Tag: Roundhouse

Mountain Washrooms: WhistlerMountain Washrooms: Whistler

October 7, 2025 Whistler MuseumWhistler Museum 2 Comments

When Whistler Mountain opened for skiing in the winter of 1965/66, it wasn’t known for its on-mountain amenities. Even after the Roundhouse was built in the summer of 1966, the only facilities on the top of the mountain were nearby outhouses.

The maintenance of these outhouses fell under the purview of Whistler Mountain’s paid ski patrol. John Hetherington, who joined the patrol in the 1967/68 season, remembered shoveling out and cleaning the outhouses as an “ugly job.” According to fellow patroller Hugh Smythe, Hugh gained quite a lot of experience cleaning and restocking the facilities in his first year on the patrol, often using rescue equipment such as ice axes. He described these duties as “the glamour of being a ski patroller.”

The Roundhouse before the balcony and the lower level were enclosed. Whistler Mountain Ski Corporation Collection

One of the first major renovations of the Roundhouse involved digging out and enclosing a lower floor which would include indoor washrooms. According to Garibaldi’s Whistler News, this was done in part due to skier demands. Doing so presented a couple of problems as at the time, the Roundhouse did not have water and some high points of rock beneath the Roundhouse made the space more a crawlspace than another level.

The first problem was solved by hiring a professional water dowser from Vancouver Island. He arrived with a willow stick and was able to find running water near enough to the Roundhouse that the lift company was able to install a pump and have enough water for the newly installed kitchen and for washrooms. The second problem involved removing some of the rock that the Roundhouse was built on.

Smythe had a blasting ticket because of his patrol work doing avalanche control but, as he recalled, “no experience blasting rock.” He drilled some holes and covered the area in sheets of plywood, then added explosives. Luckily, only one piece of rock went through the main floor of the Roundhouse, though others were embedded in the ceiling. Once the debris was cleared out, washrooms and additional seating were added to the space.

A new building that included additional washrooms under construction in front of the Roundhouse. Whistler Question Collection, 1979

While the addition of indoor washrooms was a big step for Whistler Mountain, the lift company continued to experience washroom woes. The Roundhouse now had four stalls in the women’s washroom, two stalls and two urinals in the men’s washroom, and the pre-existing outhouses. The facilities, however, were still not sufficient for the number of skiers on the mountain on a busy day and Smythe recalled that the lineups for the women’s washroom would be “horrendous.” At one point, season pass holders signed a petition for additional women’s washroom facilities, as the women had gotten tired of waiting in the line and the rest of their group had gotten tired of waiting for them, sometimes for over half an hour. Mirrors were moved from the washroom to the hallway to discourage any lingering, clips were installed to keep the sleeves of one-piece ski suits off the ground, and there were even staff stationed at the washrooms with stopwatches. None of these measures were particularly effective and Smythe remembered some skiers, tired of waiting in line, decided to “just storm the men’s.”

The Roundhouse after renovations. Whistler Question Collection, 1980

In 1979, a new building was installed beside the Roundhouse that included extra washrooms, a new ski school office, a ski repair shop, and a sewer plant. When the Roundhouse Lodge was completely rebuilt in 1998, the new building boasted much larger washroom facilities than the original structure. His experiences with both the outhouses and the Roundhouse facilities left a lasting impression on Hugh Smythe that would inform future developments in his career.

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Expanding the RoundhouseExpanding the Roundhouse

September 12, 2023 Whistler MuseumWhistler Museum 2 Comments

The Roundhouse that sits atop Whistler Mountain today bears little resemblance to the original Roundhouse built during the summer of 1966. Based on the design of a similar building in the United States, the “round” structure is easily recognized in photographs from past decades. However, almost as soon as it was built, the lift company began changing and adding on to the Roundhouse.

The Roundhouse on Whistler Mountain, before the external additions. George Benjamin Collection.

Following its first season of operations, the lift company began construction of a warming hut to provide skiers with respite from the cold and snow. The Roundhouse featured a huge fireplace in the middle where skiers could warm their feet, though from stories we’ve heard at the Whistler Museum, only the first ring or two of people around the fire really got all that warm. The building was not designed to include food service or running water, though there were outhouses built on the hill below the Roundhouse.

The next summer, Hugh Smythe remembered being present when a dowser was used to locate water in order to install running water at the site. According to Smythe, the water was successfully found using a willow stick as a dowsing rod and a pump was sunk the next spring. The Roundhouse underwent quite a few changes over the next few years as the lift company removed the fireplace, added a kitchen, installed indoor toilets (though they kept the outhouses as well), dug out and enclosed a lower level, and even wired the building for electricity, installing a diesel generator in the basement (which was stolen one winter).

The Roundhouse under construction in September 1979. Whistler Question Collection, 1979.

The summer months were an opportunity to upgrade facilities on the mountain for the next ski season. During the summer of 1979, with the opening of Blackcomb Mountain for the 1980/81 season looming, there was a lot of work done, especially around the Roundhouse. Quadra Construction was employed to build a new building beside the Roundhouse that was to house extra washroom facilities, a new ski school office, a ski repair shop, and a sewer plant, topped off with a sun deck on the roof. Over the years, this building also housed a snack bar and Jim McConkey’s Alpine Ski Shop and became known as the Squarehouse. Quadra Construction also leveled the road that led up to the Roundhouse, raising the building eight feet without actually moving the building.

The view from the Roundhouse showing the new washroom building under construction in September 1979. Whistler Question Collection, 1979.

Other work done by the lift company that summer included seeding some runs and widening others, filling in gullies, cutting a new entrance to Green Acres, installing new engines on some of the chairlifts, and replace the original chairs of the Red Chair (the chairs were sold for $10 and marketing director John Creelman reported that they would “make a great conversation piece.”) At the gondola base in today’s Creekside, the bottom of the Olive Chair was remodeled, the Whistler Skiers’ Chapel was moved next to the Whistler Mountain Ski Club cabin, and L’Après and the cafeteria were renovated. According to lift company manager Peter Alder, all of these improvements and maintenance work came to over $1.5 million (adjusted for inflation, that would be about $5.9 million today).

The Roundhouse and the “Squarehouse” from the air during the 1980/81 season. Whistler Question Collection, 1980.

The new building at the Roundhouse was completed shortly after the 1979/80 ski season began. More changes were made to the Roundhouse area over the years, especially when the Whistler Express Gondola opened in 1988. In 1998, the Roundhouse Lodge was completely rebuilt, retaining the name of the structure but changing the shape.

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Whistler’s Original On-mountain DiningWhistler’s Original On-mountain Dining

December 13, 2022 Whistler MuseumWhistler Museum 0 Comments

When Whistler Mountain opened to visitors in 1966 Franz Wilhelmsen was certain people would bring their own lunch and would not want to purchase food up the mountain. Originally the only place on the hill to purchase food was Garibaldi Cafeteria near the gondola base on Whistler Mountain (now Creekside).

The cafeteria first opened during construction of the lifts in 1965 to feed the influx of workers. Run by Leo and Soula Katsuris, the cafeteria was nothing fancy but it fed everyone quickly with limited resources. Once the lifts opened for visitors, the cafeteria transitioned to feeding skiers.

Creekside during construction. The Cafeteria is the large building in the middle. Janet Love Morrison Collection.

Garibaldi Cafeteria, often known as Whistler Cafeteria or simply ‘the cafeteria’, quickly became a community hub and remained in operation for over 15 years. Many of the original members of the volunteer ski patrol remember sleeping in the cafeteria when accommodation was tight. Weekly movie nights also moved to the cafeteria once it opened. This social night was so popular that locals from all around the valley would gather weekly to watch films. Tragically, in the early 1970s the cafeteria was also home to Whistler’s first recorded murder when a 20 year-old employee was shot and killed.

L’Après at the base of Whistler Mountain in Creekside. George Benjamin Collection.

In 1969, Leo Katsuris opened L’Après next to the cafeteria. Open from lunch until late, L’Après catered to a later crowd with pizza, Greek food and regular live music and parties, becoming Le Club in the evenings. The theme nights, including Beach Party and Western Night, were legendary. Eventually the Garibaldi Cafeteria was incorporated into the L’Après brand becoming L’Après Dining Room and Cafeteria, the centre of everything in Whistler at this time. The BC liquor board required food purchase to buy a drink, and nursing a ‘plastic cheese sandwich’ kept the beer flowing.

Greek Nights at L’Après included great entertainment and even better food. Whistler Question Collection.

Further up the mountain, the hungry skier market was capitalised on almost immediately when (William) Jack Biggin-Pound from Squamish set up a Coleman camp stove and picnic table to serve soup, sandwiches and hot drinks, as well as Mary’s famous cinnamon buns, in the Red Shack at the top of Red Chair. This moved to the Roundhouse after it was built in the summer of 1966 without any dining facilities.

The Katsuris’, who along with their staff were known colloquially as ‘The Greeks’, also managed the dining at the Roundhouse where everything had to be brought up the mountain pre-prepared. There was no power, storage or refrigeration until 1970 when renovations to the Roundhouse brought ‘a new modern electric food preparation and serving area’. This allowed a larger variety and amount of food to be prepared and served, including hot chocolate, fries, chilli, stew, hot dogs and chicken. They also started serving breakfast on the mountain for the first time.

The bustling Roundhouse in Spring 1968. Janet Love Morrison Collection.

Trying to predict demand was a real guessing game, based largely on the weather. Despite the new facilities, challenges in food preparation and logistics continued and there were very few updates to the food service on Whistler Mountain over the next ten years. The food service gained a poor reputation. According to one story, when the wait time for food at the Roundhouse was long, hamburger patties were only cooked on one side to speed up the cook time. Bob Penner, who lived in Whistler in the 1970s, said the hamburgers at the Roundhouse “made your regular canned meat or tuna taste so much better”.

Once the development of Blackcomb Mountain was announced, Whistler Mountain knew they needed to step up their hospitality. Whistler Mountain Ski Corp took over the existing food venues, redeveloping L’Après into Dusty’s, and, thanks to the competition with Blackcomb, the next decade brought many new and improved on-mountain dining options.

Visitors enjoying sunshine at the Roundhouse. Greg Griffith Collection.
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Before the Fitzsimmons ExpressBefore the Fitzsimmons Express

October 25, 2022 Whistler MuseumWhistler Museum 2 Comments

With a new eight-person chair announced to replace the four-person Fitzsimmons (Fitz) Express chairlift (pending approvals) we take a look back at how mountain access from Whistler Village has changed.

The first lift from Whistler Village opened for the 1980/81 season, around the same time the Town Centre opened and lifts on Blackcomb started turning. Prior to this, everyone accessed Whistler Mountain from the area known today as Creekside. When Garibaldi’s Whistler Mountain officially opened in January 1966, it had a four-person gondola, the original double Red Chair and two T-Bars.

Whistler Mountain trail map from 1966 or 1967. Whistler Mountain Collection.

Trees were eventually cleared on Whistler Mountain for the aspirationally-named Olympic Run, however skiers who skied down the north side of Whistler Mountain were only met with a garbage dump where the Village now sits and had to catch the bus back to Creekside. Olympic Run generally only opened on weekends when the bus was running, otherwise skiers had to hitchhike back to Creekside.

Janet Love Morrison described being a rebel and skiing the closed run on a school trip. “I remember we went under the rope to ski the Little Olympic Run and we were really cool until we got to the bottom and had absolutely no way to get back to Creekside. Suddenly we were super scared because we knew we had to get back to get to the bus, because we went to school in Port Coquitlam.” Finding no cars or people at the base of the mountain, the grade eight students followed a gravel road to Highway 99 where they were picked up by a tow truck driver. They proceeded to get a dressing down by the driver and then their teachers, a first-hand experience that helped when Janet was writing Radar the Rescue Dog.

The garbage dump at the base of Whistler Mountain, where the Village is today. Whistler Question Collection.

When the lifts from the Village finally went in for the 1980/81 season multiple chairlifts were required to make it to the top. To get to the Roundhouse from Skiers Plaza, skiers first took the Village Chair, which finished slightly higher in elevation than today’s Fitz, and then skied down to Olympic Chair. Olympic Chair is still the original chair from 1980, however it was shortened in 1989 to service strictly the beginner terrain. Originally Olympic Chair met Black Chair at the bottom of Ptarmigan. If you wanted to continue on to the Roundhouse or Peak, Black Chair dropped skiers where the top of Garbanzo is today, then skiers would ski down and take Red or Green Chairs to the top. Four lifts to get to the Roundhouse and they were all slow fixed grip lifts, not the high-speed lifts that service the mountains today. (Olympic Chair, Magic Chair and Franz’s Chair are the only remaining fixed grip chairs in Whistler.)

Before Fitzsimmons Express and the Whistler Express Gondola, skiers could upload on the Village Chair. Whistler Mountain Collection.

Uploading from Whistler Village was simplified in 1988 when the Whistler Express Gondola replaced the four chairlifts, taking skiers and sightseers straight from the Village to the Roundhouse, in a gondola (apparently) designed to hold ten people.

The four-person Fitz that we know and love was built in 1999 and, together with Garbanzo, eliminated the need for the Black Chair. Prior to 1999, the biking on Whistler Mountain was predominately run by private enterprise, notably Eric Wight of Whistler Backroads, who mostly used the Whistler Express Gondola to access terrain. When the Bike Park was taken over by Whistler Blackcomb in 1999 and further developed, Fitz began to be used to access the Bike Park throughout summer, as the sport rapidly grew. These days the Bike Park sees way over 100,000 riders a year, most of whom who access the terrain from Fitz Express.

If Fitz is upgraded next summer it will be the start of a new era, greatly increasing the number of riders and skiers arriving at midstation.

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