick up their pass at the office.

Over the next few months, we’ll be sharing more tales from Lynn and others who have told their stories to the museum. Have a story about Whistler to contribute to the Museum’s collection? Please come see us!