Tag: Jim McConkey

Learning to Ski at WhistlerLearning to Ski at Whistler

February 25, 2020 Whistler Museum 0 Comments

Whistler attracts skiers and snowboarders of all ability levels and it comes as no surprise that there are a great number of people who first learned to ski on Whistler and Blackcomb mountains, or even on the nearby slopes of Rainbow Mountain. On Whistler Mountain, formal instruction has been on offer since it opened in 1966.

Garibaldi Ski School was opened by Roy Ferris and Alan White, who persuaded Ornulf Johnsen from Norway to manage the school. After two years Johnsen moved on to Grouse Mountain and Jim McConkey was asked to take over instruction at Whistler. McConkey had taught skiing in Utah for ten years before moving to Todd Mountain in Kamloops. He agreed to come manage the ski school in Whistler on the agreement that he would also handle equipment rentals and the ski shop.

Jim McConkey posing for a formal staff photo in his Whistler Ski School uniform. Whistler Mountain Ski Corporation Collection.

McConkey described the ski school as being in a class of its own due to there being limited beginner terrain. The ski school grew to have a few salaried instructors and more than 25 regular instructors who worked on commission. Joe Csizmazia and Hans Mozer had started using helicopters for skiing in 1966 and McConkey took over the helicopter operations in 1968 for six years. He, along with a couple of his top instructors, acted as guides for heli-skiing off of the regular runs on Whistler Mountain.

Ski lessons were a bargain at $18 for six two-hour classes. In 1969 the mountain introduced adult summer ski programs in addition to children’s camps. The adult summer lessons combined skiing with apres and summer recreation. After a few hours of skiing in the morning, the group would have lunch at the Roundhouse and then go swimming, canoeing, horseback riding, or McConkey, who was an avid golfer, would take groups to the Squamish Golf Course. Each week’s camp ended with a slalom race and an evening barbecue. McConkey also began holding instructor courses where weekend skiers could learn to become ski instructors.

This bell called a generation of skiers to their lessons on Whistler. Whistler Question Collection, 1978

Students at Whistler Mountain were called to their ski lessons by the ringing of a bell at the base of the gondola. McConkey had heard that there was a bell in Pemberton that belonged to the Lil’wat Nation. The bell had been installed in the steeple of a church in Mount Currie in 1904 but had been unused since the church caught fire in the late 1940s. McConkey asked for permission to use the bell and had a picture drawn to show what it would look like at the base of Whistler. The council was consulted and agreed to lend the bell to the ski school. McConkey and Dick Fairhurst brought the bell to Whistler and installed it at the gondola base, with a plaque to tell the story of its origins.

A young Bob Dufour poses for his offficial Ski School portrait, early 1970s.

McConkey left the ski school in 1980, at which point Bob Dufour took over as its director. When Blackcomb Mountain opened in 1980 they made their own ski school called Ski-ed. It was advertised as a chance to ski with a pro on Blackcomb. In 1985 Ski Esprit was opened as a dual mountain ski school with six instructors.

Since the 1980s, Whistler and Blackcomb mountains have combined more than just their ski schools, and thousands of skiers, and now snowboarders, continue to learn on the slopes of Whistler and Blackcomb Mountains.

Talking Shop: Whistler’s Early Mountain Bike ShopsTalking Shop: Whistler’s Early Mountain Bike Shops

June 11, 2019 Whistler Museum 2 Comments

Not only do we have a trail-rich valley to call home in Whistler, but we are also spoiled with choice when it comes to bike shops. This wasn’t always the case.

When mountain bikes first hit the logging roads in the valley in the early 1980s, most riders had to head to Vancouver for any mountain-bike-specific parts and maintenance, according to one or our oral history interviews with local mountain bike pioneer Steve Anderson.

Mountain biking steadily became more popular in Whistler from the 1980s but at the beginning there were few shops dedicated to the sport. Whistler Question Collection.

A couple of shops were starting to pop up around the Whistler Village at that time. In 1983 Dores Burma and her partner Bruce Randall operated a small bike shop, Summit Cycles, out of a trailer-looking building right above the commercial loading zone at the Delta Mountain Inn (today known as the Hilton), the same space that operated as Sigge’s Sports in the winter. Dores was passionate about mountain bikes and famed for her Cheakamus Challenge precursor race called “See Colours & Puke,” a wild mountain bike race reportedly meant to be completed on mushrooms. At some point in the 1980s Jim McConkey’s ski shop also began selling bikes in the summer months.

In the autumn of 1985 Backroads Whistler owner Eric Wight opened a bike shop in the basement of Creekside’s Southside Diner. A short time later, the shop moved to the first floor of a house in Mons.

The new location was in the centre of the local mountain bike scene at the time, not far from new trails in Emerald and Lost Lake. The shop sold, fixed, and rented mountain bikes, even building a small trials track outside their door. Eric admits the shops didn’t make much money in the early days, as most of the clientele were locals who could only afford parts using “local deals.” Big things were to come, however.

Whistler began hosting bike races in the early 1980s, creating even more demand for maintenance and shops. Whistler Question Collection.

In 1989 Eric’s shop moved to Whistler Village, finding a spot in the base of the Delta. The location was off the radar for visitors, however, and the clientele was still all locals. The shop finally surfaced on the Village Stroll in the spot where Jim McConkey had sold bikes (currently Showcase Snowboards) around the time Backroads began working with Whistler Mountain to begin mountain bike tours down the mountain. According to Eric, the new shop had a Santa Fe theme, a mechanic shop in the back, rentals and tours, and plenty of snazzy lycra on sale out front.

As mountain biking continued gaining traction the 1990s saw bike shops that are still kicking it today start up shop.

In 1994 John Inglis and Peter Colapinto opened the Whistler Bike Co., also in the underground portion of the Delta, for the summer months. In 1995 they brought onboard Giant Bicycles and they eventually expanded to Pemberton, the Village Gate location, and, most recently, their Marketplace location to accommodate a growing population of bikers in town.

Molson’s Whistler Bike Race passes through the Whistler Village, where some of the earlier bike shops in town can still be found today. Whistler Question Collection.

Bike Co. is currently the oldest independent bike shop in town, followed closely by Evolution, which was opened by Jenine Bourbonnais in 1995. Many more mountain bike shops have opened up as Whistler has become the mountain bike mecca it is today: Summit Sports, Fanatyk Co., Garbanzo Bike & Bean, Coastal Culture Sports, Arbutus Routes, Whistler Village Sports, The Fix, Comor Sports, Fineline, Gateway Bikes – the list is long and continues to grow. Needless to say, Whistler’s mountain bikers (and their bikes) are now very well serviced.

This week we’ve been celebrating Whistler’s mountain biking history with the museum’s 4th annual Mountain Bike Heritage Week. You can find a full list of events here and join us for our final event on Wednesday featuring Chris Allen of North Shore Billet and Steve Mathews of Vorsprung.

What do canoeing and powder skiing have in common?What do canoeing and powder skiing have in common?

January 15, 2019 Whistler Museum 0 Comments

With the beginning of the new year, we have been spending some time looking back at what 2018 brought to the museum (new records, new exhibits and many new donations of artifacts and archival materials!) as well as looking forward to what lies ahead.

Each year January marks the beginning of our annual Speaker Series. We’re very excited to start off our 2019 series Thursday, January 17 with Highways of the Past: Canoeing the Grand Canyon of the Liard River.

In 1972 Mike Stein and five fellow adventurers filmed their journey on the Liard River, which flows 1115 km through parts of the Yukon, British Columbia and the Northwest Territories. Their trip focused on the Grand Canyon, a 30 km stretch of the Liard River containing numerous class IV and higher rapids. For decades the resulting 16mm film was thought lost, but recently Mike Stein not only found a copy but had it digitized.

Heading through the Liard Canyon, 1972. Photo courtesy of Mike Stein.

Thursday, January 17 Mike Stein will be at the Whistler Museum for the first screening of Highways of the Past and to discuss his own experiences before, during and after the trip.

While looking through a copy of Garibaldi’s Whistler News published three years prior to the trip down the Liard River, I found an article written by another participant in the canoe trip, Jim McConkey. McConkey came to Whistler Mountain to take up the position of Ski Director in the spring of 1968 and began writing instructional articles about ski techniques for the publication during his first season. In early 1969, Whistler Mountain received weeks of what he described as “beautiful, deep powder snow.” This led to “Learning Powder Snow Technique,” an article in which McConkey instructs skiers on the proper way to ski powder.

‘Diamond’ Jim McConkey’s official Whistler Mountain portrait. Whistler Mountain Ski Corporation Collection.

The article begins by defining true powder snow as “very light snow that flies out from underneath the skis, sometimes bellowing up over the skier’s head.” Once the skier found the right snow, they also had to ensure they had the right equipment, meaning flexible deep snow skis, with little camber and soft heels.

When the skier was ready to head for the hill, McConkey recommended starting with a long, gently slope to practice the “continuous, flowing motion of linked turns straight down the hill” that is powder skiing. According to the article, there is no room for traversing a run on a powder day as “traversing like a cautious old woman is Taboo.”

Jack Bright and Jim McConkey skiing Whistler Mountain, 1972 (the same year as the trip). Whistler Mountain Ski Corporation Collection.

The article ends with hints that still hold up well today, such as “establish a rhythm”, “keep your head and shoulders facing down the fall line,” and “keep your feet locked together.” Especially useful is McConkey’s last reminder:

Be sure to laugh when you take a giant clobber in the deep snow. You will get your chance to laugh with your friends when they fall. Powder snow and clobbers too are for everyone.

We may not be able to promise weeks of powder skiing this January, but you can join us at the museum Thursday, January 17 for a unique look back at an incredible journey from 1972.

Tickets are on sale at the Whistler Museum; $10 or $5 for museum or Club Shred members. Doors open at 6:30 pm, the talk and film will start at 7 pm. See you there!

This Week in Photos

This Week In Photos: December 13This Week In Photos: December 13

December 13, 2018 Whistler Museum 0 Comments

Before you got a parking spot or parking pass for being Citizen of the Year, the lucky winner received the Citizen of the Year plaque. Can you spot which year they rearranged the names to fit more on?