Tag: Whistler history

The Whistler Town Crier

The Whistler Town CrierThe Whistler Town Crier

September 10, 2026 Whistler MuseumWhistler Museum 0 Comments

By Anna Donaldson

Since Whistler became a Resort Municipality in 1975, the community has had a handful of newspapers, from the Whistler Question to the Whistler Answer, and of course the Pique Newsmagazine. One of these was The Whistler Town Crier, a biweekly newspaper first published on September 7, 1994. Edited and published by Jacquie McCarnan, with Peter O’Donnell as assistant editor, the paper ran for just one volume of approximately 17 issues.It was edited and published by Jacquie McCarnan, with Peter O’Donnell as the assistant editor.

Jacquie and Peter moved to Whistler in 1992 near the end of the recession that hit Canada in the early 1990s. They quickly secured jobs in Whistler, but noticed that there was a “gap in the reporting”. The Whistler Answer closed down not long after they moved to Whistler in August of 1993, and the only news was coming from the Whistler Question. McCarnan herself remembered the Whistler Question being more of a “corporate” newspaper. McCarnan and O’Donnell saw an opening for a newspaper that covered the news McCarnan believed the Whistler Question was neglecting, and that focused on different aspects of the local community. McCarnan had a degree in Political Science with a minor in English, and O’Donnell had a History degree. They had no experience running a newspaper, but were determined to try. In an interview, McCarnan, stated that they “wanted to put something out there that was positive and reflective of the community that we were living in.” In 1994, Whistler had about a third of its current population, and McCarnan and O’Donnell aimed to make a newspaper that connected with the locals. Most of the articles and columns in The Town Crier focused on local issues no matter how small.

The Whistler Town Crier had a few local columns, but one of the newspaper’s most notorious columns was “Ask Uncle Willie”. This was a satirical column where readers could write in about problems in their lives and ask Uncle Willie for advice. Readers would write under silly pseudonyms, and Uncle Willie would respond with ironic answers. McCarnan revealed that Uncle Willie was written by Bill Pauline, whom she worked with at Wild Willies. McCarnan stated that Bill was her own ‘Uncle Willie’ in a sense, giving her advice that didn’t need to be taken seriously. When she was looking for more contributors to The Town Crier, he was happy to write his own regular column.

Cover page of 'The Town Crier' newspaper featuring an illustration of a person with a globe and shopping bag, promoting internet access and classifieds, dated March 1995.
March 21, 1995 issue of The Whistler Town Crier Vol. 1 No. 14.

While the “Ask Uncle Willie” column was satirical, the rest of the newspaper was sincere. Even when writers covered topics that didn’t focus on Whistler, they always managed to tie in a local perspective. For example, Peter O’Donnell’s article “What The Hell Is the Internet” explained how citizens would benefit from the newly incorporated invention of the internet (in 1995). The article highlighted Armchair Books as a local business where residents could pick up the Canadian Internet Handbook. It also referenced how people moved to Whistler from all over the world, and that the internet could help keep them connected to their friends and family, as well as news from home.

When The Town Crier was only four issues in, the Pique Newsmagazine started. The Pique had Bob Barnett, former editor of the Whistler Question, and other financial resources that the Town Crier lacked. Funded largely from McCarnan and O’Donnell’s own pockets, the Town Crier struggled to compete for advertising dollars with the Question and the Pique, eventually forcing it to close. “When you’re in competition, like in a small town, the stores … [and] the restaurants aren’t making a ton of money and they have three different people asking them for money for the same thing. They’re going to pick the one they think is going to get the most eyeballs,” McCarnan stated.

Though The Whistler Town Crier was short-lived, its impact on McCarnan lasted longer. She recalled that the paper “informed the way that [she] lived the rest of [her] life,” allowing her future projects to be “positive and reflective of the community” around her. Looking back more than 30 years later, McCarnan felt that despite the paper’s limited resources, “we did a great job for what we did.”

Anna Donaldson is the Summer Program Coordinator at the Whistler Museum through the Young Canada Works Program.

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The Woman behind Whistler Windsurfing

The Woman behind Whistler WindsurfingThe Woman behind Whistler Windsurfing

September 4, 2026 Whistler MuseumWhistler Museum 0 Comments

It was amazing to be in on the beginning of the sport, which eventually led to winning four Canadian Windsurfer Championships” reflects longtime resident Jinny Ladner. Learning on one of the first two windsurfers imported into Canada, Ladner and friend Mike Gadd started on Alta Lake in 1975. “I sat on the back of the board and then when he got up on a plane I’d crawl up between his legs and stand there inside and figure out how to steer.” 

Ladner first came to Whistler in 1965. Her parents were shareholders in Garibaldi Lift Co. and part of Alpine Village in Creekside, “the first condominiums ever built in Canada.” At age 20 – in 1973 – Ladner moved here fulltime. 

Ladner and Gadd were at the genesis of the sport. “We would chase the crazy wind shifts on Alta Lake and then in 1976, we went to the North American Championships in Berkeley, California.” The Whistler duo met all the big names in the sport hailing from the year-round American sailing hubs. “We met Hoyle Schweitzer,” inventor of the Windsurfer. “That was the beginning of the height, and everybody who was anybody was there,” including Gadd and Ladner.

“In those days you had to hang on to bamboo booms and you had huge calluses on the palm of your hands from trying to hang on because everything would get ripped out of your hands in big wind,” demonstrates Ladner. “Once the body harness was invented, you just hooked into loops hanging from the booms which was much more relaxing.  And you could go for miles.” However, it remained illegal for quite a few years to race with a harness.

Jinny Ladner July 1980. Whistler Question Collection

In the beginning, women and men raced together. “The women were thrown into the

lightweight class.  We had to race with the men and so mostly the men were winning. It

wasn’t until about 1979 that they created [a] women’s class.”

In 1980, a team representing Whistler went to the Canadian Championships in Magog Quebec and won every weight class – Ladner and Gadd along with Andrew Stoner and Chris Janeway.

Jinny Ladner and Andrew Stoner outside Whistler Windsurfing 
July 6, 1982. Whistler Question collection. 

Ladner’s training was limited to half the year being based in Whistler. In 1977 she opened a retail location at the Alta Lake Inn called Whistler Windsurfing. “I had spare parts for Windsurfers, but mostly I just put a sign on the door and said if you need anything I’ll be in the bar.”  Dave Murray was one of her first customers. Ladner was kept busy teaching lessons, including the Toni Sailer Ski Camp campers and the odd rental.

Wednesday night racing began with a local crew of about 15. Starting at Lakeside, “we would sail down to the youth hostel [now The Point Artist-Run Centre], and then across to the Christiana Inn and back up.” Ladner explains, “yacht racing is a triangle race with a downwind loop and back.”

The Wednesday race nights “attracted many more who became interested in the sport.”

Everyone who learned on Alta Lake ended up taking the “Keg Express” downwind at some point, ending up at Adventures West, going to the Keg for a drink, barefoot with their bathing suit and harness, while waiting for a ride to pick them up.

Ladner did not operate her storefront for long, trying to juggle her full-time job (balancing the books for the old Keg) along with competing. She would race in several World Championships, placing an impressive 5th in 1979. Ladner is quick to point out, however, that these were termed ‘the Split Worlds,’ as the Europeans did not attend. The feat remains noteworthy, nonetheless.

Andrew Stoner took over Whistler Windsurfing, re-opening lakeside in the Christiana Inn.

Ladner would win the Canadian Windsurfer Championships from 1978-1981. She retired the same year as her final win. She would continue to judge and run races, including the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.

Windsurfing’s popularity waned locally with the evolution of sailing in surf, hydrofoils, batwings and parasailing. By the mid-1980’s Whistler’s colourful windsurfing scene simply “faded away.

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Fishing (with) Questions

Fishing (with) QuestionsFishing (with) Questions

June 30, 2026 Whistler MuseumWhistler Museum 0 Comments

By Bronwyn Preece. Featured Image: Alex and Myrtle Philip at Rainbow Lodge on Alta Lake, 1940s. Philip Collection

Last week, I was standing on a rock on the edge of Garibaldi Lake, staring into the clear turquoise waters. All of a sudden, a school of fish – Rainbow Trout – some big, some small, with purple backs and black specks swam and kept circling by. I was entranced.

Two young anglers also shared the same shore with me, casting their lines into the glacial pool.

My friend asked if I knew if the lake had been stocked. My initial response was ‘unlikely’. I mean, ‘Up here? A 9+ km hike up from the trailhead, with no road and just under 1000 m of elevation gain…how would they? By helicopter?’ There certainly wasn’t anyone hiking fish or fry up this trail… or, not now…  And yet, I had caught myself in my not-knowing… and my curiosity was hooked…

Making my way back to Whistler, I would pass through a valley speckled with bodies of freshwater: from the volcanic potholed divots around Brandywine to the highway-skirting of Alpha, Nita, Alta and Green. Lakes with fish. Lakes with stories. Lakes holding the lures of different fishing histories…

Whistler was first a fishing destination. Rainbow Lodge was the first ‘resort’ to open in the valley in 1915. For $6.00 you could have a weekend ‘Fisherman’s Excursion’ – a package which included travel on the Pacific Great Eastern Railway from Vancouver to Alta Lake and back and accommodation at the Lodge. The lake was said to be teeming with fish. The fish that were likely being caught at the time were Cutthroat Trout. Subsequent lodges and accommodation geared towards fisherman subsequently sprung up around Alta Lake.

Alta Lake was first stocked with fish in 1923. According to the BC Ministry of the Environment’s FIDQ – Fish Inventories Data Queries page: 30, 000 Rainbow at the ‘eyed egg’ stage were released into the lake that year. Rainbow Trout are an invasive species and subsequently altered the ecosystems of our local lakes. Despite this knowledge, the release of Rainbows into our local waters would continue until 2000.

Kokanee Salmon were stocked for the first time in Alta Lake in 1939.

Myrtle Philip of Rainbow Lodge fishing in the 1920s. Philip Collection.

As the decades passed, fishing remained an important sport and pastime. An announcement in the 1959 Alta Lake Community newsletter proclaimed that the Fish Derby prize would be $10 for the largest Rainbow trout caught in Alta Lake “by any legal method.” In 1988, in the ‘Whistler Summer Guide’ (a supplement to the Whistler Question), the paper reported: “When Whistler Mountain was known as London Mountain … the fishing was fantastic. […] Generally the fish were not that big, averaging about 30 cm, but they were plentiful. They’re just as plentiful today.” Now, in 2026, local fishing guides still exist.

Since 2000, Alta Lake has been stocked with Cutthroat (almost annually, with a few years skipped) since then. Consistently, for the past ten years, Alta Lake has been stocked with 350 yearling Cutthroats and operates with a strict fishing quota. Multiple varieties of fish are caught in its waters. The lake has been stocked 52 times between 1923 and 2026.

But, what about Garibaldi Lake? In 1928 – a year following the formal establishment of Garibaldi Provincial Park (a 195, 000 hectare protected area) – 5000 ‘eyed egg’ Rainbows were released into the lake. The subsequent year, 12, 500 eggs were released. The eggs were transported by horseback up to the nearly large lake encompassing an area of almost 10 ㎢ at 1467 metres of elevation. Mountaineering and pack-hauled camping holidays were becoming popular in the area.

Garibaldi Lake… image taken by the author on the trip that inspired this two-part article.

Next week, Part II of this article will dive deeper into Garibaldi’s Lake’s intriguing fish-related history and some statistical records with regards to Whistler’s closer and other lakes…

*Please Note: In the newspaper printed version of this article (and its initial publication on the blog) it was stated incorrectly that Alta Lake now runs on a catch and release system. Apologies for the mistake, it has been amended above and a note of correction will accompany next’s week’s article in the paper.

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How Whistler helped shape mountain bike media

How Whistler helped shape mountain bike mediaHow Whistler helped shape mountain bike media

June 16, 2026 Whistler MuseumWhistler Museum 0 Comments

Featured Image: Kranked 1 to 5 on DVD. Photo Whistler Museum Collection.

Today, mountain bike media and Whistler are almost inseparable. From 1990s freeride films, coverage of Crankworx and viral videos such as I Only Ride Park and Ferda Girls, Whistler has played a central role in how mountain biking is documented, promoted, and experienced.

A key milestone in Whistler’s connection to the mountain bike media landscape came on April 11, 1999, when Kranked II: Trail from the Crypt premiered at the World Ski and Snowboard Festival in Whistler. The Kranked series would become one of the most influential MTB film franchises of its era, helping document the rise of freeride mountain biking and introducing audiences around the world to British Columbia’s trails and riders.

Shot on 16mm film, the early Kranked movies captured a rapidly evolving sport. Their footage showcased everything from Kamloops’ sandy steeps to the wooden ladder bridges and elevated features of North Shore Vancouver, which would go on to influence trail-building around the world. The films helped establish B.C. riders such as Ryan Leech, Wade Simmons, Brett Tippie, and Richie Schley as international stars.

Bjørn Enga riding in Whistler. [mid 1990s]
Image: Rowles Collection

The driving force behind the series was filmmaker Bjørn Enga. Raised in Granthams Landing and North Vancouver, Enga discovered mountain biking in the early 1980s. Seeking adventure, he moved to Whistler in the early 1990s, where he embraced the ski-bum lifestyle and worked as a taxi driver between 1990 and 1992. Although he briefly returned to university, the pull of mountain culture eventually led him back to British Columbia’s mountain towns.

By the mid-1990s, Enga had launched Freak Radical, an interactive journal dedicated to mountain culture. Teaming up with Christian Begin, at age 28 Enga shifted to film production, starting Radical Films. Their first feature-length production, Kranked: Live to Ride, was released in 1998, laying the groundwork for what would become one of mountain biking’s defining film series. This period in the sport’s history is explored in detail in Darcy Turenne’s 2017 documentary The Moment.

Whistler played an important role in the development of the Kranked films. The world premiere of Kranked II was held at the Fairmont Chateau Whistler and drew approximately 1,000 attendees. The event was organized by Shauna Hardy, a former North Vancouver schoolmate of Enga’s, who would later found the Whistler Film Festival in 2001.

Another local connection came through Whistler-based artist and designer Stu MacKay-Smith of Toad Hall Studios. MacKay-Smith, who had previously collaborated with Enga on Freak Radical, created most of the distinctive graphics and animation featured in the early Kranked productions.

How audiences consumed MTB media, at the time, was very different from today. Films were distributed through bike shops, first on VHS and later on DVD. Eager mountain bikers often waited for copies to arrive at their local bike shop.

In 2000, while promoting Kranked III: Ride Against the Machine, Radical Films posted a video trailer online, something virtually unheard of in the action sports industry at the time. While filming in Mexico, Enga received an unexpected message from the company’s internet provider that exclaimed that they could not support the amount of traffic. In short, Kranked III’s trailer was blowing up the internet.

“Apparently they were using more data than the usual high-volume content,” Enga later recalled. “I got this message at a pay phone in a remote place in Copper Canyon, Mexico. Our plan with the internet site did not include that much data… Early days!!!”

The trailer’s popularity suggested there was a strong appetite for online video distribution and viewing. What is taken as a given today was groundbreaking 25 years ago.

Kranked III opening night ticket. Rowles Collection

The influence of the Kranked films extended beyond riders and audiences. The series also served as a training ground for a generation of filmmakers and photographers who would go on to shape MTB media. Among them was Darcy Wittenburg, who worked on Kranked films before co-founding The Collective with Jamie Houssain and later establishing Anthill Films. Anthill Films is a production company that has continued to push the creative and technical boundaries of action sports cinematography (see Brandon Semenuk’s unReal Segment).

Today, action sports photography and filmmaking have become an important part of Whistler’s cultural identity. The groundwork laid by early innovators such as Bjørn Enga helped transform MTB media from a niche pursuit into a global industry, with Whistler often at its centre.

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