Tag: helicopters

Blackcomb Helicopters: A Short HistoryBlackcomb Helicopters: A Short History

October 10, 2023 Whistler Museum 0 Comments

Recently at the Museum, we acquired a collection of documents related to aviation in the Whistler valley from Brent Wallace. This collection is very extensive and contains many files from many of the aircraft companies in Whistler such as applications for Commercial Air Service Licenses from Corporate Helicopters Ltd. and Airspan Enterprises Ltd., brochures from the charter aviation companies, proposals and documents related to the Whistler Municipal Heliport, some interviews from Myrtle Philip about early aviation in Whistler, and a collection of news clippings from 1977 all the way to 2023 about aviation in Whistler. One company we wanted to focus on that is frequently mentioned is Blackcomb Helicopters, who started a little later than some other companies but still made a big splash amongst all the competing charter aviation companies.

Blackcomb Helicopters was founded in 1989 by experienced helicopter pilot Steve Flynn. Steve managed a number of other bases throughout BC before settling in Whistler, where he worked at Pemberton Helicopters before applying for his own Operating Certificate in 1989 to start Blackcomb Helicopters. Blackcomb Helicopters began performing mostly technical operations such as fighting forest fires and helping with a number of construction projects, as well as search and rescue operations. They also got involved with the growing tourism industry, offering a wide variety of services to customers from all over the world.

*BUCKETS FROM ON HIGH: Blackcomb Helicopters assisted in the pouring of concrete for lift-tower foundations at Whistler’s Creekside base. Whistler Question Collection, 1991*

Blackcomb Helicopters was up and running by 1991 and construction aid was one of the many services they provided to contractors in Whistler. In 1991, Blackcomb Helicopters aided with the construction of the Whistler Heliport and even flew in the windsock for the opening ceremony of the heliport. In 1992, they airlifted a 16-man hot tub to the Glacier Lodge. However, construction wasn’t all they did. They also helped with conservation efforts such as transporting bears out of Whistler, like they did in 1994 when they airlifted a four year old male black bear out of the landfill to the Upper Squamish Valley. Blackcomb Helicopters also offered a wide range of heli-touring services to people in the Whistler area and still continues to offer services like heli-biking, heli-skiing, and heli-picnics, as well as more specialized services such as search and rescue, medevac, environmental surveys, flights to and from Vancouver, and even film production.

Things have not always been easy for Blackcomb Helicopters. In 1996, an unidentified party placed a muffin into the fuel tank of one of their helicopters, causing an engine failure and leading to an emergency landing at Squamish Elementary School (after this event, some more security was put in place at the heliport). Blackcomb Helicopters also had trouble finding a permanent heliport. They were in a bidding war with Whistler Air for a heliport near Nicklaus North golf course that was ultimately won by Whistler Air, which was acquired by Harbour Air in 2012 and became the floatplane dock on Green Lake. Blackcomb Helicopters ultimately settled in the Whistler Municipal Heliport just north of Green Lake.

*CEMENTING THE FOUNDATION: Blackcomb Mountain picks up a load of cement. Whistler Question Collection, 1994*

In 2006, Blackcomb Helicopters was brought by MCM Aviation, a joint venture between the McLearn Group and Omega Aviation. Steve Flynn stayed on as general manager but Blackcomb Helicopters was now owned by John Morris, Jason McLean, and Sacha McLean. Nowadays, Blackcomb Helicopters still works with Whistler Blackcomb and helps with construction, environmental management, emergency services, and film services (they have worked on many Hollywood films such as The A-Team, Godzilla, and the Deadpool films, just to name a few). They still operate at the Whistler Heliport just north of Green Lake and will still take people on helicopter adventures to take in the beauty of the Whistler Valley and see it in a way few people are able to.

Liam McCrorie was one of two summer students working at the Whistler Museum this summer through the Young Canada Works Program.

Before Personal Locator Beacons and Cell Phones: SPOT the DifferenceBefore Personal Locator Beacons and Cell Phones: SPOT the Difference

January 3, 2023 Whistler Museum 0 Comments

Personal locator beacons and cell phones have completely changed the face of adventure in only 20 years. If you are prepared and have the right equipment it is possible to be rescued in a matter hours, sometimes less, in an emergency situation. Before satellite technology and cell phones it was a different story.

Whistler Search and Rescue (WSAR) formed in 1972 after the tragic avalanche that killed four people on Whistler’s Back Bowl. The subsequent search highlighted the need for search coordination and WSAR was born.

*Whistler Search and Rescue on Blackcomb Glacier in 1983. Photo courtesy of Cliff Jennings.*

Brad Sills joined shortly after WSAR formed and is now in his 47th year volunteering. He recalled the process of responding to search and rescue calls in the 1970s, which would come via the RCMP in Squamish or Pemberton before Whistler had local dispatch. “The call would come to Dave [Cathers] and he would tear his hair out because almost all of his capacity for mountain rescue were hippies living in the woods without telephones. I remember him getting really mad one night going, ‘What the hell do you think I’m supposed to do? Send you losers smoke signals or something?’ We were all laughing. We taunted him a lot about being uptight and responsible.”

Despite much of the team squatting off-grid, the community was small and the ‘jungle telephone’ quite effective. It helped that everyone could usually be found in the Boot Pub each afternoon.

It also took far longer to get messages out from those in need. When someone was injured others in the party would have to get to the nearest town or house before help could be called. Typically this meant that those missing or injured spent more time in the elements, unfortunately leading to more body recovery than rescue.

In July 1979, one person of a two person climbing group fell down a crevasse on Wedge Mountain. The safe party had to mark the spot and hike to Creekside to alert the RCMP. The Local Search and Rescue who relied on personal equipment at the time, alerted Comox Search and Rescue who sent a helicopter to assist with the rescue. Whistler Question Collection.

Arriving in Whistler as the first lifts were being built, Cliff Jennings went on to become one of the first heli-ski guides in Whistler with Pacific Ski Air when it started the winter of 1967/68. Helicopters did not have the same power that they do today. After picking guests up, Pacific Ski Air would have to slowly make their way up the mountain using the available thermals.

Knowing that they had no way to send for help and that rescue could take a very long time, Cliff Jennings and Glenn Creelman tried walking out from Decker Glacier like they would have to if the helicopter broke down. (This is long before Blackcomb was developed.) Cliff is a lifetime member of WSAR, and, using the same unreliable headlamps that search and rescue used, they traversed for 13 hours, skiing the whole time until they crossed the frozen Green Lake and reached houses to make a phone call.

*Pacific Ski Air at the base of Decker Glacier. Photo courtesy of Cliff Jennings.*

“We said, ‘Well, if we break down we are in trouble!’ Because we’d never get regular clients out that way. They would have to say, ‘Oh I wonder where they are?’ and go looking for us, for which they would have to get another helicopter because there wasn’t another helicopter in the Valley.”

*Cliff Jennings during the traverse out from Decker Glacier. Photo courtesy of Cliff Jennings.*

Even the first radios that WSAR had were huge, heavy and basically line of sight. Discussing change, Vincent Massey, also a lifetime member of WSAR said, “Everyone has a cell phone now and if they have reception it is pretty easy to either call or we can ping their phone to find out. And then the people who are going way out there, who are really qualified, have a SAT phone or a SPOT beacon and they can call for help. So things have changed, and now we know what to bring and we know what the scenario is because we can either text them or call them.”

Of course, it is still imperative that everyone travels prepared and knows how to use their equipment.

This Week in Photos

This Week In Photos: June 28This Week In Photos: June 28

June 28, 2018 Whistler Museum 0 Comments

1978

Power lines dip treacherously after Sunday’s strong winds knocked large pieces of deadwood onto the line.

The district track meet in Squamish got lucky with its weather.

Someone was practicing their glass breaking at the liquor store last week. RCMP are investigating.

A new BBQ ready to be installed at Alta Lake Wayside Park.

Sarah, Wendy and Sid try to decide what to do with that nosy photographer during a party Friday.

1980

Arnold Palmer chats with the crowd towards the close of the official ceremony at the Whistler Golf Course.

A chopper spins and dips above Whistler benchlands as the lowest lift of the three chair north face lift system is installed from top down.

Casey Simpson, Eric Bredt, Devin Turner, Rachel Roberts, Corinne Valleau & Stephanie Simpson head out for their sprint with Terry Alway & Alex Marshall officiating.

Phase II Parcel 16 takes shape with Whistler Chairlift N-14 rising through the trees on the left.

Heavy Duty flat deck pulls out the last of two trailers that served as council chambers before Town Centre road construction forced the move.

1981

With a landscaped area, seed for lawn and new curbing in, Sunshine Place takes on a new look. Paving will add a finishing touch and should be completed by the end of July.

Myrtle Philip looks on as Greg Beauregard receives the first ever Myrtle Philip Award. Mother Pat smiles proudly.

Not to be outdone by the Myrtle Philip staff who were in last week’s paper, the staff from Signal Hill Elementary School in Pemberton pose for The Question.

Contestants for the Miss Pemberton Contest look on as BC Minister of Highways, Alex Fraser, explains the provincial grant for Pemberton Airport.

Madeline Domries and her pal Curly Jones wait with great expectations for their fourth prize at Dog Days in the Village Square.

Dressed up at the Alta Lake Community Club Roaring Twenties Pot Luck Dinner, left to right: Max Maxwell, Kelly Maxwell, Diane Smith and Ken Domries.

Susan McCance will run Whistler’s new daycare program.

1982

A chopper heads out with a bucket of water to help squelch the recent forest fire in Cheakamus.

Jan Naylor displays some of the strawberries now ready for picking at the Naylor Berry Farm 3 km north of Pemberton.

Stubborn as a mule! In spite of the efforts of the ‘D’Arcy Prospectors’ this donkey refused to cross the BCR tracks during the Pemberton Parade in celebration of Canada week.

New stop signs often get ignored so the municipality placed reminders in front of this sign on the intersection of Rainbow, Matterhorn and Camino Drive.

Not even the rain stopped these kids from a practice paddle on Alta Lake for the Whistler Country Guides Kids Races. Bad weather postponed the races to Saturday, July 3 at 9:30 at Wayside Park.

1983

Long-time Whistler residents Paul Mathews and Margot Sutcliffe shared a smile on their wedding day Saturday, June 25 at Whistler. Over 150 guests joined the celebration at the Sundial Restaurant.

This house has found its new home on the streets of Whistler.

Round and round and round they danced in celebration of summer. Whistler’s first Midsummer Fest, June 25-26, caught the imagination of hundreds, whether they were Scandinavian or not.

Toni Sailer, six-time Olympic gold medalist, comes to Whistler from Austria every year to run the ski camp.

Dave Murray and Floyd Wilkie have a pre-session consultation at the base of the t-bar.

The Tapley’s Pub softball team poses for a group photo.

Ken Harrop of Singapore Airlines showed his staff and took to the air Saturday during the obstacle race – part one of the three-part Battle of the Travel Stars. Thirty-seven travel agents took part in the two-day fun-filled FAM tour of Whistler.

1984

Scandinavian dancers and musicians filled the village over the weekend for traditional Midsummer festivities. Saturday and Sunday afternoon dancers in garb of the old country whirled about Village Square to folk tunes.

Pemberton Mayor Shirley Henry officially opened the Pemberton Museum Saturday with help from West Vancouver-Howe Sound MLA John Reynolds and his wife Yvonne. Museum curator Margaret Fougberg says most of the collection, which features artifacts dating from the 1860s until the 1950s, was donated by townspeople. The museum building itself has a long history. It was built around 1895 and has been moved twice. It’s permanent location is on Prospect Street in Pemberton.

Whistler Mountains’ miniature golf course at the gondola opened last week and immediately attracted a steady following. The 18-hole course costs $2 a round for adults, $1 for children and is open all day.

Grade seven students went on a computer tour Friday, visiting municipal computers, Twin Peaks Property Management computers and the phototypesetting systems used by the Whistler Question. Pauline Wiebe, Question typesetter, shows students how the machine works.

Helicopters, Hats & HummingbirdsHelicopters, Hats & Hummingbirds

August 31, 2013 Whistler Museum 9 Comments

By Jaimie Fedorak, Summer Collections Assistant

While looking through our artifact collection this summer we stumbled upon a familiar item: an Okanagan Helicopters baseball cap in the trademark orange and blue. We recognized the cap’s distinctive hummingbird logo because a helicopter enthusiast we know [Editor’s note: Jaimie’s father] has the exact same hat, but we were unsure why this hat would be part of our artifact collection.

Heli-skiing in the Whistler area has long been a popular activity, since the choppers provide access to the glaciers and backcountry areas for skiers looking for prime powder skiing. Pamphlets from the museum’s research files reveal that a bevy of helicopter companies were involved in providing heli-skiing tours, including Canadian Helicopters Ltd (one of the companies which Okanagan Helicopters became when it was restructured in later years, who also had a hummingbird logo).

Franz Wilhelmsen and unidentified man with an OK Heli, 1960s. — Franz Wilhelmsen and Willy Shaeffler with an OK Heli, 1960s.

Issues of the Garibaldi Whistler News going back as far as 1970 also prove that Okanagan Helicopters was the one of, if not the, first company offering heli-skiing services in the Whistler area. The company was allied with skiing superstar Jim McConkey, who was the Director of the Garibaldi Ski School at the time and acted as the guide on heli-skiing trips.

Early heli-skiers, near Whistler. Yes, winter is coming.

But the connection between Okanagan Helicopters and the resort goes back even further. Photos in the Museum’s collection show many Okanagan Helicopters machines, and the earliest photos from the Whistler Mountain Ski Corporation collection reveal that Okanagan Helicopters was the company that took Franz Wilhelmsen and company on tours of the area during the early 1960s to scope out the viability of developing a ski resort.

Touring around the Whistler Mountain alpine, early 1960s.

Once the decision was made to make the resort a reality, Okanagan Helicopters was called upon again. Construction of the lift towers was done before ground transportation up the mountain was feasible, and helicopters were thus chosen the construction vehicle of choice. When the Garibaldi Olympic Development Association (GODA for short) was formed to promote Whistler Mountain as a potential host for the 1966 Olympics Glen McPherson, the president of Okanagan Helicopters, was on the committee due to the company’s important role in the construction of the resort.

The hat itself is most likely from the late 1970s or early 1980s – before Okanagan Helicopters became Canadian Helicopters Ltd and CHC in 1987- but the legacy of how it came to be in the collection goes back almost 20 years to the very beginning of the Whistler-Blackcomb resort.