Tag: Whistler Express Gondola

Creating Whistler’s Parks: Alpha Lake Park, for the love of tennisCreating Whistler’s Parks: Alpha Lake Park, for the love of tennis

May 9, 2023 Whistler Museum 0 Comments

When the first Outdoor Recreation Plan was completed in 1980, development of a park on Alpha Lake was not identified as a high priority. Lost Lake and Alta Lake are warmer and more desirable for swimming so facilities for those lakes were top of the list. However, when the opportunity arose in 1982 to purchase land on Alpha Lake from John Taylor, the Municipality jumped at the chance to increase lakeside recreation.

John Taylor owned over 160 acres (65 hectares) in the Creekside area around Nita Lake and Alpha Lake. He built the first tennis courts in the Valley at Jordan’s Lodge where the Whistler Tennis Club was formed in 1978. Passionate about tennis, John agreed to sell the land to the municipality for $93,000 on the understanding that tennis courts would be built as part of the park development.

The undeveloped land where Alpha Lake Park was built was a large swamp and extensive work was required to prepare the area. Fill was brought in for the grassed area and sand for the beach. The tennis courts alone required 3 feet of basalt bedding for stability. Picnic tables and a wharf were also constructed and the park was connected to the early Valley Trail network.

*Employees moving fill to create the beach at Alpha Lake Park. Whistler Question Collection.*

When the park opened in 1983 the Whistler Question wrote, “A visit to Alpha Lake Park is a step into a delightful other world.” At the time it opened there were few facilities found at the other parks, and Alpha Lake Park had volleyball courts, tennis courts, a beach and trails.

Municipal Parks Planner, Tom Barratt, was particularly fond of Alpha Lake Park due to the number and size of Kokanee Trout found in the nearby streams. Cedars were planted along the stream banks to offer shade and further improve the conditions for spawning trout.

*Parks Planner, Tom Barratt (right) and team member Suzanne McLean put the final touches on Alpha Lake Park in July 1983. Whistler Question Collection.*

One of the most notable parts of Alpha Lake Park, the children’s treehouse did not come along until later. It was built in 1989 by Eric Scragg from funds raised through the community fundraiser, Whistler Night. Whistler Night was a fun ‘night out’ event that raised money for projects that benefit the community.

Money raised from the night out in 1987 was originally slated to go toward a children’s park at the base of Whistler Mountain; however, Whistler Mountain revised their plans and built Whistler Express Gondola in the area instead. The funds sat in the Whistler Nights’ account for two years as they searched for an appropriate project to put the money toward. More facilities for children were desperately needed in the community and Alpha Lake Park was eventually chosen because it was felt to be ‘underutilised’.

Bill Barratt, who went on to become Chief Administration Officer (CAO) for the RMOW, also worked in Parks at the time. He said while visitors and residents to Whistler wanted generally the same things from a park, it was still a balancing act. He used the play equipment at Alpha Lake Park as an example of a draw card for out-of-town visitors. Unique facilities meant visitors would go on to tell their friends about the park, and drive continued summer visitation.

*The official opening of Alpha Lake Park. From left to right, Trevor Roote, Bill Barratt, Karen Barratt, and Tom Barratt. Whistler Question Collection.*

Despite not being the number one priority in the Outdoor Recreation Plan, Alpha Lake Park was important as it connected the network of trails and parks from Meadow Park in the north, through Lost Lake and Alta Lake, to Alpha Lake in the south. The initial five-year plan to complete these parks and a connecting trail network was instead completed in three years, greatly increasing access to lakes and recreation throughout the Valley.

Today the playground, volleyball courts and tennis courts continue to be enjoyed by the community and visitors alike.

Before the Fitzsimmons ExpressBefore the Fitzsimmons Express

October 25, 2022 Whistler 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.